FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:
FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:
FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
girls are taken to their respective homes. In almost every home there is a cluster ofpeo<br />
ple drinking and chatting. Others who could not attend the whole ceremony come at<br />
least for this last day.<br />
The hair shaving ritual (kumeta) ends the girls' five-day seclusion period of the chi<br />
namwali. At the tsimba their hair is cut short (in the past all the hair was shaved). Peo<br />
ple believe that the hair should never enter the parent's home for fear that witches might<br />
steal the hair for chizimba (activating agent in magic). The hair must therefore be dis<br />
posed of in a pit latrine. The logic is that the girl is now an adult, and everything from<br />
the old 'nature' must be left behind or be disposed of. After the hair shaving ritual, the<br />
girls wait at the mtengo, where their friends continue to teach them all the things they<br />
have been learning. They wait until all the other activities finish so that the women con<br />
tinue with their programme to escort the girls to their homes to re-incorporate them,<br />
now adults, into the community life and its obligations. In other cases, this is done the<br />
following day.<br />
Dressed smartly (not necessarily new clothes) and with their heads covered, the girls sit<br />
lined up at the chiefs house. The mothers are supposed to 'redeem' their daughters by<br />
giving the chief the required amount per girl. Any man wishing to marry a girl would<br />
quickly discuss with the girl's uncle and give the redeeming money to the girl's mother<br />
and so she becomes his wife soon after the initiation.55 When all the dues are paid to the<br />
chief and with the leading girl in front, they all proceed to the home of the first girl<br />
while singing: Namwali tikamtule komake, Akasonkhe moto (Let us take the initiate<br />
back to her mother, to make fire). After performing all the necessary rites discussed<br />
below, they proceed to the home of the next one, and so on until all the girls are fin<br />
ished.<br />
The mother welcomes them usually into the girl's own house, or if she does not have<br />
her own house, into her mother's house. Then at night the girl sleeps at a friend's house,<br />
for it is impolite for a mature girl to sleep in the same house with her parents. At the<br />
door, the namkungwi tells the girl to kneel while the other girls wait standing. The na<br />
mkungwi puts a small stick below the first stair into the house. She helps the girl to<br />
62