DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0316
300
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Mbisalila is a Chinyanja word from /m-bisa, “ to hide,” referring to his custom of hiding
in the village; the practice is originally Mang’anja, since adopted by the Yao. Mbisalila
is often a woman and may be young.1 She comes to stay in the village unknown to the
people, lives in a watch house in the gardens and is said to go about at night when she is
able to summon msawi persons from their houses. The fee for her services is paid before-
hand. Later, the villagers are assembled and going round the company holding out flour
in her hand, she calls upon So-and-So as the guilty man saying, “ This is his ‘ night-name.’ ”
The villagers all answer, “ There is no one of that name in the village.” She then goes
round again and throwing the flour over the accused, utters his ordinary name and runs
off into the bush, not to appear again. The accused may then offer to take mwai (ordeal
poison) to prove his innocence or if it is a case of illness only and not death, he may be
treated by a medicine man, the process being called ku-logolola, “ to take evil things
out of.”
A msawi man is sometimes said to renounce his old practices and may then be received
into the company of mbisalila. A famous mbisalila near Zomba affirms that he used to be
msawi. The mode of action of mbisalila varies greatly with different men; for some the
ceremony is quite a minor matter; in other cases, it is an important affair.
Witch-destroyer. Where death is suspected to have resulted from usawi, steps may be
taken immediately to catch and kill the msawi. For this purpose, the help of the mundu
juaseketela is sought. Ku-seketela means “ to break oft the end of a stick ”; it appears to
be both a Chinyanja and a Chiyao word. The word refers to the practice of the profes-
sional witch-killer who is supposed to run a stick through the anus up the bowel of his
victim and then break it off, leaving part inside. The juaseketela having been informed of
the approaching funeral hides in the bush near the graveyard and watches the interment.
After everyone has gone, he is free to put in operation that for which he has been called.
The following modus operandi is related of a celebrated mundu juaseketela called Angoni
of Zomba. The water in which the corpse had been first washed was obtained and put in
an earthenware dish. He also provided himself with a gourd containing medicines and some
stones, and another gourd filled with poison made from crocodile gall to anoint the seketela
sticks. He also had a small antelope’s horn containing medicine which when smeared on
the head rendered him invisible, together with the stalks of a species of millet called mbalwe
which sheds its grains at a touch, and a whistle made from the horn of a small antelope, the
oribi.
So provided, he proceeded to the grave, around which he drew a ring with medicine con-
tained in still another horn. Within this circle, all was safe. This was followed by a square
immediately around the grave with a stone from the gourd placed at each side, north,
south, east and west. The plate of water was placed on top of the grave. The mundu
juaseketela then anointed himself with the medicine which made him invisible to the mswai
1 Cf. Scott, op. cit., p. 299.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Mbisalila is a Chinyanja word from /m-bisa, “ to hide,” referring to his custom of hiding
in the village; the practice is originally Mang’anja, since adopted by the Yao. Mbisalila
is often a woman and may be young.1 She comes to stay in the village unknown to the
people, lives in a watch house in the gardens and is said to go about at night when she is
able to summon msawi persons from their houses. The fee for her services is paid before-
hand. Later, the villagers are assembled and going round the company holding out flour
in her hand, she calls upon So-and-So as the guilty man saying, “ This is his ‘ night-name.’ ”
The villagers all answer, “ There is no one of that name in the village.” She then goes
round again and throwing the flour over the accused, utters his ordinary name and runs
off into the bush, not to appear again. The accused may then offer to take mwai (ordeal
poison) to prove his innocence or if it is a case of illness only and not death, he may be
treated by a medicine man, the process being called ku-logolola, “ to take evil things
out of.”
A msawi man is sometimes said to renounce his old practices and may then be received
into the company of mbisalila. A famous mbisalila near Zomba affirms that he used to be
msawi. The mode of action of mbisalila varies greatly with different men; for some the
ceremony is quite a minor matter; in other cases, it is an important affair.
Witch-destroyer. Where death is suspected to have resulted from usawi, steps may be
taken immediately to catch and kill the msawi. For this purpose, the help of the mundu
juaseketela is sought. Ku-seketela means “ to break oft the end of a stick ”; it appears to
be both a Chinyanja and a Chiyao word. The word refers to the practice of the profes-
sional witch-killer who is supposed to run a stick through the anus up the bowel of his
victim and then break it off, leaving part inside. The juaseketela having been informed of
the approaching funeral hides in the bush near the graveyard and watches the interment.
After everyone has gone, he is free to put in operation that for which he has been called.
The following modus operandi is related of a celebrated mundu juaseketela called Angoni
of Zomba. The water in which the corpse had been first washed was obtained and put in
an earthenware dish. He also provided himself with a gourd containing medicines and some
stones, and another gourd filled with poison made from crocodile gall to anoint the seketela
sticks. He also had a small antelope’s horn containing medicine which when smeared on
the head rendered him invisible, together with the stalks of a species of millet called mbalwe
which sheds its grains at a touch, and a whistle made from the horn of a small antelope, the
oribi.
So provided, he proceeded to the grave, around which he drew a ring with medicine con-
tained in still another horn. Within this circle, all was safe. This was followed by a square
immediately around the grave with a stone from the gourd placed at each side, north,
south, east and west. The plate of water was placed on top of the grave. The mundu
juaseketela then anointed himself with the medicine which made him invisible to the mswai
1 Cf. Scott, op. cit., p. 299.