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Farananomby, a MythSource painting
African

Farananomby

01Identity

Farananomby in African tradition

Lee Haring records a Mayotte performance in which Farananomby is abandoned on a sandbar as her servant Tangarira takes her place beside the husband she has just married. An almond leaf gives Farananomby a means of pursuit: she changes into a bird, then into fruit, surviving each attempt to drive her away. At the village, a boy notices features the impostor has hidden and tells an elder what he has seen.

Farananomby’s return is not secured by disguise alone. She refuses the villagers’ invitation until Tangarira is punished; only then does she cross the threshold back into the marriage. Music and a feast mark its restoration. Haring describes this as a false-bride tale in a performance narrated by Mronabeja; the name Farananomby is glossed as Cow’s Daughter.

SourceFolktales of Mayotte, an African Island: “Two Heroes, One Self,” Farananomby’s false-bride episode in the Mronabeja performance, printed pp. 78-81

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Farananomby

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Farananomby and the False Bride

In Lee Haring’s account of a Mayotte performance, the newly married Farananomby is left behind on a sandbar while Tangarira takes her clothes and claims her place. As the tide rises, an almond leaf drifts down. Farananomby speaks a charm over it and changes into a bird, flying after the boat to perch above its sail. Tangarira recognises her and orders a stick thrown, but the bird escapes. Farananomby returns as the leaf, then as fruit; each time Tangarira sends someone to pick it, the fruit changes back before she can possess it. The party reaches the village without the impostor learning how to silence Farananomby’s return.

The deception is exposed when a boy sees the horns, tail, feathers, and eyes Tangarira has concealed. He tells his grandmother what he saw, and she goes to Ndramohamiñy, striking him for mistreating the young woman. The villagers ask Farananomby to return, but she refuses until Tangarira is punished. At last Tangarira is set on the threshold so Farananomby can tread on her as she enters. Music and a feast mark the marriage’s restoration.

Farananomby and the False Bride, a MythSource painting of the scene