DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0290
274
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
the red beads, he is jeered at and laughed to scorn. In this case, the white beads are held to
indicate semen, the red beads menstrual blood.
Litiwo: This ceremony is enacted at the time when a young married woman quickens
with her first child. Litiwo (ku-tiwa, to plait) refers to the plaited cord put round the
woman’s neck. The woman and her husband both are present, and in addition, only
women, possibly with their babies.
For the man, Litiwo is looked upon as the third or completing ceremony of his Unyago.
He must have been to Lupanda and Chiputu, otherwise he cannot be admitted to Litiwo.
If, however, the husband is not eligible, some other man who has completed his Unyago,
is married, and has children, may act as proxy to a woman at Litiwo.
In every district there is generally some woman who arranges and conducts the cere-
mony. She is called nakanga; naturally, no European has been present at Litiwo but my in-
formation was gained from Kuliati, a woman who for years acted as nakanga in the villages
round Malemya’s kraal, and Chilandana, her old mother who had acted in the same capacity
before her and who had come from the old Machinga country where her mother in turn had
been a well-known nakanga.
When a woman quickens with child for the first time, her women-folk visit the local
nakanga, saying, “ We are going to shave so and so (naming the woman) and to get bananas.
Tomorrow, we start pounding flour. In three days we shall be ready, and you will come
over to arrange things.” At the appointed time, the nakanga having partaken of food early
because she will not eat for the rest of the day, goes out of the village to some spot a half-
mile away in the bush and there sees that all preparations are made and sufficient food
collected. The food is supplied by the mothers of the man and woman, and consists essen-
tially of beans (njama and ngunde), porridge, sugar-cane, and bananas, but no beer.
All being ready, a procession in single file leaves the village for the appointed place, the
woman’s sponsor leading, the woman followed by the husband and his sponsor (a woman),
and the married women assembled from nearby villages. The sponsor is known as mkamusi
or alombwe. Neither mkamusi nor nakanga may have sexual relations with their husbands
till after the birth of the child. The woman wears bark-cloth stained black, but may wear
blue cloth on returning to the village, while her husband is decked out in his finest cloths
and ornaments. They have partaken of food early in the day as they fast until the next
day.
Arrived at the place, the man and woman take up their positions on mats separated from
each other by some twenty or thirty paces, each with his mkamusi. The man’s mkamusi
sits on the same mat with him and never leaves him throughout the ceremony. The woman
preserves a dignified quiet but the man is expected to make the most of himself sitting
with hands on hips, and displaying his fine clothes worn after the fashion of a chief.
While all the assembled crowd of women sit round in a semi-circle, the nakanga com-
mences the proceedings, singing a number of songs to the woman and the man in turn,
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
the red beads, he is jeered at and laughed to scorn. In this case, the white beads are held to
indicate semen, the red beads menstrual blood.
Litiwo: This ceremony is enacted at the time when a young married woman quickens
with her first child. Litiwo (ku-tiwa, to plait) refers to the plaited cord put round the
woman’s neck. The woman and her husband both are present, and in addition, only
women, possibly with their babies.
For the man, Litiwo is looked upon as the third or completing ceremony of his Unyago.
He must have been to Lupanda and Chiputu, otherwise he cannot be admitted to Litiwo.
If, however, the husband is not eligible, some other man who has completed his Unyago,
is married, and has children, may act as proxy to a woman at Litiwo.
In every district there is generally some woman who arranges and conducts the cere-
mony. She is called nakanga; naturally, no European has been present at Litiwo but my in-
formation was gained from Kuliati, a woman who for years acted as nakanga in the villages
round Malemya’s kraal, and Chilandana, her old mother who had acted in the same capacity
before her and who had come from the old Machinga country where her mother in turn had
been a well-known nakanga.
When a woman quickens with child for the first time, her women-folk visit the local
nakanga, saying, “ We are going to shave so and so (naming the woman) and to get bananas.
Tomorrow, we start pounding flour. In three days we shall be ready, and you will come
over to arrange things.” At the appointed time, the nakanga having partaken of food early
because she will not eat for the rest of the day, goes out of the village to some spot a half-
mile away in the bush and there sees that all preparations are made and sufficient food
collected. The food is supplied by the mothers of the man and woman, and consists essen-
tially of beans (njama and ngunde), porridge, sugar-cane, and bananas, but no beer.
All being ready, a procession in single file leaves the village for the appointed place, the
woman’s sponsor leading, the woman followed by the husband and his sponsor (a woman),
and the married women assembled from nearby villages. The sponsor is known as mkamusi
or alombwe. Neither mkamusi nor nakanga may have sexual relations with their husbands
till after the birth of the child. The woman wears bark-cloth stained black, but may wear
blue cloth on returning to the village, while her husband is decked out in his finest cloths
and ornaments. They have partaken of food early in the day as they fast until the next
day.
Arrived at the place, the man and woman take up their positions on mats separated from
each other by some twenty or thirty paces, each with his mkamusi. The man’s mkamusi
sits on the same mat with him and never leaves him throughout the ceremony. The woman
preserves a dignified quiet but the man is expected to make the most of himself sitting
with hands on hips, and displaying his fine clothes worn after the fashion of a chief.
While all the assembled crowd of women sit round in a semi-circle, the nakanga com-
mences the proceedings, singing a number of songs to the woman and the man in turn,