The natives of British Central Africa

by Alice Werner

The girls’ unyago lasts a month. They go out to the bush with their instructresses, the head-woman (who gets a fee in calico for each candidate) being called ‘the cook of the mysteries.’ They are instructed in house-building, making pots, cooking, and other duties of married life, and put through a regular drill in these and other things, such as pounding corn, carrying water, etc., which they have probably done often enough before. They also go (symbolically, of course) through the whole round of agricultural operations, pretending to sow the grain, then hoeing, weeding, and reaping. The old women give them advice as to housekeeping and the duties of married life, and warn them of the penalties which await them if unfaithful to their husbands. They are anointed with oil, mixed with certain ‘medicines,’ their heads are shaved, and they are dressed in bark-cloth, which is now almost disused in everyday life. Towards the close of the ceremony, the roof of a house—or a skeleton model of one—is put over the heads of, say, ten at a time, and they have to carry it about. This is supposed to be symbolical of their position as pillars of the home. They are not allowed to leave the scene of the mysteries till everything is over; and, as in the case of the boys, no one not taking part is permitted to approach; while sticks are laid in a peculiar way on the path leading to the place, to show that it is barred. Some friends of mine once met the band of girls leaving for home, ‘all freshly anointed and dripping with oil,’ and soon came to the deserted encampment, with grass sheds built round three sides of a square, and divided into small compartments in which the girls had been sleeping. In the middle of the square were traces of pots having been made, and ufa pounded.

The whole proceeding is called ‘being danced.’ The Yaos ‘dance’ girls very young—mere children of seven or eight sometimes—and, from what I have seen, I should say, personally, that they were not improved by the process. But the Yao practice cannot be regarded as typical, as there is reason to believe that it has been modified by the influence of the coast people.

The Anyanja do not ‘dance’ boys at all, and the ceremonies for the girls only last, in some parts, for one day, and the candidates are all of full age. The old women who are their teachers go outside the village with them into the grass which has been left unburnt, and there they remain all day, coming back after dark to the zinyao dances in the bwalo, which have already been referred to. Figures of animals are drawn on the smooth ground with ashes or flour, and the people dance round them.[19] The men also go out into the bush to disguise themselves, as already described, in grotesque masks of wood and cloth, with grass, horns and skins of wild beasts, and, returning, lead the girls out one by one and dance with them in the centre of the ring. When it is over, the women carefully see the girls home. They too have their names changed, and their former ones are not supposed to be pronounced, unless they fall into disgrace. There is, too, a strange belief that when witches are at their cannibal orgies, they call the dead out of the grave by his or her childish name, and this call cannot be ignored.

On the Lake the course of instruction lasts for several days; and the girls wear caps made of beads, with other ornaments of the same. There is also a preliminary course for children, who wear ornaments made of reeds cut into strips and strung together. A curious feature in this course is a procession round the village, out at one gate in the stockade and in at the other, headed by a woman carrying a basket (mnkungwa), which contains ‘certain mysteries.’

Marriage is the next step in life, at least for the girls—though even in their case it does not always follow immediately. Young men may have to wait for some years, owing to lack of means or for other reasons. In the country under the Angoni chiefs they are called on, as we have seen, to ‘serve their time,’ herding the chief’s cattle, and later, perhaps, going to war.

This is something like the Zulu system, and probably a relic of it. I have not been able to discover anything similar in the case of the Yaos or the Anyanja, perhaps because their government is less centralised, and all chiefs and head-men would have their work done by their own slaves, who are always on the spot. But the young men without, as yet, any family ties of their own, may join some caravan going to the coast, or (in the times when elephants were more abundant and there was no European administration to interfere) put in the time hunting or slave-raiding, or go to work for the white men, or, finally, stay about the villages, and have a good time at beer-drinkings and dances for a year or two.

There are several different forms of marriage, and there is no theoretical limit to the number of wives any man may have; but there is a difference between the status of free and slave wives. The rules as to who may or may not marry each other will be considered in another chapter.

Neither Yaos nor Anyanja, in the Shiré Highlands, at least, buy their wives (unless, of course, in the case of a slave woman); but this term, by the bye, is a very misleading one. The price paid by the Zulus (under the name of lobola) and others cannot properly be called purchase, being rather in the nature of a settlement or a guarantee that the suitor is able to support a wife; it is held by her family in trust for her and her children.

It is very common for girls to be betrothed in infancy, or even (conditionally) before birth—the suitor (or his parents) giving a present which has to be returned if she refuses to ratify the engagement when of age; he also clothes her during the period of waiting—which, as may be supposed, does not involve any ruinous outlay. The acceptance of a calico waistcloth, and the girl’s wearing it, make the transaction a binding one. She is sent to him after the unyago, or, sometimes, even before, in which case she has a special charm given her on that occasion.