One of my favorite short excursions out of Tana was to Ambohimanga, Madagascar’s pre-colonial capital. Not far from the tight smoggy roads of Tana, the royal quarters of Ambohimanga sit atop an imposing green hill surrounded by rice paddies and humped cattle reminiscent of southeast Asia. The trail to the top of the hill passes through a stone archway, over which in times past an immense round stone could be rolled to bar entry. The stone sat to the side of the gate, so I passed through.
The King of Madagascar had twelve queens. He installed one queen on each of twelve hills around his domain. Every year, he would visit each of his twelve queens for one month at a time. On New Year’s Eve, all twelve queens would join the king at his residence. All twelve queens would share one bed, slightly smaller than a contemporary double bed. They slept in the fetal position. The king slept on a nearby, higher bed. The next morning, the king and his twelve queens bathed together in the royal bathtub. After the royal bath, the commoners would drink the water, believing it to be sacred.
Fact: According to my tour guide, Malagasy people to this day sleep in fetal position, believing that the stretched out sleeping posture is the sleeping position of the dead, while the fetal position is the sleeping position of the living.
