Whereas the east coast, even till Fort-Dauphin, experience heavy rainfall and is covered with a luxuriant vegetation, the Androy is an arid country. Rain falls only a few months in the year, making the rivers grow and crops like corn and manioc possible again. The dry months which follow make it necessary to build up stocks, and walk several kilometers to the bed of a river to find water in a hole dug in sand. The ox herds are taken northward. At the time of severe droughts, when nothing is left to feed the cattle, segments of cactus are burnt in order to remove their spines and make them edible.

marriages - establishment of the marital bonds and separation

The marriage must initially be the subject of requests, of the father of the boy to the father of the girl, then of the son-in-law his future father-in-law has. Requests what accompanies by the gifts of animals, usually of the goats, each one of these gifts bearing a particular name. The ceremony of the marriage is not in oneself not a great business. It gathers only the close family and passes often unperceived from the other inhabitants of the village. The marriages are done and are demolished easily, without clashes. Thus, a man can return his wife in his parents without there being had neither argument nor demonstration of animosity. The returned woman will be able remarier then. A man can moreover take several wives.

the role of the animals

The animals, mainly chickens, goats and oxen (zebus), have a very significant place in the company androy. They are naturally high for their meat. But they are also found within multiple exchanges, between individuals or families, and sacrificed at the time of various ceremonies. Thus, a lover taken in obvious offence of adultery will have it to give an ox to the husband to repair his fault. Consequently the fault will be forgotten and all will return in the order. The funerary ceremonies are the occasion large gatherings and multiple exchanges of animals. The people coming to assist has a burial make gifts of animals indeed has the family close to late according to their family tie. The oxen sacrificed for the construction of the tomb, on which the horns will be laid out, are appeles fandofo and are taboos for the members of the close family. Those will not be able to consume the meat of it, has the reverse of oxen said famaha, killed to nourish the assembly. Animals can still be sacrificed following a ceremony divinatoire, to ensure themselves of good harvests or to avoid has the lightning to strike houses and animals.

features of character of Androy

The androy make watch of a certain indifference has the regard of the things and of people, who appear in their loathing has to deliver proper names. Thus, one will speak somebody by using about periphrases the such "woman of", "the son of", and one will say to come "from north", or "the west of such river". Source of confusion, the people as much as the villages are sometimes designated under several names. One still indicates a locality by the day or the market, or the name of the close river is held to with it. The contact with a foreigner is not therefore cold, but direct and cordial. Another source of astonishment for the Westerner is the atmosphere of joy which reigns at the time of a burial. Only the close family expresses a real sadness, in particular the women who must make hear ritual lamentations. For youth these meetings are festivals, and no one does not hide to laugh and joke. The author gives several explanations to this behavior: "the conviction that death does not involve an absolute separation" of the world of alive, the late fascinating one places among the ancestors becomes thus the object of their solicitude. "acceptance, of what being in the order of the things, does not have has to be disputed". Still: "the feeling that the scrupulous observance of the forms, details ritual, is enough has to express adhesion with mourning fully".