Melino/ Malena debe decir qué emociones siente

In this chapter attempts will be made to show that the Bimbi cult is highly complex, well defined in terms of its functions and systematically organised. This high degree of organisation, complexity and

centralisation makes the Bimbi cult a unique phenomenon in the Upper Shire Valley.

It must be pointed out from the outset that the Bimbi cillt, like the Mbona cult in the Lower Shire Valley, is a territorial cult. Matthew Schoffeleers describes territorial cults as those whose constituency is a territorial group identified by common occupation of a particular land area so that membership in such cults is, in the final analysis, a consequence of residence and not kinship or ethnic designation. Besides, territorial cults function for the whole of the community rather than for sections within it and they are profoundly concerned with communal and

ecological issues. According to Schoffeleers,

characteristic activities of territorial cults include rituals designed to counteract droughts, floods,

blights, pests and epidemic diseases inflicting both cattle and man. Added to this, territorial cults

function in respect of the well being of the community, its fields, livestock, fishing, hunting and general economic interests. Apart from discharging ritual duties, territorial cults also issue and enforce directives with regard to a community's use of its

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environment. Schoffeleers has also indicated that territorial cults are also characterised by a network of permanent shrines, by specialised priests and by a seasonal calendar of worship. Theologically they emphasise the creative and directive powers of God rather than of the family and nature spirits which are the focus of village and matrilineage veneration.

prophetism - the idea of the authorised spokesman of G o d , who can demand a return to the old order but who can also announce new commandments.^

During my field work I noted that these elements are inherent in the Bimbi cult in a profound w a y . For instance, I was able to discern that in geographical and membership terms the Bimbi cult's domain encompasses people from the whole of the Upper Shire Valley. As a matter of fact the cult's influence goes beyond the confines of the Upper Shire to the northern parts of Blantyre and even Chiradzulo districts. People who

adhere to the Bimbi cult belong to different administrative units in their respective districts, different ethnic

groups, and to different churches. But all of them relate themselves to the Bimbi cult in times of crisis. Their participation in the Bimbi cult thus transcends their traditional and central government administrative units, their faith, their ethnic and family boundaries. In this way the cult serves the economic interests of a far wider area . than any other traditional religious institution in the:region.

It seems to me that people in the Upper Shire Valley have a strongly shared belief that the Bimbi himself, his cult elders and their rain shrines are able to ensure success in agricultural and fishing

activities of the people by preventing droughts, floods, epidemics and creating favourable weather for fishing or warning people of the dangers of going to the high waters of the lake. It appears that it is this shared

territorial belief, the interlocal nature of participation in the rituals performed in the Bimbi cult, the

ecological nature of its concerns and the presence of Bimbi rain shrines which make the Bimbi cult truly t e r r i t o r i a l .

Structurally the Bimbi cult has three forms of

structural organisation, namely the religious organisation, shrine organisation and political organisation. Further investigation seems to reveal that these three

st r u c t u r e s,c a n , in fact, be analysed in terms of a

binary structure by grouping the specifically religious elements together on the one hand and the specifically political elements on the other. What emerges out of this classification is that we begin to see that the B i m b i *s legitimacy is based on a dual authority - religious and political.

At the specifically religious level the primary function of the incumbent, his cult elders and the rain shrines is to act as media of religious expression of the cult among the people. While the prophet himself is the guiding principle of the work and role of the cult, the cult leaders represent the Bimbi's religious interests by divulging his teaching and beliefs to the wider world. The shrines serve as forums where

myths of the cult, its history and rituals are dramatised in a concrete form thus making the cult's impact felt even today. The religious dimension of the'Bimbi cult can hardly be disputed. Its injunctions and

exhortations at milawe ceremonies which are authoritatively moralistic and the religious content of the offerings

made for rain and the prayers said and the songs sung at such occasions are expressive of a cult which places the High God at the central position of its religious activities and considers him as the ultimate moral

force and the supreme guiding principle of the universe. At the specifically political level there are emissaries who serve as go-betweens to the Biinbi as the leader of the cult and Yao paramount chiefs. This is because the Bimbi cult has, in all aspects, a

political dimension. As Schoffeleers has indicated ecological and societal functions of territorial cults border on or overlap with functions usually associated

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with political institutions. The political nature of the Bimbi cult lies in the fact that it represents, basically, the Chewa as a territorial and political g r o u p .

examine e ach of the three components w h i c h form the basis of the Bimbi cult for it is only on the basis of these that we can begin to talk of the cult encompassing a wider region. It appears that in the study of the religious organisation of the Bimbi cult we are,

interestingly enough, dealing with a modern-like form of religious organisation. Thomas F. Odea, for instance, has indicated that specifically religious organisations emerge as a result of the increasing division of labour ' and specificity of function. At this stage of societal development organisations which meet adaptive needs tend to be separated from.those which provide an outlet for

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expressive needs. The Bimbi cult must be viewed with this last point in mind.

a The religious organisation

Matthew Schoffeleers in his study of the Mbona cult among the Chewa of the Lower Shire Valley noted that there were two levels of organisation, one

dominated by the medium himself and another dominated by the political heads, more precisely the Lundu

chieftaincy seen as the conqueror. In the first

instance the medium himself is a source of authority and power. He is not officially appointed and in theory, according to Schoffeleers, at least any person can claim that position. Whether or not such claim will be recognised depends on the amount of popular support that she or he can muster. Schoffeleers adds that it is only when this support is sufficiently strong will a medium be able to pit his authority against that of

the chiefs and does he stand a chance of being obeyed.^ My own study of the Bimbi cult which claims some affinity with the Mbona cult showed that there are a number of fundamental differences between them. To start with unlike the Mbona where the spirit medium, for all his influence and importance, has no knowledge of or interest in the history of the cult because he is

an immigrant, the Bimbi is very much a historian. As a cult figure of high repute he is a member of an autochthonous group - the Chewa - who trace their descent to the Lady Paramount chief Nyangu. Bimbi's religious authority, therefore,is based first and

foremost on the basis of his claim of being a descendant of the Chewa ancestral spirits who first turned a land only good for animal habitation to an agricultural land good for a settled human life. But apart from this unlike the Mbona where the medium's authority is

dependent on an unorganised popular support, the Bimbi's authority and power are based on a well organised

popular support mobilised by his cult elders known as akulu-akulu a m p i n g o . The Bimbi's legitimacy to speak with authority and the high degree of being recognised by the body politic in the region is based not on

threats or rumours but on the strength of his cult leaders who organise the masses for offerings at the rain shrines when real meteorological crises occur. These cult officials bear specific functions and hold their offices not by virtue of formal education or training but on hereditary grounds by virtue of birth in a particular Chewa l i n e a g e .

The Maninji House

The second powerful officer in the Bimbi cult immediately below Bimbi himself is ku-Maninji whose principal duty is to provide a spirit wife to Bimbi for ritual purposes. The present holder of that title is John Manuel ku-Maninji. He is the son of biti Mwalimu and lives five miles east of the present Bimbi village along the Shire River. John Manuel ku-Maninji heads a very important Chewa village headmanship because of

the position he holds in the Bimbi hierarchical structure. He is a key figure in ensuring the success of rituals

for rain.

office of Bimbiship in 1959, the elders of the Bimbi cult, in keeping with the traditions of the land, gave him Alusi biti Imani in marriage. She is John Manuel ku-Maninji's sister. She became his spirit..wife. According to Swaleyi Mkwanda if this.measure had not

been taken there could have been disastrous meteorological consequences on the l a n d . There could have been

severe recurrent droughts and severe famines. The Bimbi and his elders strongly believe that the land could have been rendered sterile and many people would die of .hunger. It is this ritual marriage, so it is believed, which prevents such a catastrophic situation to h a p p e n .^

Apparently this belief is not a case in

isolation. It seems to be commonplace among agricultural societies in which fertility of the land is the focal point in the peoples' lives. In its world perspective, S.A. Herbert, for instance, has indicated that fertility cults in which marriage of divine lovers is part of

the religious system were widespread in Western Asia , in ancient times and were popular in Graeco-Roman world. Such fertility cults involved a representation of

the divine lovers and a sacred marriage. The purpose, so Herbert says, was to promote the fertility of the f l o c k s .^

In the Central African context the concept of the spirit wife is not uncommon. W.H.J. Rangeley in his analysis of the Makewana religious institution has pointed out that the personal attendants of Makewana known as matsano which is interpreted as

"the spirits of the grave-yard" were also known as O

Akazi a Chauta (the wives of God." They were expected to live in celibacy and set apart for the cult of the

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godhead. Schoffeleers has also indicated that the essential feature of the Mbona cult consists of

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providing Mbona with a spirit wife. H.L. Vail has it that among the Southern Tumbuka, C h i k a n g 1o m b e , the

who was married to women on earth who were consecrated to his service and whom he visited from time to time, travelling from place to place on the winds that the people believed were associated with the rains. Such a wife, for C h i k a n g 1o m b e , for instance, is said to have existed at Zambwe in the Muchinga Mountains of Eastern Zambia and that he visisted that place when strong

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Since the marriage was effected between

Swaleyi Mkwanda and Alusi biti Imani more than twenty years ago a father-in-law relationship developed between Swaleyi Mkwanda Bimbi and John Manuel ku-Maninji

characterised by a continuous avoidance relationship. As in the son-in-law and mother-in-law relationship

among the Chewa at the beginning of one's marriage, Bimbi and ku-Maninji do not -look each other in the

face. As a matter of fact they are not supposed to

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come near each other although, if Chewa principles of marriage were to apply, they are but brother-in-laws. My informants were not able to explain why this is so.

Though we do not know the exact nature of the marital relationship between the present Bimbi and Alusi biti Imani, his 'spirit w i f e ' , we do know from other sources and by observation that they lead a normal family life. Abiti Imani looks after her family of four children in a way that any other mother would

look after her own family. Her duties range from

domestic activities of rearing her children to farming in her own garden to raise both food and money for her family. But over and above this abiti Imani is at

the centre of ritual a c t ivities. Her house which looks as ordinary as any other in the vicinity is, in fact, the mother shrine of the Bimbi cult. She is in a sense the guardian of the shrine. When milawe is about to take place, she is responsible for extinguishing fire in the house and for removing any sharp instruments which may cause harm to Bimbi in his state of spirit possession. At the end of milawe she also provides Bimbi with a

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