DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0276
260
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
along the path towards Ndagala, to meet the wali, accompanied by the drummers and all
the women, singing:
“ Makomba kwiwanda sulo!”
“The lemurs down the stream!”
When he meets the wali, they all throw their lighted torches at him and he flees back
to Lupanda. The wali continue their procession and are brought round to the still unlit
bonfire known as chilangali.
At the order of the m’michila, the fire is now lighted and the wali lie around it. The
m’michila again appears with the drummers, and all the women and other villagers form a
big circle round about. He sings:
“Chomboko chikuweja mbeja, wandu’wa chikwajogopa!”
“The (ford) fire is now flaring up people these it is afraid of them!”
Dancing and singing then go on all night while the wali lie round the fire where they are
allowed to sleep. As dawn approaches, the m’michila again sings:
“Chonde! Mwalira, amwali, Amsuse mwanache, mbule
“Please! it is crying, you girl, arrange the child, the girdle of beads round its waist
uwoneche ukapagwe! ’ ’
lest there be exposure of the person!”
Amsuse: a woman carries her child bound to her back by a piece of cloth passing under her
own arms and tied in front. If the cloth gets loose, she jogs the child up higher on her back
as she rearranges the cloth; this is what is meant by amsuse.
The akamusi waken the wali as the m’michila sings:
‘ ‘ Kwambulira waka! ’ ’
“To nose after the scent!”
That is, he is looking about for the inyago. He then leads them off to nalumgumi, the
whale, the first of the inyago.
I shall first go on with an account of Mlemala’s practice to the end of the ceremony and
then discuss the inyago in greater detail.
Arrived at nalumgumi, the m’michila sings:
11 Nalumgumi nalitanda, nalumgumi asiwili kuchiko!”
“The whale in the pool, the whale has blocked the ford!”
after which he straddles the head of the whale while one of his assistants does the same at
the tail and thus sitting, they do a kind of wriggling dance, singing to the time marked by
clapping of hands:
“Nalumgumi atundumula, eh! eh! (Repeat) Apalapala wate kundema; apalapala
“The whale showed his back above the water, eh! There it did fail me; there
wate kunumba; Kwa, kwa, kwa, kwa!”
it did half break;”
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
along the path towards Ndagala, to meet the wali, accompanied by the drummers and all
the women, singing:
“ Makomba kwiwanda sulo!”
“The lemurs down the stream!”
When he meets the wali, they all throw their lighted torches at him and he flees back
to Lupanda. The wali continue their procession and are brought round to the still unlit
bonfire known as chilangali.
At the order of the m’michila, the fire is now lighted and the wali lie around it. The
m’michila again appears with the drummers, and all the women and other villagers form a
big circle round about. He sings:
“Chomboko chikuweja mbeja, wandu’wa chikwajogopa!”
“The (ford) fire is now flaring up people these it is afraid of them!”
Dancing and singing then go on all night while the wali lie round the fire where they are
allowed to sleep. As dawn approaches, the m’michila again sings:
“Chonde! Mwalira, amwali, Amsuse mwanache, mbule
“Please! it is crying, you girl, arrange the child, the girdle of beads round its waist
uwoneche ukapagwe! ’ ’
lest there be exposure of the person!”
Amsuse: a woman carries her child bound to her back by a piece of cloth passing under her
own arms and tied in front. If the cloth gets loose, she jogs the child up higher on her back
as she rearranges the cloth; this is what is meant by amsuse.
The akamusi waken the wali as the m’michila sings:
‘ ‘ Kwambulira waka! ’ ’
“To nose after the scent!”
That is, he is looking about for the inyago. He then leads them off to nalumgumi, the
whale, the first of the inyago.
I shall first go on with an account of Mlemala’s practice to the end of the ceremony and
then discuss the inyago in greater detail.
Arrived at nalumgumi, the m’michila sings:
11 Nalumgumi nalitanda, nalumgumi asiwili kuchiko!”
“The whale in the pool, the whale has blocked the ford!”
after which he straddles the head of the whale while one of his assistants does the same at
the tail and thus sitting, they do a kind of wriggling dance, singing to the time marked by
clapping of hands:
“Nalumgumi atundumula, eh! eh! (Repeat) Apalapala wate kundema; apalapala
“The whale showed his back above the water, eh! There it did fail me; there
wate kunumba; Kwa, kwa, kwa, kwa!”
it did half break;”