FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

67. Amuna anga mtsegule x 3
Nchiani ichi chaima mkhomo?
Chaima mkhomo m 'bokosi muli zobvala
Ndicho m/una ine
My husband open
What is this standing in the doorway?
It is a box containing clothing
That is what I want.
After this ceremony the girls were seated again and one instructress was trying to
speed up the process because one of the initiates, the chiefs wife, had left small
children alone at home. The instructress spread a piece of cloth near to where the
woman initiate was seated. Then another instructress knelt closer to the initiate and
threw some money on the cloth (I did not see how much, but they were coins) and
started talking. I was very tired so that I left and went to sleep for a while.
DAY FOUR: TSIKU LOKUNTHA MOWA (DAY OF SIEVING THE BEER}
The fourth day is also called the chingondo or thimbwiza day. I woke up and had my
bath around noon. I noticed that in almost every home there was a cluster of people
drinking beer. When I enquired why the beer was being drunk on this particular day
and not the next day, I was told that the beer was ready for drinking, although the
official drinking day was the following day. It was also more readily available than
the following day when it would be stored away and given to a few selected friends.
Many people were drunk and consequently talking much.
In the afternoon I joined the people who were going to the ground. I arrived in time
for an announcement from one of the chiefs. He said that the zirombo would not
dance that day but the following day at the coronation ofthe new chief. He continued
to say that in the meantime 'we would be drinking more beer and later on watch the
girls performance.' I left to visit a Christian family in a nearby village who told me
that the njobvu (elephant) chirombo was already going around the surrounding
villages heading towards the ground. When I came back I found that the elephant
had arrived and had already gone to the resting place (/iunde) till the next day.
187