DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0330
314
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
A man leaving his village on some expedition and wishing to be assured of safe conduct
will procure some millet flour. Going quietly into his house, he squats down in one corner
and gently sifts the flour through his hand so that it falls on the floor in the form of a little
cone, repeating as he does so, his prayer for safe conduct beginning and ending with the
word chonde! please!
“Chonde! chonde! wa-ku-mulungu ambuje mlangusye meso gangu niliwone
“ Please, please! those at above ancestor clear eyes mine that I may see
litala, ngaiche ’chenene kunguja, chonde! chonde! chooooonde! ”
the path, may I arrive well where I go, please, please, please!”
He then covers the cone of flour with a basket. On the morrow, he will uncover it to see
what has happened. According as the cone has remained intact or has fallen to one side
or the other, the omen indicates whether or not the journey should be undertaken, the
reaction being caused by the spirits to whom his supplication was addressed.
Again, there may have occurred much sickness in a village and the people conclude that
the pest has come to remind them that they have not been attentive to their deceased chief.
“ His grave-house in the village has been allowed to fall into decay,” and so on. They will
decide that his spirit must be propitiated. The grave-house is rebuilt, a pot is sunk in
the ground, and beer is poured in, and round about heaps of flour are placed. Prayer is
made to the chief at whose grave they are worshipping, supplicating him in person and
“all others who are with you at Mlungu,” asking that he will no longer cause ill to befall
the village.
When a village is moved, the beer-pot from the grave of the old chief is taken to the
new village and a ceremony similar to that just described takes place, with the prayer that
he will come to the new village and continue to exercise his benevolent care over its people.
In 1880 when there was a threatened famine on account of long drought in Zomba dis-
trict, Malemya decided that supplication for rain must be made to the spirits of his illustri-
ous predecessors. Kasonga, one of Malemya’s wise men, acted as high priest. A large amount
of beer was brewed and the night before the ceremony, twenty sheep and fifty goats were
slaughtered. Plates of the meat, of rice and porridge were then placed on the ground round
the grave-house of the old Malemya, and pots of beer set into the ground at intervals. At
the head of the grave, little heaps of mbepesi flour were arranged. This flour had been pre-
pared by such of Malemya’s wives as were not near a menstrual period. The following
morning, a fence was built round the grave, outside which all the people collected, while
beyond them again was a second fence. Kasonga, accompanied by an assistant then ap-
peared, and amid absolute silence entered the inner enclosure. He addressed to the old
Malemya, at whose grave they were all assembled, a prayer for rain. He then repeated the
prayer, invoking the aid of all the past line of chiefs down to the reigning Malemya, re-
peating their names. Returning to the outer enclosure, he again uttered the prayers, all
the assembled multitude repeating them after him while lying face down, resting on their
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
A man leaving his village on some expedition and wishing to be assured of safe conduct
will procure some millet flour. Going quietly into his house, he squats down in one corner
and gently sifts the flour through his hand so that it falls on the floor in the form of a little
cone, repeating as he does so, his prayer for safe conduct beginning and ending with the
word chonde! please!
“Chonde! chonde! wa-ku-mulungu ambuje mlangusye meso gangu niliwone
“ Please, please! those at above ancestor clear eyes mine that I may see
litala, ngaiche ’chenene kunguja, chonde! chonde! chooooonde! ”
the path, may I arrive well where I go, please, please, please!”
He then covers the cone of flour with a basket. On the morrow, he will uncover it to see
what has happened. According as the cone has remained intact or has fallen to one side
or the other, the omen indicates whether or not the journey should be undertaken, the
reaction being caused by the spirits to whom his supplication was addressed.
Again, there may have occurred much sickness in a village and the people conclude that
the pest has come to remind them that they have not been attentive to their deceased chief.
“ His grave-house in the village has been allowed to fall into decay,” and so on. They will
decide that his spirit must be propitiated. The grave-house is rebuilt, a pot is sunk in
the ground, and beer is poured in, and round about heaps of flour are placed. Prayer is
made to the chief at whose grave they are worshipping, supplicating him in person and
“all others who are with you at Mlungu,” asking that he will no longer cause ill to befall
the village.
When a village is moved, the beer-pot from the grave of the old chief is taken to the
new village and a ceremony similar to that just described takes place, with the prayer that
he will come to the new village and continue to exercise his benevolent care over its people.
In 1880 when there was a threatened famine on account of long drought in Zomba dis-
trict, Malemya decided that supplication for rain must be made to the spirits of his illustri-
ous predecessors. Kasonga, one of Malemya’s wise men, acted as high priest. A large amount
of beer was brewed and the night before the ceremony, twenty sheep and fifty goats were
slaughtered. Plates of the meat, of rice and porridge were then placed on the ground round
the grave-house of the old Malemya, and pots of beer set into the ground at intervals. At
the head of the grave, little heaps of mbepesi flour were arranged. This flour had been pre-
pared by such of Malemya’s wives as were not near a menstrual period. The following
morning, a fence was built round the grave, outside which all the people collected, while
beyond them again was a second fence. Kasonga, accompanied by an assistant then ap-
peared, and amid absolute silence entered the inner enclosure. He addressed to the old
Malemya, at whose grave they were all assembled, a prayer for rain. He then repeated the
prayer, invoking the aid of all the past line of chiefs down to the reigning Malemya, re-
peating their names. Returning to the outer enclosure, he again uttered the prayers, all
the assembled multitude repeating them after him while lying face down, resting on their