DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0374
358
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
called komo; makomo or namkomo, the words given by Dr. Sanderson, are not known to the
Yao in this district. There is a simple game played among the Anyanja children and there-
fore called chiana (childish or for children), but the common game played is more diffi-
cult as shown by Dr. Sanderson. Mchombwa is being partly displaced by a Swahili variety
called bau, or often by the Yao, ubau (Pl. IV, fig. 4). I may here also point out that the
words msuwa and nsolo, which Dr. Sanderson uses for the Manyanja and Angoni varieties
of the game, are often replaced by mfuwa and tsoro.
Yao children play at keeping house in little grass structures, made near the village or in
the fields, while their parents work. Children who can only toddle may be seen practicing
dancing the steps of their elders. The boys play with miniature bows and arrows made of
a kind of grass, sewe, and make a toy dart-tube, uti (Pl. XXII, fig. 5). Little dug-out canoes
eighteen inches long are made for them to sail in pools.
Among the lads in a village, games of fighting are much indulged in; two sides are op-
posed and their weapons are of various kinds. Sometimes each is armed with a length of
bamboo, into the hollow end of which sand and pebbles are put, representing powder and
shot. This end of the bamboo is then rapidly swung in the direction of the “enemy”
and will discharge the sand and pebbles into the face of the opponent. This is called uti ja
msanga (“ gun for sand ”). The boys are sometimes armed with maize cobs for throwing
at each other.
Chinene is another form of fighting. Armed with a collection of small stones, each
flicks his stone at the enemy with very good aim, using the fore-finger of the right hand to
propel the stone, the index of the left hand acting as trigger and the left thumb as the spring.
The name comes from ne! the sound of the whizzing stone as it goes through the air.
In a pool opposing sides fight with rudimentary syringes made of bamboo, driving
streams of water into each other’s faces. This is called ipierere, from the sound of the
stream of water, or uti ja mesi (“ gun for water ”). In the water they also play chitwinyi-
chisya, (jku-twinyichisya, to press down). Boys are ranged on two sides; each tries to
“ collar ” one of the opposing side and put him down into the water, holding him down
between his legs. An old water trick is for a boy to go down to the bottom and there
squat with his face turned upwards, the mouth stretched wide open by the fingers; viewed
from the surface the face looked flat and very grotesque. There is also diving for cassava,
chitiwilila (ku-tiwilila, to dive for).
A kind of skipping, called chiwewe, from we! we! the sound of the rope as it goes round
in the air, is a great favorite. A man with a heavy rope about fifteen feet long, with a bundle
of grass at the free end enclosing a lump of heavy wood or stone, swings it round and round
his head. The faster it goes, the higher it will fly out, while the boys in turn run in and
jump over it. Sometimes a boy is caught by the rope and gets a nasty blow, occasionally
resulting in a broken limb.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
called komo; makomo or namkomo, the words given by Dr. Sanderson, are not known to the
Yao in this district. There is a simple game played among the Anyanja children and there-
fore called chiana (childish or for children), but the common game played is more diffi-
cult as shown by Dr. Sanderson. Mchombwa is being partly displaced by a Swahili variety
called bau, or often by the Yao, ubau (Pl. IV, fig. 4). I may here also point out that the
words msuwa and nsolo, which Dr. Sanderson uses for the Manyanja and Angoni varieties
of the game, are often replaced by mfuwa and tsoro.
Yao children play at keeping house in little grass structures, made near the village or in
the fields, while their parents work. Children who can only toddle may be seen practicing
dancing the steps of their elders. The boys play with miniature bows and arrows made of
a kind of grass, sewe, and make a toy dart-tube, uti (Pl. XXII, fig. 5). Little dug-out canoes
eighteen inches long are made for them to sail in pools.
Among the lads in a village, games of fighting are much indulged in; two sides are op-
posed and their weapons are of various kinds. Sometimes each is armed with a length of
bamboo, into the hollow end of which sand and pebbles are put, representing powder and
shot. This end of the bamboo is then rapidly swung in the direction of the “enemy”
and will discharge the sand and pebbles into the face of the opponent. This is called uti ja
msanga (“ gun for sand ”). The boys are sometimes armed with maize cobs for throwing
at each other.
Chinene is another form of fighting. Armed with a collection of small stones, each
flicks his stone at the enemy with very good aim, using the fore-finger of the right hand to
propel the stone, the index of the left hand acting as trigger and the left thumb as the spring.
The name comes from ne! the sound of the whizzing stone as it goes through the air.
In a pool opposing sides fight with rudimentary syringes made of bamboo, driving
streams of water into each other’s faces. This is called ipierere, from the sound of the
stream of water, or uti ja mesi (“ gun for water ”). In the water they also play chitwinyi-
chisya, (jku-twinyichisya, to press down). Boys are ranged on two sides; each tries to
“ collar ” one of the opposing side and put him down into the water, holding him down
between his legs. An old water trick is for a boy to go down to the bottom and there
squat with his face turned upwards, the mouth stretched wide open by the fingers; viewed
from the surface the face looked flat and very grotesque. There is also diving for cassava,
chitiwilila (ku-tiwilila, to dive for).
A kind of skipping, called chiwewe, from we! we! the sound of the rope as it goes round
in the air, is a great favorite. A man with a heavy rope about fifteen feet long, with a bundle
of grass at the free end enclosing a lump of heavy wood or stone, swings it round and round
his head. The faster it goes, the higher it will fly out, while the boys in turn run in and
jump over it. Sometimes a boy is caught by the rope and gets a nasty blow, occasionally
resulting in a broken limb.