ABSTRACT
Despite the obvious importance of cattle in social system, the Chiga are primarily not herders but farmers. Vegetable food is the mainstay of their diet, and the rhythm of their lives is set by the seasonal round of planting and harvesting, its times of waiting and of working, its times of fast and of plenty. The Chiga calendar is lunar, but very vague. Most people name the month by observing what the seasonal occupation or state of the crops is at the time, and often disagree in their reckoning. The Chiga practise all the techniques which are known in this area for which the materials are available, including iron-working and pottery. The larger share of all Chiga work tends to fall upon the women. Theirs particularly is the steady, unremitting daily routine of food-getting. Many Chiga concepts and patterns concerning ownership are implicit in what we have already seen of their economy and their social institutions.
