It is important to point out here that the two milawe which I witnessed were both peaceful, therefore were conducted throughout in Chichewa which I was able to comprehend. During the two ceremonies the interpreter was Kambani White in the absence of Kumalekano. The first milawe which was requested by chief Liwonde was attended by 109 people including eight village headmen led by Idilisa Ajitu Msungu.74 The second milawe ceremony was requested by chief
Kalembo and was attended by 125 people. 8 0 The audience in both cases comprised men, women, boys and girls
from the surrounding villages. At both occasions the ceremonies began at 6.30pm and lasted for two h o u r s . The following text reveals the nature and the functioning of a milawe ceremony which I propose to examine on the basis of the structure set out above.
The text is based on the milawe of 17th of November which is most representative.
The Introduction (malonje)
that it has rained continuously.
Because of this he has decided to come here to find out whether the proper rainy season has begun, or whether they should wait until next month. He has come to hear about this here at Mponda. -So I end here but there will be many things said here.
Opening prayer by Bimbi invoking the ancestral spirits (chanted soloistically)
A Sakasaka eee A Kuugule eee A Zembe eee A Sokopio eee A Bongwe eee A Mkulukutwa eee A Namanje eee A Kasenjera eee
All these village headmen eee Have come here to ask eee
What will this year's rainy season eee Will be like eee
They have come to ask for rain eee A Sakasaka ee
This rain eee
Has come continuously eee There are pools of water eee On the valleys e e e ^
The supplications of the people
It should be noted that at milawe each and every delegate is required to state individually his request to the s p i r i t s . The requests are formulated in a case form.
The following are some of the pleas which were made to the spirits after Bimbi had told the delegates to speed up and work hard in their gardens because the proper rainy season had come.
Ku-Tambala to Bimbi been said by village headman ku-Tambala.
Our plea is this: why have the rains come
in the bush. They should not come down to our gardens to eat people's crops. If we have done something wrong w h ich you need to tell us, tell us so that we may put it right. Tell us what to do in our homes so that we do as told because we want food. This is why we do come here
to plead for help from you here at Mponda.
Because what happened this year is a good thing in that some of us here present still have plenty of food in our homes. If
there are people without food they are few since it is not possible for everyone to have as much food as everyone else.
We are very happy that this year we
have had plenty of food. We are very happy indeed. This is why we have come here again so that we should have some more help from you. My lords, my words end here.
Kasenjera to Bimbi
What Magombe has said let it be so. But we have a lot of diseases around here. Please, we want you to remove all these from us so
that we can have peace.
Malidade to Bimbi
I, on, my part only thank you for assuring us that the rain will come. Please, forgive us if we have wronged. These are my words.
Majikuta to Bimbi
I will speak in Yao for I am not a Nyasa (Chewa). I say that it is true that this year we have great joy ...
You can see the way I have c o m e . I ran all the w a y from Kalembo to this place here.
I am not going to say many w o r d s . We rejoice today and say to you inside there
'lord, please, intercede to Mulungu (God) on our behalf so that we can be as happy as we have been this year.
This year .you will not find any hungry child. Everyone has enough food. This year we have even doubled the number of
children we have. So I say to you, 'please, pray for us to Mulungu on our behalf so that we can have enough food and be able to bear as many children as possible.
At the moment we do not even have
enough land to grow more food. Thus lord, we are so happy that you are here and we ask Mulungu to protect you from all ills so that we can continue having someone to whom we can go in times of need ...
We are happy when the rain comes from the eastern side of the lake until the maize
is mature enough to take the rain coming from other directions. The real rain which we want and the rain we ask from your ancestors
in the rain coming from the East. I ask clearly and I think you lord there and
your ancestral spirits will be able to help u s
.
Mposa to Bimbi
Last year we had very good rain. We have had plenty of food this year. If there are
people about going hungry they are few. We enjoy the freedom from anxiety as to what we are going to eat.
We want the same freedom (ufulu) this year. Our complaint is "why is it that at the beginning of the rainy season the rain comes so well and that when the maize is about to mature there is a long spell of dry weather?' When this happens we are very worried because at the very time we expect good crop the rain s t o p s .
Is that freedom then? No, it is not freedom. It is slavery 1 So we would like to ask you to intercede to the spirits in our favour, so that when the rain comes it should not stop when the crops need it.
These are my words. I have spoken. I end h e r e .
The Sermon
After the interpreter has summed up the
intentions of the supplicants Bimbi himself takes over by delivering a sermon. The sermon is the most
dominant feature of the r i t u a l .
"In the beginning Chauta (God) created the waters. There were no stars, no moon and no sun. God was ministered by angels. Then God created Adam and his kinsmen. People multiplied so much that the earth was full
and there was no arable land left and people
people were created there. Their ancestress was Nyangu. She bore two sons - Chinkhole the White people's worship is idolatrous.
Long time ago we used to say- that Chauta (God)
Our ancestors here invoked Chauta's name. They had a moral code which taught them to distinguish good from evil. Long time ago we did not have here either Islam or Christianity. We did not have either
the Bible or the Koran. Long before the