FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

lineage, and the whole community. Fertility was therefore at the core of the Chewa
female initiation rituals. The anamkungwi as the custodians of the ancestral customs
made sure that all the necessary precautions were taken and taboos observed to ensure
that nothing endangered life.
The Chewa followed the nkamwini (somebody else's) system of marriage whereby the
husband goes to stay at the wife's home, after performing the wedding ceremony
(chinkhoswe) at the wife's home. However, the husband was free to take the wife and
settle at his home (called chitengwa being taken). It should be noted that the mother
remained 'united with her own kinsfolk: and controlled, with their help, the offspring of
her marriage' (Phiri 1997:32). Although the family group whose ancestress was the root
of the lineage was maternally based, the most important person in a direct family line
was the maternal uncle who had control over the woman and her offspring (Stuart
1974:28). Thus the Chewa are said to be both matrilineal and matrilocal (Phiri 1997:32­
40).
Like other traditional African societies, the Chewa society has a very strong sense of
community. This is evident in the ongoing activities ofthe community such as funerals,
weddings, and zizangala (celebrations, specifically referring to initiation rites and
funeral commemorations). Community life is seen also in the upbringing of children.
Apart from the grandparents, aunties, uncles, brothers and sisters, who usually live in
the same village, every adult has the right to discipline and ensure that a child is brought
up according to the traditions ofthe elders. Above all, chinamwali is the established tra­
ditional educational institution where morals and the art of living are taught to boys and
girls. Although the whole community is involved in the chinamwali, the actual instruc­
tion is left to the machembere (elderly women) and aphungu (tutors) under the supervi­
sion of the leaders, anamkungwi. Chinamwali therefore undergirds the anamkungwi's
credibility and establishes the initiates' identity and a sense of something being passed
on because generations of Chewa have felt that the rite is wholesome and incorporates
the girls into their community.
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