FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

cross boundaries), and ziwanda ('evil spirits who wander about to haunt and hann peo­
pIe.' They are spirits of'deceased witches or murderers').
This study follows Van Breugel's use ofthe general term 'mizimu' to refer to the spirits
of the dead as guardians of the ancestral customs (miyambo ya makolo). Being guardi­
ans ofmiyambo ya makolo, the mizimu have a double role in relation to the living; both
positive and negative. Positively, their role is that of intercession; the mizimu speak to
Chiuta on behalf of the living. The mizimu also protect the living by 'warning them of
impending danger, and by being able to give success to their relatives' labour.' The
Chewa believe that they are surrounded by enemies, and so their only recourse is to the
mizimu for protection (Van Breugel 2001:77). Negatively, when the living offend the
ancestors, especially when they neglect the miyambo (customs), the mizimu punish
them. They can cause illness, can send all sorts of misfortunes, or they can bring infer­
tility to the living (Van Breugel 2001 :83-85). It is however not clear whether this nega­
tive function makes the mizimu to be called azimu or whether they remain two distinct
groups. Basing himself on p'Bitek, Gelfand, Idowu, and Jacobs concerning the spirits,
Scott Moreau also observed that:
Spirits were often thought to be the source of medical problems in the community....
They were able to cause insanity or bring disease (malaria, smallpox, dysentery, polio,
tuberculosis, etc)....They could also disrupt the reproductive cycle by causing infertility
or miscarriages or by causing babies to be born with deformities....Spirits were thought
to be one of the causes of social problems, such as loss of employment, social status,
family stress, etc.
(Moreau 1990: 105-6)14
The Chewa believe that the mizimu of the recently dead survive the body after death,
and that they normally stay in the graveyard. But from time to time, the mizimu come
and stay at the foot of a big tree in the village, and sometimes they trouble people. The
scrupulous funeral rites among the Chewa are therefore meant to chase the mizimu away
from the village so that they stay in the graveyard until all the necessary rites have been
observed (Van BreugeI2001:80).
Central to the Chewa traditional beliefs is the nyau, believed to be the symbolic repre­
sentation ofthe invisible spirit world. Van Breugel describes the nyau as a 'secret asso-
21