The majority of the customs mentioned are taken from Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagasikara (History of the Nobles in Madagascar) - a book of the oral history of the Kingdom of Imerina in Madagascar, gathered and published by a catholic priest, François Callet between 1878 and 1881. This collection of oral tradition about the history of the Merina Dynasty was originally written in Malagasy and published between 1878 and 1881. Callet summarized and translated it into French under the title Tantara ny Andriana (Histoire des rois) in 1908.
Circumcision
Malagasy people practice circumcision. Although today there’s no fixed age or time for circumcision among the Malagasy people, it was done in ancient times at an eight year interval for all male children starting from the age of seven:
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" We will have sons; let us not take glory in strength, but let us circumcise them… After seven years, we circumcise… the seven years are neither to be exceeded nor to be diminished; if less than seven years old, the children are too small and cannot bear the wound; if there are more, they are too old … If we miss it, we wait for the return of seven years and if someone circumcises outside these two deadlines, I will kill him … And if there is someone who does not circumcise during this circumcision, if he falls under the accusation, I regard him as guilty if he omits to circumcise – even if his child would have been born in the interval of circumcisions, because all must be circumcised, all the males without exception, and no one is to be omitted. If anyone refrains from circumcising, I will take his wives and children from him " (Tantara ny Andriana p. 789)
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" After the ceremony, the child has become like a member of the family and has the right to be buried in the ancestral tomb on condition, however, if he is a male, that he be circumcised " (La Conception malgache du monde, du surnaturel et de l'homme en Imerina p. 47)
Saturday as a non-working day
Some ethnic groups in Madagascar considered Saturday as a non-working day. For instance, the highlanders believed that doing agricultural work on Saturday could bring about divine wrath resulting in the destruction of the crops :
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" Saturday is a ritually forbidden day (fady), it is forbidden for the protection against hail: We don’t plant rice, we don’t sow rice etc. (sic.). And if someone tests the word and does not refrain [from working] on Saturday, all the rice will be destroyed by fleas, and if it’s not destroyed by hail, it will be destroyed by flood " (Tantara ny Andriana p. 135)
Dietary laws
Before the arrival of christianity, the prohibition of pork was an almost universal custom in Madagascar. In many places, even bringing living pigs was and is still forbidden.
In the vicinity of the King Rabiby and his son, in the hihglands, the only animals that could be raised were cows, sheep and goats (Tantara ny Andriana p. 65-66) and, up until the king Radama II’s reign and reforms, no swine was allowed in Antananarivo, the capital city.
Dog meat, which was considered a delicacy among the indonesian and malay islanders was never part of the Malagasy diet.
There are other animals whose consumption is still considered forbidden by many ethnic groups and families, such as the hedgedog (sokina), the eel (amalona) (a fish which does not have scales and fins) and the birds of prey (papango). In fact, there’s a well known saying in Madagascar which says : " Chacious bird of prey, inedible bird, examine yourself first before criticizing others " (Papango didy maso, voron-tsy fihinana, zahao aloha ny tena vao mitsikera ny hafa).
Laws of purity
It’s not customary in Madagascar for men to have sexual relations with their menstruating wives. Like circumcision, this custom was not simply considered a hygienic practice but something which is ritually and cultually inappropriate (fady) as still indicated by the Malagasy word for the menstruation : fadim-bolana, that is, the period of the month (volana) where the woman is fady to her husband. Or, as one writer puts more eloquently : " in Malagasy, menstruation is called fadim-bolana. Its very name indicates a taboo thing because it comes from the word "fady", meaning taboo. Culturally speaking, a menstruating girl is considered unclean".
Sidecurls
Andrianampoinimerina,
king of Madagascar 1787-1810
Elder of Ankay-Bezanozano in the 1800's
Malagasy calendar
Jacques Dez, a french author, describes the Malagasy calendar in the following way :
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" In practice, one passes from one month to the next by the movement of the moon; the new moon or more precisely, the reappearance of the moon serves as the starting point for the new month. As each month thus defined is lunar, it has 29 or 30 days. When we reach the end of the list of twelve names and we have to go back to the first of the list, 354 days have elapsed, that is to say less than a solar year (which is a little more than 365 days). After three years, the lag between the lunar calculation and the reality of the solar movement is of the order of a month. As a result, the natural events characteristic of the different months are delayed, because we have taken the advance in the calculation of the months. One then doubles a month to re-establish concordance with the solar cycle. This makes the Malagasy agricultural calendar luni-solar with years of 12 or 13 lunar months when one of them is doubled " (Cheminements linguistiques malgaches: au-delà des grammaires usuelles p. 142-143 )
New year torch lighting
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The ancient custom in Imerina (the Highland region of Madagascar) was to start the new year celebration by lighting torches, first on top of the royal hill of Ambohidrabiby and then on the remaining of the 12 sacred hills.
Blood on door lintels
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In the highlands of Madagascar, " when the ox is killed and during the first bloodletting, the people take a reed dipped in this blood and apply it on the lintel of the main door for protection of the house, of life, and for the sanctification of the house." (Tantara ny Andriana p. 162). After that, the bull was roasted " with it’s intestines, it’s spleen, it’s liver, it’s stomach and all that's in it " (ibid.). The animal had to be devoid of any physical default (ibid. p. 167).
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Unlike the Hebrews, however, the malagasy highlanders didn't make this sacrifice on the 15th of the first month, but on the first day itself as part of the New year celebration.
First fruits​
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" As for the first fruits of the rice harvest, the people give the first fruits to the noble before taking any to eat. If the noble does not take the first fruits first, the people have no right to eat " (Tantara ny Andriana p. 60)
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The mourning customs
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Among the ancient Malagasy highlanders, the mourners abstain from " washing, dancing, braiding their hairs, and anointing themselves with oil " (Tantara ny Andriana p. 264). And when a noble died, the custom was "not to sleep on beds, not bathing, not washing the hands and feets, not to trimm the beard and nails, and not laundering until the end of the mourning period and not performing any work during three days" (p. 259).
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The Malagasy people used to wash themselves in running waters after the burial (Tantara ny Andriana p. 261 and 264). Some people still follow this custom nowadays.
Levirate marriage
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It was customary among the Malagasy people for a man to take the wife of his brother if the latter died before he had children.
