FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

trated from the statement in the booklet 'tsempho [or mdulo] has no power' (see Appen­
dix C or D no. 10 on page 6). As shown already in chapter 5 (5.2), Mrs. Stegmann, an
early DRC missionary at Nkhoma, also thought chinamwali had 'no actual power'
(quoted by Ross 1996:103.)
We have seen from chapter four that mdulo and the observance of sexual taboos form
part of the teaching content of chinamwali, which comes from a belief system that is
intimately tied to the spirit world. Thus the above statements are naIve, and indicate
lack of understanding of both the social and spiritual power associated with the rites.
Failure to understand their own Chewa world, and dismissing the notion that there is
any power in the rites means that the Christian response has not been able to address the
very issue that Chewa women believe, namely that there are mystical powers related to
the rites. The women's request should be understood from the perspective ofthe Chewa
primal worldview. Like most African societies, the Chewa people have a 'deep sense of
a spiritual world of powers or beings' with whom they interact and from whom they
seek blessings and receive protection (Harold Turner 1977:31-33). The Chewa world­
view is also similar to what Mbiti (1986: 156) described as a 'world in which people
recognize and experience many dangers and threats to life, even if they smile, sing,
dance and make merry.' Hence the need for mystical protection during chinamwali and
vigorous attempts to appease the ancestors through the observance of the ancestral cus­
toms and all taboos.
A key problem of the booklet is the failure to address the issue of mystical powers
which is indicative of the fact that it was written from the perspective of the Western
worldview. The problem is compounded by the fact that the book does not bring out the
issue of the initiate's identity, of her being part of a historical process and a part of a
community. It certainly does not incorporate the young women into community. The
fact that I had to 'hurry' one ceremony along because funds had not been forthcoming
suggests that there is hardly a sense of community ownership of chilangizo and is
indicative ofthe church's failure to see it as a meaningful rite. Mbiti's observation about
the African worldview is worth recalling.
100