DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0260
244
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
might not break up for a week, but the practice was often modified to some degree, people
returning to their homes during the day and coming back each night to sleep in the de-
ceased’s village. At the present time, there is a tendency to cut the proceedings short, and
the mourners generally disperse on the second day after the funeral. This period of wait-
ing is usually whiled away by playing and singing chindimba.
On the day before the company leaves the village — now, often on the day after the
funeral — the ceremony of shaving the head takes place. The awilo, assisted in the case
of a large party, by those who helped at the burial, shave the heads of all the dead man’s
relatives. When this is completed, they begin to tear down the deceased’s house. The
grass from the roof, with the hair removed from the heads of the relatives, is carried to the
cross-roads and burned. The walls of earth are torn down and made into a heap; on the
top, a stick is raised, and at its base is placed the dead man’s snuff box. Sometimes a
cactus euphorbia, ngachi, is planted on the mound and cassava round about. The snuff box
is kept replenished with snuff. This, with the cassava, is reserved for the awilo; no one
else may partake of them.
While the house is being pulled down, the chief mbilo ties around the neck of the widow
a single string of beads or a small piece of calico, ng’onji. After the house has been demol-
ished, the awilo return to their homes and on the following morning, everyone else departs.
The position of mbilo is a strange one. Every man in the course of his life probably acts
as undertaker for some friend; many have probably performed the service several times.
He receives no regular payment, but beads, and, nowadays, coins are often thrown into the
pot of water with which he wets the heads of those he shaves after the funeral, and he has
the freedom of the village in which he has so acted forever afterward, the degree of freedom
being determined by the distance which he has travelled to officiate. When Wandalama
died, a headman named Chisui from Makanjila’s on Lake Nyasa, over a hundred miles
away, acted as one of the awilo. The occasions on which he revisited Malemya’s village are
well remembered, as they were marked by much frolicking and some obscenity. He was
the recipient of enormous presents of fowls, sheep, and anything else he cared to take, and
having commandeered men from the village to carry these gifts for him, he would leave,
accompanied by all the people, yelling and shouting their joy at seeing him again.
Any fowls or other provisions that friends may present to the deceased’s relatives at
the time of the funeral to help defray expenses are given to the awilo; no one else may
eat them. Some may be kept against the next death in the family.
A few days after the funeral, recourse is had to the chief to settle whether any action
must be taken in regard to the cause of the death. Some near relative of the dead man will
be chosen for this purpose; he must not be shaved by the awilo at the time of the funeral.
The consultation takes place at some secluded spot outside the village. The chief always
brings some one with him to witness what is said. On arriving at the appointed place, the
chief salutes the unshaven mourner who is probably accompanied by other relatives, and
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
might not break up for a week, but the practice was often modified to some degree, people
returning to their homes during the day and coming back each night to sleep in the de-
ceased’s village. At the present time, there is a tendency to cut the proceedings short, and
the mourners generally disperse on the second day after the funeral. This period of wait-
ing is usually whiled away by playing and singing chindimba.
On the day before the company leaves the village — now, often on the day after the
funeral — the ceremony of shaving the head takes place. The awilo, assisted in the case
of a large party, by those who helped at the burial, shave the heads of all the dead man’s
relatives. When this is completed, they begin to tear down the deceased’s house. The
grass from the roof, with the hair removed from the heads of the relatives, is carried to the
cross-roads and burned. The walls of earth are torn down and made into a heap; on the
top, a stick is raised, and at its base is placed the dead man’s snuff box. Sometimes a
cactus euphorbia, ngachi, is planted on the mound and cassava round about. The snuff box
is kept replenished with snuff. This, with the cassava, is reserved for the awilo; no one
else may partake of them.
While the house is being pulled down, the chief mbilo ties around the neck of the widow
a single string of beads or a small piece of calico, ng’onji. After the house has been demol-
ished, the awilo return to their homes and on the following morning, everyone else departs.
The position of mbilo is a strange one. Every man in the course of his life probably acts
as undertaker for some friend; many have probably performed the service several times.
He receives no regular payment, but beads, and, nowadays, coins are often thrown into the
pot of water with which he wets the heads of those he shaves after the funeral, and he has
the freedom of the village in which he has so acted forever afterward, the degree of freedom
being determined by the distance which he has travelled to officiate. When Wandalama
died, a headman named Chisui from Makanjila’s on Lake Nyasa, over a hundred miles
away, acted as one of the awilo. The occasions on which he revisited Malemya’s village are
well remembered, as they were marked by much frolicking and some obscenity. He was
the recipient of enormous presents of fowls, sheep, and anything else he cared to take, and
having commandeered men from the village to carry these gifts for him, he would leave,
accompanied by all the people, yelling and shouting their joy at seeing him again.
Any fowls or other provisions that friends may present to the deceased’s relatives at
the time of the funeral to help defray expenses are given to the awilo; no one else may
eat them. Some may be kept against the next death in the family.
A few days after the funeral, recourse is had to the chief to settle whether any action
must be taken in regard to the cause of the death. Some near relative of the dead man will
be chosen for this purpose; he must not be shaved by the awilo at the time of the funeral.
The consultation takes place at some secluded spot outside the village. The chief always
brings some one with him to witness what is said. On arriving at the appointed place, the
chief salutes the unshaven mourner who is probably accompanied by other relatives, and