FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

girls are 'captured' and put in the funeral house a day before the burial. The leading girl
may not have reached puberty. In this case, the initiation is not due to the physical
puberty but to fulfill a social obligation according to Van Gennep's classification
(1960). Similarly, chiputu for girls in Southern Malawi fulfils a social role (Banda
2001).
Periodically, a chief will arrange for funeral commemoration ceremonies for a number
of people who died in the previous year, called chiriza, when tombstones are built, or
mpalo, when it is just a commemoration. Girls can be initiated during either ceremony.
If a chief has too many girls who married before being initiated, he may arrange for
them a quick, one-day initiation ceremony, called chikudzu-kudzu (quick quick). Others
call it chimbwinda (missing). In this case, the husbands will also be initiated separately,
but by the women instructresses, and the main instruction to both the husband and wife
would be concerning married life.
Since all the above initiations are modified and of short duration, usually one night of
instruction from machembere (elderly women), it is up to the tutors to continue
instructing the girls after the ceremony. Initiates themselves however, need to take ini­
tiative to continue learning by attending other initiation ceremonies.
Girls (and boys) may also be initiated at the mkangali ceremony, which is the chiefs
initiation ceremony and this is the focus ofthis chapter as discussed in full below. How­
ever, many informants remarked that because of its implications, not many parents have
their daughters initiated at mkangali. They prefer the other types ofinitiations.
4.3 MKANGALI: THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF CHEWA INITIATION RITES
Generally, mkangali is a term that refers to the initiation ceremony for girls and boys
among the Chewa people (Phiri 1997, Van BreugeI2001). In the actual sense, mkangali
is the last stage in the initiation of a chief (mmeto wa mfumu, or chinamwali cha
mfumu). When a man is chosen to be a chief, he undergoes the initial installation cere-
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