DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0367
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND
351
The hair of the axilla is always removed in men and women, usually by shaving but
sometimes in the case of women it is dealt with as in the case of the pubic hair. A man
with unshaven axillae would be laughed at and referred to as “ a man carrying a fowl in
his armpit.” The axillary hairs are called mandenga ga mungwapa (ngwapa, the armpit).
The pubic hair, mandenga, is removed by both men and women; in men by shaving, in
women sometimes by shaving, but preferably by plucking out after the application of a
medicine called mesamandenga {ku-mesa, to pluck a fowl), which renders the operation
easy. It is prepared from the juice which exudes from the bruised bark of the mesa-mandenga
tree. There is a woman at Malemya’s who has never grown any axillary or pubic hair;
she is called 11 the rogue elephant”; a rogue elephant has no tusks. It may be noted
in passing that the woman has borne children.
A few men have the hair round the anus shaved. Such a service can only be asked of
a man’s closest intimate, such as a brother-in-law.
I have dealt with tattooing among the Yao in an article, as yet unpublished, on tattooing
among the natives of Nyasaland.
The teeth among the Yao proper are never mutilated in any way, though the Aman-
goche go in for small file marks at the cutting edges of the incisors.
The old Yao women, of whom some may still be seen, used to pierce the upper lip and
wear a circular disc of wood often two inches in diameter in the hole; this is called lupelele
(PL VII, fig. 4). The disc was often made of lead and sometimes of ivory. The lead might
be hollowed out on the upper surface; it was then called lupelele lua Utuli. The disc caused
a considerable projection of the upper lip which was much admired. A man, on the other
hand, with protruding lips would be nicknamed “ the warthog,” namanyindu, and con-
sidered ill favored.
This lupelele fashion has gone out and of later years the chipini or disc worn in the
left ala of the nose has become more and more fashionable (Pl. II, fig. 2). Originally the
chipini consisted of a small disc of lead not larger than a three-penny piece, which lay on
the outer surface of the ala, held in place by a stem, luchinji, which pierced the ala and
passed into the nostril. Now the fashion is to wear a very large disc, often an inch in diam-
eter, which itself occupies a hole in the substance of the ala of the nose; it may be flat-
topped and called chipini cha utenga (“ mushroom ”), or the upper surface may often be
concave, in which case it is called chipini cha utuli (lituli, a grain mortar). These disks
are made of lead and are sometimes called lidini, a recent word and doubtless a corruption
of “lead.” Others are made of ivory, which may bear some geometric pattern on the exposed
surface. A chipini used to cost a fowl.
Among Yao men and women, the lobule of the ear is often pierced but nothing is worn
in the hole except possibly a stalk of grass.
Combs for use and for ornament are worn in the hair by both men and women. The
ordinary comb without decoration is called likwembeya; it is made of a number of pieces
351
The hair of the axilla is always removed in men and women, usually by shaving but
sometimes in the case of women it is dealt with as in the case of the pubic hair. A man
with unshaven axillae would be laughed at and referred to as “ a man carrying a fowl in
his armpit.” The axillary hairs are called mandenga ga mungwapa (ngwapa, the armpit).
The pubic hair, mandenga, is removed by both men and women; in men by shaving, in
women sometimes by shaving, but preferably by plucking out after the application of a
medicine called mesamandenga {ku-mesa, to pluck a fowl), which renders the operation
easy. It is prepared from the juice which exudes from the bruised bark of the mesa-mandenga
tree. There is a woman at Malemya’s who has never grown any axillary or pubic hair;
she is called 11 the rogue elephant”; a rogue elephant has no tusks. It may be noted
in passing that the woman has borne children.
A few men have the hair round the anus shaved. Such a service can only be asked of
a man’s closest intimate, such as a brother-in-law.
I have dealt with tattooing among the Yao in an article, as yet unpublished, on tattooing
among the natives of Nyasaland.
The teeth among the Yao proper are never mutilated in any way, though the Aman-
goche go in for small file marks at the cutting edges of the incisors.
The old Yao women, of whom some may still be seen, used to pierce the upper lip and
wear a circular disc of wood often two inches in diameter in the hole; this is called lupelele
(PL VII, fig. 4). The disc was often made of lead and sometimes of ivory. The lead might
be hollowed out on the upper surface; it was then called lupelele lua Utuli. The disc caused
a considerable projection of the upper lip which was much admired. A man, on the other
hand, with protruding lips would be nicknamed “ the warthog,” namanyindu, and con-
sidered ill favored.
This lupelele fashion has gone out and of later years the chipini or disc worn in the
left ala of the nose has become more and more fashionable (Pl. II, fig. 2). Originally the
chipini consisted of a small disc of lead not larger than a three-penny piece, which lay on
the outer surface of the ala, held in place by a stem, luchinji, which pierced the ala and
passed into the nostril. Now the fashion is to wear a very large disc, often an inch in diam-
eter, which itself occupies a hole in the substance of the ala of the nose; it may be flat-
topped and called chipini cha utenga (“ mushroom ”), or the upper surface may often be
concave, in which case it is called chipini cha utuli (lituli, a grain mortar). These disks
are made of lead and are sometimes called lidini, a recent word and doubtless a corruption
of “lead.” Others are made of ivory, which may bear some geometric pattern on the exposed
surface. A chipini used to cost a fowl.
Among Yao men and women, the lobule of the ear is often pierced but nothing is worn
in the hole except possibly a stalk of grass.
Combs for use and for ornament are worn in the hair by both men and women. The
ordinary comb without decoration is called likwembeya; it is made of a number of pieces