DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0274
258
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
During the period of seclusion at Ndag ala, rigorous discipline is maintained among the
boys, the day commencing with bathing in a stream whither the wali are driven before sun-
rise, a favorite form of punishment being to make the boy sit for hours in the cold water.
Other disciplinary measures take the form of frequent beatings. At one Unyago I know
of, there was a kind of mutiny among the boys. The akamusi from a nearby Unyago were
called in and the boys received very severe “ hidings ” for their trouble.
For the entire time, the wali are occupied in receiving instruction given by their aka-
musi, on the discipline of manhood; they are taught native custom as applied to their
relations with their fellows, an exacting code of etiquette to be observed to their elders,
and the observances of married life. They learn to become proficient in the arts associated
with their sex — the making of baskets, mats, traps, etc., the method of agriculture, drum-
ming and dancing. They stay up late into the night listening to the stories of their tribal
history.
Until such time as the circumcision wound is healed, each boy must cook his own food,
after which food is brought ready cooked by his mother.
Posted in the bush a little way from the encampment are some of the boy’s guardians,
akamusi or alombwe (sing, mlombej who act as pickets to warn off innocent or intentional
intruders. They are armed with sticks, etc., and give pretty severe treatment to any in-
quisitive persons they catch. A visitor to Ndag ala may be required by them to give visible
evidence of not being mbalale. The mothers who come with food call from a distance,
“Alomwe ndute!” Answer is made, “Atutulile tulye!” “Put down for us that we may eat.”
When the chief decides that the time has come for the return from Ndagala, he sends
for the m’michila. Arrived in the village with medicine which he has collected, he is
given millet by the mother of the leader from which the malt for beer making is to be
prepared, also a cock and a hen and a pot. Into the pot he puts a tail feather from
the cock and one from the hen, together with his medicine; then the millet, and water is
poured on, after which he goes to Ndagala and shaves the heads of all the wali beginning
with the leader and then returns to his own village. When the millet has sprouted, the
woman takes it out to dry on a mat, and the two feathers and the packet of medicine are
laid on the mat by its side. From this time, all the mothers are busy preparing malted
grain for brewing beer, and, when it is ready, the mimichila is again called to the village.
He orders the women to prepare for brewing, to bring firewood, their brewing pots, and
stones to support them on the fire. These are all set round in a circle in the presence of the
chief and headmen. Across the stones the m’michila lays his “tails” and on the firewood he
sprinkles some medicine; the “ tails ” are then removed and the pots set on the fire. Com-
mencing with the pots belonging to the mother of the leader, he acts similarly all round.
The following day, he again visits the scene of the brewing. Putting his “ tails ” on the
ground, he dips from each pot in turn and pretending to drink the sweetbeer from the dipper,
he empties it into other pots carried by his assistants. From his own pots, he then empties
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
During the period of seclusion at Ndag ala, rigorous discipline is maintained among the
boys, the day commencing with bathing in a stream whither the wali are driven before sun-
rise, a favorite form of punishment being to make the boy sit for hours in the cold water.
Other disciplinary measures take the form of frequent beatings. At one Unyago I know
of, there was a kind of mutiny among the boys. The akamusi from a nearby Unyago were
called in and the boys received very severe “ hidings ” for their trouble.
For the entire time, the wali are occupied in receiving instruction given by their aka-
musi, on the discipline of manhood; they are taught native custom as applied to their
relations with their fellows, an exacting code of etiquette to be observed to their elders,
and the observances of married life. They learn to become proficient in the arts associated
with their sex — the making of baskets, mats, traps, etc., the method of agriculture, drum-
ming and dancing. They stay up late into the night listening to the stories of their tribal
history.
Until such time as the circumcision wound is healed, each boy must cook his own food,
after which food is brought ready cooked by his mother.
Posted in the bush a little way from the encampment are some of the boy’s guardians,
akamusi or alombwe (sing, mlombej who act as pickets to warn off innocent or intentional
intruders. They are armed with sticks, etc., and give pretty severe treatment to any in-
quisitive persons they catch. A visitor to Ndag ala may be required by them to give visible
evidence of not being mbalale. The mothers who come with food call from a distance,
“Alomwe ndute!” Answer is made, “Atutulile tulye!” “Put down for us that we may eat.”
When the chief decides that the time has come for the return from Ndagala, he sends
for the m’michila. Arrived in the village with medicine which he has collected, he is
given millet by the mother of the leader from which the malt for beer making is to be
prepared, also a cock and a hen and a pot. Into the pot he puts a tail feather from
the cock and one from the hen, together with his medicine; then the millet, and water is
poured on, after which he goes to Ndagala and shaves the heads of all the wali beginning
with the leader and then returns to his own village. When the millet has sprouted, the
woman takes it out to dry on a mat, and the two feathers and the packet of medicine are
laid on the mat by its side. From this time, all the mothers are busy preparing malted
grain for brewing beer, and, when it is ready, the mimichila is again called to the village.
He orders the women to prepare for brewing, to bring firewood, their brewing pots, and
stones to support them on the fire. These are all set round in a circle in the presence of the
chief and headmen. Across the stones the m’michila lays his “tails” and on the firewood he
sprinkles some medicine; the “ tails ” are then removed and the pots set on the fire. Com-
mencing with the pots belonging to the mother of the leader, he acts similarly all round.
The following day, he again visits the scene of the brewing. Putting his “ tails ” on the
ground, he dips from each pot in turn and pretending to drink the sweetbeer from the dipper,
he empties it into other pots carried by his assistants. From his own pots, he then empties