FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

dancing team. After dancing for a while, they all dispersed. The chiefs went to the
chiefs house while the male initiates went back to their tsimba.
The zirombo dance (gule wamkulu) marked the end ofthe chiefs initiation ceremony.
'While waiting to enter the ground, I saw some nyau dancers smearing themselves
with ashes from a closeby fireplace. 14 Some zirombo danced in threes, others in
doubles, and others alone. People came close to give them monetary gifts. It was
around five o'clock in the afternoon when everything came to an end, and many
people dispersed
While the afternoon's activities were going on at the ground, the girls were at the
mtengo where their tutors and friends continued to teach them all the things they had
been learning (especially sayings and songs).
The hair shaving ritual (kumeta) ends the girls' five-day seclusion period of the
chinamwali. At the tsimba the girls' hair is cut short (in the past all the hair was
shaved). People believe that the hair should never enter the parent's home for fear
that witches might steal the hair for chizimba (activating agent in magic. It must
therefore be disposed ofin a pit latrine. After the hair shaving ritual, the girls wait at
the mtengo, where their friends continue to teach them all the things they have been
learning.
After the public activities, the girls, dressed smartly (not necessarily new clothes) with
their heads covered, are taken to the chiefs house. In some cases this is done the
following day. The mothers are supposed to 'redeem' their daughters by giving the
chief the required amount per girl. Any man who wants to marry an initiate would
have given the redeeming fee to the girl's mother so she becomes his wife soon after
the initiation. When all the dues are paid to the chief and with the leading girl in
front, they all proceed to the home ofthe first girl while singing. After performing all
the necessary rites discussed below, they proceed to the home of the next one, and so
on until all the girls are finished.
The mother welcomes them and shows them which house the girl should enter
(usually it is the girl's own house, or it may be her mother's house, in which case she
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