FROM CHINAMWALI TO CHILANGIZO:

6. CHILANGIZO AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL: PUBERTY RITE
6.1 INTRODUCTION
In order to understand the phenomenon of chilangizo at the grassroots level in the Bap­
tist Convention, I chose to observe three puberty ceremonies, two in the rural areas and
one in the urban setting of Lilongwe. This chapter attempts to give a description of the
three ceremonies as well as to analyse the meanings and teaching the women empha­
sized at each ceremony. An assessment, in the form of questions, of chilangizo as a
Christian response to chinamwali ends the chapter.
My presence at the ceremonies was not just as a researcher doing some observation, but
as an insider. As a teacher at our Baptist Seminary, and as amayi busa (a pastor's wife)
who has served in the women's leadership committee, at both the national and associa­
tion level, I was received as one from kulikulu (the headquarters). Especially in the rural
churches, I was regarded as one who had come to check on whether they are doing
things correctly or not, as well as to teach them. While this worked to my advantage by
winning their confidence, in other cases it spoiled the reality of the performance of the
ceremonies because they wanted to 'impress' me with the 'thoroughness' ofthe ritual.
The two rural ceremonies were held at Mphindo Baptist Church in the southern part of
Lilongwe, and at Chimenya Baptist Church in the western part of Lilongwe. The third
was at Mtendere Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic church in urban Lilongwe.
When the parents inform the alangizl 7 of a girl's first menses, it is an invitation for the
instructresses to go and instruct the girl. The alangizi then arrange with the parents a
suitable date for the chilangizo ceremony at the girl's home. I will now describe three
ceremonies which I observed. Full documentation for each of the three ceremonies is
given below.
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