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Author(s): W. H. J. Rangeley
Source: The Nyasaland Journal , July, 1952, Vol. 5, No. 2 (July, 1952), pp. 31-50
Published by: Society of Malawi - Historical and Scientific
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By W. H. J. Rangeley
Since the first draft was written by the author, he had the opportunity to discuss
the article on Makewana with Mr. R. A. Hamilton of the School of Oriental
and African Studies, London, who had also inquired about Makewana. Most
of the Notes in brackets in the article on Makewana refer to comments made by
Mr. Hamilton, with his permission to do so. The author is not an anthropologist
and gathered the information contained in these articles while inquiring into
the history of the olden days in Nyasaland. The author is much indebted to Mr.
Samuel Nthara of Mkhoma Mission for much valuable information on Makewana
which was subsequently checked in the field.
In both cases, the "rain makers" are members of the "royal" Phiri clan of the
first Bantu inhabitants of Nyasaland, who are now known by various names.
Those now living in the area where Makewana formerly held sway are now known
as Gewa, or formerly perhaps more commonly as Cipeta (the people of the long
grass country), while those who live where the cult of Mbona still survives are
known as Mang'anja. The "rain-making" Banda clan of the Central Province
of Nyasaland, descendants of Cembe Banda of Mankhamba, and all offshoots
of the noted "priestess" Gauwa of Cirenje, never achieved such vast fame as did
these two Phiri rain-makers.
At Msinja, the drum was kept in the rain shrine. Some few
accounts say that it had a separate shrine, but on the whole we
believe that the shrine of the drum was the rain shrine. The
shrine was about four to five feet in diameter, and was unusual
in that the walls were coated with mud (but Cilowa at Bunda
Hill had a rain shrine, the walls of which were made with
stone, although the present-day shrine is made in the usual
form with pole and grass sides). Usually, rain shrines have
sides of poles and grass or reeds. The doorway of the shrine
was kept closed with a grass door. The drum was kept in the
shrine lying across two poles in order to keep it from damp or
damage by termites, and the drum was kept covered with
offerings of black cloth. The two poles did not touch the
ground but their ends were stuck in the walls of the shrine,
at one side, and at the other they rested on the lintel of the
doorway. The drum might be taken out of the shrine only to
be repaired or beaten. It might be beaten only by Tsang'oma,
or indeed handled at all (except when being repaired) only by
him. (Mr. Hamilton is of the opinion that other members of
the Tsang'oma family may nowadays also handle the drum).
If the drum was beaten, this was a message to summon all
people to Msinja. If the summons was to hear an oracle, there
might be great delay, perhaps a month or more, before the
oracle was delivered. If no oracle was eventually delivered,
Tsang'oma was held to be at fault. If the summons was in
order to cause rain to fall, the people would gather at once.
Accounts of the ceremony differ widely. By some accounts,
only Makewana would dance the rain dance Mgwetsa (to cause
it to fall), by other accounts, Makewana danced with the
Matsano, and by other accounts the entire gathering danced,
throwing water into the air and over one another. Before the
rain dance, the Matsano had to pound flour and make it into
a gruel (perhaps the only labour they performed) and this
gruel was placed in pots kept around the inside of the shrine.
A black fowl also was killed and placed inside the shrine.
If rain did not fall after the rain dance, then Tsang'oma was
held to be responsible for withholding the rain, but informants
hasten to add that the Mgwetsa quite infallibly produced rain
whenever desired.
after the people had been summoned, if the rains failed at all
even if Mgwetsa was not danced, Tsang'oma was held to blame
and was put to death. When Tsang'oma was put to death,
he was taken several miles away to Dzanzi rock. There are
two accounts as to how he was always put to death. By one
account, there is a hole in the side of Dzanzi rock in which a
man may stand upright, and in this hole Tsang'oma was
placed bound and upright, and a black cloth wrapped around
his head so that he might not see. A sharpened stake of hard
wood was then hammered into the top of his skull reaching
down perhaps as far as his chest. His body was then taken out
of the hole, a single canine tooth from the upper jaw was
removed, and the body was taken and buried in a special
graveyard at the foot of Dzanzi reserved for Tsang'oma-s.
By other accounts, Tsang'oma was taken to the summit of
Dzanzi rock, and there, in a hollow in the rock, was bound
in a squatting position with a black cloth over his head, and a
sharp stake of hard wood was hammered through the top of
his head and the length of his body until the stake protruded
at his buttocks. A canine tooth was then removed from the
upper jaw and, here on the rock of Dzanzi, the corpse of
Tsang'oma was left to feed the vultures. Why Tsang'oma
should be taken a long distance to Dzanzi rock to be executed
is not explained, other than to say that it was not wished to
spill his blood near Msinja. According to all informants
questioned by the author, including the present Cadza Mkwe
nda himself, it was the duty of Cadza Mkwenda personally
always to execute Tsang'oma. (Mr. Hamilton's information
is that Cadza would order the death of Tsang'oma, but that
it was Cinsamba who carried out the actual execution and
lived near Dzanzi, perhaps one and a half miles from it. In
confirmation of this, Mr. Hamilton states that Cinsamba
refused to accompany him to Dzanzi (the inference being that
Cinsamba may not go there except on "official business").
The author did find it hard to credit that Cadza Mkwenda
should himself be the executioner, and this explanation that
Cinsamba was the executioner would appear to be the most
likely).
The tooth taken from each Tsang'oma was placed in the
sacred drum through the plug hole made for that purpose,
and it is asserted that there were very many teeth in the drum.
It is widely stated?as far to the north as the country of Culu?
that a Tsang'oma had a very short life, his usual downfall
followed Caukidwa, and Kalolo seized him and sent him back
to Tsang'oma, and, at Msekere, Caukidw7a was duly executed
by Mphako, who w7as appointed executioner, striking him
on the back of the head with an axe. The drum was recovered
and repaired, and according to all informants except the
Tsang'oma family, all the teeth were replaced in it.
onga when they sacked Msinja?it is said that there were very
many tusks in the hut of Makewana?but the Ngoni of Domwe
(the present-day Ngoni of Gomani, the descendant of Cidia
onga) have no tradition of any raid on Msinja, or any par?
ticularly large haul of ivory in their raids. Offerings of food
or beer were placed in the shrine. These offerings differed
from presents sent for the use of the inhabitants of Msinja.
It is acknowledged that offerings and presents to Msinja used
to come from as far away as the Mwase of Kasungu, and
beyond him, in those days, a far greater chief, Culu, and from
Undi himself at Maano. It is stressed by all informants that the
real "owner" of the shrine at Msinja was Undi, and it would
be expected that all the chiefs of the Undi "empire" would
send tribute to Msinja.
Kanthungo Nkhoma had the duty of killing any animals
offered to the shrine. The name means "short spear" and he
used a spear to stab any animals to be killed. The throat was
never cut, even fowls were killed by stabbing. This short spear
was, by description, almost, if not entirely, identical in pattern
with the traditional spears used for public executions of
humans. Mlolo tradition, far away to the south in the lower
Shire valley, describes an identical spear, which was a short
and heavy spear, nearly all blade, which could be thrust
through a man from the side throught the armpits so that the
point stuck out on one side, yet the other end of the iron blade
was still not into the man. There are many old men still alive
who can demonstrate, with pantomime, the execution with
such a spear.
There was a pile of stones?Guwa?near the shrine, and
on it any animal or bird offerings were burnt. According to
most accounts, these offerings were burnt to ashes, and the
ashes then taken and cast in the sacred pool of Malawi. Ac?
cording to the Tsang'oma family, such offerings were merely
cooked and then eaten by the functionaries of Msinja, but
such an explanation is so unusual as to receive little credit.
The duty of Kanthungo was inherited in the usual way.
Kubzikho Mphande had the duty of keeping clean the
cups?zikho?used for drinking the beer which was supplied
to important visitors to Msinja, such as chiefs, and to the
important functionaries of Msinja, such as Kamundi Mbewe,
Malemia Mwale, and others. The duty was inherited in the
usual manner.
Kampini Phiri had the duty of making the handles for the
hoes, and hence his name, which means "little handle".
With these hoes he had to keep the area around the shrine fre
of grass and weeds. It is not certain who actually made the
hoes. It is said that the children of Kampini actually had the
smelting furnaces and the smithy, and that they made the
hoes. It seems far more probable that in fact the Msinja
people never smelted iron, but that Kampini was no more
than a blacksmith. Culu, long ago chief of the Cimaliro
(by the best accounts, so-called because of the "screaming of
the furnaces") traditionally sent hoes to Msinja as tribute to
ensure good rains.
The duty of Kampini was inherited in the usual manner.
Njiraamadzi Nkhoma had the duty of providing the
materials for the construction of the shrine and for its repair.
He provided poles and grass and bark rope, and, because he