DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0282
266
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
teresting possibility of a totemic origin and it is, of course, true that at the present time
the Yao have few clan names referring to animals and practically no clan food taboo.
At Mkangula’s village in September 1913, I saw the inyago figures being made. The
long grass was cleared away and the earth hoed up into heaps, roughly of the shape and
size of the figures to be made. A number of women were employed carrying water from the
stream with which the mounds were well moistened and moulded into more definite form.
The outlines of the figures were then drawn in, all by one oldish man, with flour smeared
on by hand. In drawing nalumgumi, it was interesting to note how the efforts to keep to
symmetry failed.
Of ngwena, chisui, ngaka, ndomondo, mbalapi, sakata, liguluwe, sato, I have little to
add; the wali are told of their habits, whether they are good to eat, whether they are
dangerous, etc.; and all the stories about them. Mbunda, the zebra, is always represented
in duplicate for some unknown reason. Sungula is pointed out in reference to a story the
boys have been told at Ndagala, namely, that the hare is good to eat but they must not
eat it till after they are married and their wives have borne children; otherwise they will
be childless. The superstitition regarding the hare is mentioned elsewhere. Njasi is the
hypothetical lizard-like animal which lives above the clouds and is seen as lightning. Lika-
mambo is a cloth which the Yao used to wear. In the presence of his chief, a man must not
throw a fold over his shoulder. Mbale, the plate, refers to the chief’s plate from which he
eats. Likoloto: It is said that the old people used to eat scorpions and the people of Man-
goche, Amangoche Yao, used to call the Amachinga Yao the “Makolokoto eaters.” Lyuwa
is the sun, the giver of daytime. Wakongwe is a representation of a pregnant woman who
has died undelivered because her husband was unfaithful. This is a well recognized super-
stition and one among others of equal moral value, inculcated into the youths during their
stay at Ndagala. Though rough, wakongwe is a very realistic figure. The woman is evi-
dently lying down, as one hand supports the head, the other hand grasps the thigh as if
she were in pain; the breasts are made large and the figure being in relief, the prominent
abdomen, and expanded umbilicus are noticeable features. The face and pudenda are
modelled in clay and superimposed on the earth figure; a maize cob stalk is placed in the
nose to counterpart the nose-button worn by women.
In contradiction to wakongwe, mundu is symbolic of the man who has led a proper
life and is blessfed with a child. The child is shown on one side. On his other side is seen a
conventional illustration of a spear, possibly to indicate that the figure is that of a man.
I am not very sure about Kanga; it may be meant for nakanga, the woman who officiates
at Litiwo; there is nothing about the figure to suggest a woman and I could learn nothing
concerning it.
Nalumgumi: There appears to be some difference of opinion about this animal. For-
merly I accepted the translation given by Scott,1 namely, the whale. Others have supposed
1 David Clement Scott, ‘A cyclopaedic dictionary of the Mang’anja Language,’ Edinburgh, 1892, p. 421.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
teresting possibility of a totemic origin and it is, of course, true that at the present time
the Yao have few clan names referring to animals and practically no clan food taboo.
At Mkangula’s village in September 1913, I saw the inyago figures being made. The
long grass was cleared away and the earth hoed up into heaps, roughly of the shape and
size of the figures to be made. A number of women were employed carrying water from the
stream with which the mounds were well moistened and moulded into more definite form.
The outlines of the figures were then drawn in, all by one oldish man, with flour smeared
on by hand. In drawing nalumgumi, it was interesting to note how the efforts to keep to
symmetry failed.
Of ngwena, chisui, ngaka, ndomondo, mbalapi, sakata, liguluwe, sato, I have little to
add; the wali are told of their habits, whether they are good to eat, whether they are
dangerous, etc.; and all the stories about them. Mbunda, the zebra, is always represented
in duplicate for some unknown reason. Sungula is pointed out in reference to a story the
boys have been told at Ndagala, namely, that the hare is good to eat but they must not
eat it till after they are married and their wives have borne children; otherwise they will
be childless. The superstitition regarding the hare is mentioned elsewhere. Njasi is the
hypothetical lizard-like animal which lives above the clouds and is seen as lightning. Lika-
mambo is a cloth which the Yao used to wear. In the presence of his chief, a man must not
throw a fold over his shoulder. Mbale, the plate, refers to the chief’s plate from which he
eats. Likoloto: It is said that the old people used to eat scorpions and the people of Man-
goche, Amangoche Yao, used to call the Amachinga Yao the “Makolokoto eaters.” Lyuwa
is the sun, the giver of daytime. Wakongwe is a representation of a pregnant woman who
has died undelivered because her husband was unfaithful. This is a well recognized super-
stition and one among others of equal moral value, inculcated into the youths during their
stay at Ndagala. Though rough, wakongwe is a very realistic figure. The woman is evi-
dently lying down, as one hand supports the head, the other hand grasps the thigh as if
she were in pain; the breasts are made large and the figure being in relief, the prominent
abdomen, and expanded umbilicus are noticeable features. The face and pudenda are
modelled in clay and superimposed on the earth figure; a maize cob stalk is placed in the
nose to counterpart the nose-button worn by women.
In contradiction to wakongwe, mundu is symbolic of the man who has led a proper
life and is blessfed with a child. The child is shown on one side. On his other side is seen a
conventional illustration of a spear, possibly to indicate that the figure is that of a man.
I am not very sure about Kanga; it may be meant for nakanga, the woman who officiates
at Litiwo; there is nothing about the figure to suggest a woman and I could learn nothing
concerning it.
Nalumgumi: There appears to be some difference of opinion about this animal. For-
merly I accepted the translation given by Scott,1 namely, the whale. Others have supposed
1 David Clement Scott, ‘A cyclopaedic dictionary of the Mang’anja Language,’ Edinburgh, 1892, p. 421.