FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

the needs of the initiates and provide redemption when the girls are in trouble. The
mother or guardian is also a very important figure in the girl's life from the time of her
first menses to the actual chinamwali. She must abstain from sexual activity to protect
her daughter from the tsempho disease during her first menses and during her china­
mwali. 59 There is a significant and mysteriously dangerous connection between sexual
activity, menstrual blood and the 'protective' medicines used at the ceremony. It is
therefore the responsibility of the mother (and other relatives) to avoid such dangers.
The mother is also the one who disposes of all the pieces of the head crown and the
girl's hair after shaving her, for they are vulnerable elements that can be used for
malevolent purposes.
The role of each ofthese religious functionaries - the chief, the nyau, the instructresses,
the tutors, and the initiates' mothers - signifies that the girls are incorporated into the
spiritual realm of the ancestors; that the initiates are well protected during such a sus­
ceptible period; and that above all, their presence signifies a public acknowledgement of
the transition from both the leadership and from the ordinary people.
Other symbolic acts point to the vulnerability ofthe sacred period. From the time ofher
first menses to the time of her chinamwali, the initiate is in a very susceptible state.
Hence, she is given mtela (herbal medicine, called khundabwi), or afisi (hyena) to sleep
with her to 'make her strong'. Thus she is made safe. The planting of deterrents around
the strategic places during chinamwali is to protect the girls from evil people or spirits.
The careful disposal ofchingondo, and the girls' hair on the last day, is characteristic of
the vulnerability ofthe ritual period.
While chinamwali is a rite during which cultural values are transmitted and the initiates
are introduced to new roles in society as adults, the overall symbolic meaning of chi­
namwali in Chewa society is that of a transition through death and re-birth to a new life.
Matthew Schoffeleers (1997:29) equates female puberty to death and notes that just as
'death marks the change from human being to spirit', so too 'puberty marks the change
from barrenness to fertility, from childhood to adulthood, and from incomplete to com­
plete social status.' When the initiates lie down and are covered, it symbolizes a corpse.
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