DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0327
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND
311
45. A child, when one of its milk teeth drops out, stands some five yards away facing
the door of the hut and throws the tooth over the roof of the hut, saying:
“ A! likungulu lino lyenualyo, mbani lyangu lyambone ’lyo!”
“ Oh! crow tooth your there is, give me my of good one!”
Religion. The matter of the religious beliefs professed by natives of East Central
Africa is one beset with many difficulties to the student of today. It has been the subject
of many essays by workers in the missionary field, but the wide contact of the natives of
Nyasaland with missionary effort during the past thirty years has done much to confuse
the problem, and one feels that many missionaries in their writings rather color the picture
with their own feelings.
I think probably the Yao with whom I am now concerned have a truer conception of
their own beliefs than many of the subject tribes among whom mission teaching has more
easily taken root. The religious beliefs of a people are to a large extent the reflection of
the circumstances under which that people lives. The outstanding event to all natives
is death. At death, something is lost to the body, without which life is impossible. This
is the msimu which may be translated “soul” or “ spirit.” The msimu is said to leave the
body of the dying man when he becomes moribund or unconscious. It appears that this
same msimu may leave the body during unconscious states unassociated with death, as
when a man faints, in epilepsy, and during sleep.
Apart from this evidence of the dissociation of the msimu from the living body, the
Yao believe that a man’s shadow is an objective manifestation of the soul and they will
say “ the shadow is the msimu.” Fear is experienced if a man jumps on the shadow of his
fellow. Light is also thrown on the constitution of the msimu by the belief in a certain
evil-spirit which dwells in deep pools. It is called chimala-mesi, which means “ one who
may finish (drink up) all the water.” The superstition regarding this evil spirit is that it
can suck the blood from your shadow as you stand at the edge of the pool, till you become
so weak that you fall in and are drowned.
After leaving the body at death, the msimu goes to take up its place in the spirit-world,
occupying a position corresponding to that held by the man during his life. With a truly
materialistic conception, the soul is supposed to have all the attributes of the dead man,
to be wealthy in proportion as the man was so on earth, and its relative position will be
identical with that which he held among the living. The tribal chief becomes a paramount
chief in the spirit world, the lesser chief holds sway in his lesser capacity, etc. We shall
see that in intercession, when the tribe is threatened with calamities, it is the late para-
mount chief who is appealed to for help, and when one feudal chief is at war with another,
the chief’s dead predecessor will be called upon for aid. When a village is moved, it is from
the spirit of the dead headman of the village that success in the enterprise is sought. Simi-
larly, in family trouble, some dead ancestor is entreated to set things right, while a native
311
45. A child, when one of its milk teeth drops out, stands some five yards away facing
the door of the hut and throws the tooth over the roof of the hut, saying:
“ A! likungulu lino lyenualyo, mbani lyangu lyambone ’lyo!”
“ Oh! crow tooth your there is, give me my of good one!”
Religion. The matter of the religious beliefs professed by natives of East Central
Africa is one beset with many difficulties to the student of today. It has been the subject
of many essays by workers in the missionary field, but the wide contact of the natives of
Nyasaland with missionary effort during the past thirty years has done much to confuse
the problem, and one feels that many missionaries in their writings rather color the picture
with their own feelings.
I think probably the Yao with whom I am now concerned have a truer conception of
their own beliefs than many of the subject tribes among whom mission teaching has more
easily taken root. The religious beliefs of a people are to a large extent the reflection of
the circumstances under which that people lives. The outstanding event to all natives
is death. At death, something is lost to the body, without which life is impossible. This
is the msimu which may be translated “soul” or “ spirit.” The msimu is said to leave the
body of the dying man when he becomes moribund or unconscious. It appears that this
same msimu may leave the body during unconscious states unassociated with death, as
when a man faints, in epilepsy, and during sleep.
Apart from this evidence of the dissociation of the msimu from the living body, the
Yao believe that a man’s shadow is an objective manifestation of the soul and they will
say “ the shadow is the msimu.” Fear is experienced if a man jumps on the shadow of his
fellow. Light is also thrown on the constitution of the msimu by the belief in a certain
evil-spirit which dwells in deep pools. It is called chimala-mesi, which means “ one who
may finish (drink up) all the water.” The superstition regarding this evil spirit is that it
can suck the blood from your shadow as you stand at the edge of the pool, till you become
so weak that you fall in and are drowned.
After leaving the body at death, the msimu goes to take up its place in the spirit-world,
occupying a position corresponding to that held by the man during his life. With a truly
materialistic conception, the soul is supposed to have all the attributes of the dead man,
to be wealthy in proportion as the man was so on earth, and its relative position will be
identical with that which he held among the living. The tribal chief becomes a paramount
chief in the spirit world, the lesser chief holds sway in his lesser capacity, etc. We shall
see that in intercession, when the tribe is threatened with calamities, it is the late para-
mount chief who is appealed to for help, and when one feudal chief is at war with another,
the chief’s dead predecessor will be called upon for aid. When a village is moved, it is from
the spirit of the dead headman of the village that success in the enterprise is sought. Simi-
larly, in family trouble, some dead ancestor is entreated to set things right, while a native