FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

customs brings other blessings to the individuals and to the community. Hence the per­
formance ofthe rituals and the observance of the mdulo taboos are meant to placate the
mizimu for this purpose. It is a disgrace upon a family for a Chewa woman to be barren.
Every precaution is therefore taken on the girl's first menses and during her initiation to
ensure and establish her womanhood and motherhood. God's command and blessing to
humanity to 'mubalane ndipo mucuruke' ('be fruitful and increase in number') of
Genesis I :28 affirms Chewa aspirations. The Chewa people know that 'Ana ndiwo
colandira ca kwa Yehova' ('Children are a gift from God') (Psalm 127:3), that is why
they depend on their ancestors to pray to Chiuta on their behalf for the blessing of fer­
tility. However, with the new understanding of Jesus outlined above, when Jesus
becomes Lord, all prayers are through Him. God is the one who opens a woman's
womb to have children,74 even when the womb was closed by God himself. 75 Ofcourse,
any medical problems need to be sorted out by the medical experts. In addition to pray­
ing for fertility, all the other blessings that the Chewa people may be looking for - good
health, good luck, good harvest, good marriage, and so on - come only from God
through his Son Jesus Christ who is the provider. God promises to bless his people
when they obey him. 76 However, God's view ofblessing may not be the way the Chewa
perceive blessing. For God can also bless and use a woman who does not deliver a
child. This gives single Chewa women and couples without children new hope. If they
dedicate themselves to the service of God it could have a powerful impact in introduc­
ing 'children' spiritually to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is good news for the Chewa peo­
ple that as they make Jesus their Lord, they have everything in him.
In addition to the intercessory role ofthe ancestors, the negative role is that of inflicting
punishment or other misfortune on the living when they disobey some miyambo (cus­
toms). This is evidenced in the way the Chewa observe mdulo taboos, especially when a
daughter has her first menses and during her chinamwali (initiation). Fears of 'cutting'
her ('kumudula') and causing her to be sterile, of suffering from mdulo, or even of
dying, permeate Chewa society. Such fears are not baseless; they cannot just be called
'superstition,' be ignored or brushed aside. They are genuine fears of real and active
spiritual beings that inflict on people such punishments. It is believed that to break any
taboo angers the ancestors. To illustrate this, if a daughter or child suffers from mdulo,
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