by Nancy Farmer
She was beautiful.
And she looked like the woman in the Stork margarine ad.
“I can’t explain it,” said Dr. Masuku in an awed voice.
“Auntie Everjoice. I like the sound of that,” Dr. van Heerden said from the door of the hospital.
The last evening of summer vacation, Nhamo sat in the ruined guard tower watching the twilight fade. Out of the hazy east came three figures walking like people who have come a long way. They passed through the fence and moved across the fields without disturbing the leaves. They halted below the tower, one ahead, the other two hanging back among the tall fronds of a stand of mealies.
Little Pumpkin, whispered the foremost figure.
Tears began to roll down Nhamo’s face.
You’ve done well, Little Pumpkin, said Grandmother. A bank account at your age! If I’d had a bank account, things would have been different, I can tell you. Well, I said I would visit you when I returned to my ancestors, so here I am. What have you got to say for yourself?
Nhamo explained about the Jongwes and her new life.
Bunch of donkeys, except for the old man, said Grandmother. Still, what can you do? They’re family.
Nhamo talked until darkness fell and an evening wind made the mealies rustle. The other two figures came out into the starlight. Mother’s face was young, so young! She looked like Masvita. Father was more difficult to see. Sometimes he seemed to be standing there and sometimes he was only a shadow padding silently along the fence.
We have a long way to go, said Grandmother at last. Ruva is having her coming-of-age party. I don’t want to miss it.
But you will return? Nhamo wanted to ask.
The paths of the body are long, but the paths of the spirit are short, said Mother in a low, sweet voice. And then they were gone. And Nhamo was left with the wind blowing out of the forest and the fireflies hovering over the lucerne.
* * *
*Zimbabwe dollars.
GLOSSARY
(Unless otherwise stated, words are in Shona.)
Ach (Afrikaans): Oh.
Ambuya: Grandmother.
Baba: Father; also a term of respect for any older man.
Binza: Otter.
Blerry (Afrikaans): A form of the mild English swear word bloody.
Bliksem (Afrikaans): Lightning. A mild swear word.
Bonsella (Tchalapa-lapa, pidgin Zulu): A gift.
Burwa: A giant lizard something like an iguana; also called a leguuan.
Chidao: Clan name or praise name.
Chikandiwa: A stroke (medical term).
Chisveru: Shona version of the game of tag.
Dare: Men’s meeting place.
Dassie (Afrikaans): A hyrax. Also called an mbira (Shona) or rock rabbit (English). It looks like a giant guinea pig.
Donkeyberry: A small tree with rather dry, sweet berries containing large seeds, which are also edible. Also called a raisin bush or a munjiri (Shona).
Frelimo: Ruling party of Mozambique.
Gogodzero: Opening fee; it is paid to begin a divination.
Gumbo: Leg of a cow.
Gurundoro: People who wear the ndoro, a spiral disk worn by kings and spirit mediums. This is Nhamo’s chidao, or clan name.
Hakata: Divining (fortune-telling) sticks, plain on one side with a pattern on the other.
Hezvo!: Good heavens!
Hozi: Communal storehouse raised on poles.
Iwe! Hamba!: Hey, you! Go away!
Jabvane: A many-branched small tree with juicy, purple berries.
Jongwe: Rooster.
Karoyi: Little witch.
Knobkerrie (Zulu): Club with a knob at one end.
Kugadzira: Ceremony to bring a spirit home to its grave.
Maheu: Drink made from leftover maize porridge and water; slightly alcoholic.
Mai: Mother.
Maiwee!: Oh, Mother! Mama mia!
Mamba (Zulu): The largest and most feared of African snakes. It is quick to bite if disturbed. Its poison can cause death within minutes.
Marula: A tree with yellowish green, plum-shaped fruit containing a nut with two or three oil-rich seeds inside. Very common and popular.
Masikati: Good day.
Mbira: A musical instrument with flat metal keys attached to a slab of wood or a hollowed-out gourd. It is played with the thumb or, if the musician is especially creative, the big toe.
Mealie (English): Corn.
Meisie-kind (Afrikaans): Girl child, kid.
Mhandara: Young woman.
Mhondoro: The lion spirit, spirit of the land.
Mhuvuyu: A weed with spearhead-shaped leaflets. The long, black seeds hook onto cloth and take time to remove. The cooked leaves taste like spinach. Also called blackjack.
Minha vida (Portuguese): My life, my love.
Mobola: A wild African plum tree.
Mopane flies: Stingless bees that like to drink moisture from one’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Very irritating.
Mopane tree: A common tree with rough, gray bark and kidney-shaped pods. The wood burns very easily.
Mowa: Wild spinach.
Moyo: Heart.
Mukonde: A leafless tree with many soft, easily broken branches. Its sap is sticky and poisonous. Also called a candelabra tree or a euphorbia (scientific name).
Mukuyu: Wild fig tree.
Mukwa: Tree with attractive golden sprays of flowers. The wood is prized for making furniture and canoes. It is termite-resistant.
Mupfuti: A beautiful tree with rough, gray bark and reddish leaves at the beginning of the rainy season.
Muroyi: Witch. A very bad insult.
Musasa: A common and handsome tree with reddish leaves at the beginning of the rainy season.
Mutarara: Wild gardenia.
Muti: Medicine.
Mutimwi: Cord worn around the hips to protect one’s fertility.
Mutiti: Lucky-bean tree. A heavily built tree with spectacular scarlet flowers and small red-and-black seeds that contain a poison like curare.
Mutowa: A small tree with corklike bark and very sticky sap. Also called a rubber tree.
Mutsangidza: A short, bushy plant with small purple flowers. It is inedible, but can be boiled to make a flavoring resembling salt.
Mutupo: Totem.
Muvuki: A medical specialist who deals with causes of death.
Muzeze: A handsome tree with spectacular masses of yellow flowers. The bark, roots, and leaves are used to cure stomach pain, sore throat, and pinkeye.
Muzhanje: Wild loquat trees. They have round, rusty-yellow fruits about the size of plums, with hard skins. The leaves drop off to form a crackling carpet that gives away the presence of any animal beneath.
Mwari: God.
Ndoro: Round disks worn by kings.
Nganga: Traditional healer.
Ngozi: An avenging spirit.
Ngwena: The crocodile; name of an unlucky pattern in the divining sticks.
Nyama: Meat.
Oupa (Afrikaans): Grandpa. To call someone grandfather is always meant kindly in both Afrikaans and Shona.
Pakila: Panpipes.
Panga (Zulu): A large knife or machete.
Picanin (Tchalapa-lapa, pidgin Zulu): Child.
Quelea: Small birds that travel in huge flocks; they are a major pest of grain crops.
Roora: Bride price.
Ruredzo: A common trailing plant with pink flowers somewhat like snapdragons. The boiled roots produce a soap substitute.
Sadza: Stiff cornmeal porridge.
Shiri: Bird.
Shoko: A vervet monkey.
Shumba: Lion.
Takutuka chiremba: Traditional greeting on entering a muvuki’s territory. Literally: “We have scolded you, doctor.”
Tateguru: Great-grandfather.
Tsenza: A small shrub with yellow flowers growing from tubers under the soil. The tubers taste somewhat like turnips. Also called wild potato.
Tsotsi: Common hoodlum.
Tsunga: T
he steadfast ones; a praise name.
Va-: Honored; added to the beginning of a name.
Va-Ambuya: Honored Grandmother.
Vahukwu: Welcome.
Vapostori: A sect of Christianity founded by Johane Maranke in 1932.
Vatete: Respectful title for paternal aunt.
Voetsek (Afrikaans): Go away! The word can be extremely insulting.
Vukiro: Sacred grove.
Womba!: Amazing!
Zango: A charm against witches.
Zaru: Disagreement; name of a particular fall of the divining sticks.
THE HISTORY AND PEOPLES OF ZIMBABWE AND MOZAMBIQUE
RECENT HISTORY OF ZIMBABWE AND MOZAMBIQUE
From 1964 to 1974 Mozambique was embroiled in a war of liberation from Portugal. Independence was declared in 1975, with the political party Frelimo taking over the government.
In 1963 the British attempted to grant independence to their colony Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia). A small English tribe living in the country took over the government. They ruled until 1979, when independence was finally achieved after several years of fighting.
Nhamo’s journey takes place around 1981. Land mines were still in place along the border, and relations among white people, the Shona, and the Matabele were sometimes hostile.
THE SHONA
The ancestors of the Shona arrived from the north between A.D. 1000 and 1200 as a collection of tribes with a common language and a distinct culture. The whole group was not referred to as Shona until the nineteenth century.
Histories of several royal lines were preserved in oral poetry, but the most famous king was Monomatapa. Monomatapa lived in the fifteenth century, and tales of his splendor reached the first Portuguese traders on the coast of Mozambique. He was supposed to rule a vast kingdom from the Kalahari Desert in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east.
Throughout southern Africa are the traces of an ancient civilization. The most important site is the city of Great Zimbabwe. This is located inland from the southeastern coast of Africa in present-day Zimbabwe. The city center was on a hilltop that was naturally protected from attack by a large outcrop of granite. Because it was situated on a high plateau, it was safe from the disease-infested tsetse flies that were common in the lowlands. This made it possible for an economy based on cattle to exist. Large amounts of rain made the land good for farming, and, rich in minerals, the earth could be mined for granite, iron, copper, and gold. The ancient Zimbabweans traded gold for glass beads, porcelain, and silk from as far away as China.
The city was only one of many such structures. More than 150 stone enclosures were built over several centuries from Mozambique to South Africa, but it is unknown whether they were part of a large kingdom or the remains of several small ones. The word zimbabwe means “stone enclosure” in Shona.
THE MATABELE OR NDEBELE
Mzilikazi, one of Shaka Zulu’s generals, was allowed to leave the Zulu tribe with three hundred warriors. He built up his own tribe (the Matabele), but was driven out of South Africa by encroaching white settlers. He moved into southern Zimbabwe around 1836. Mzilikazi brought with him the powerful military organization of the Zulus and was able to establish a kingdom at the expense of the resident Shona. At the time of independence, the Matabele made up about 19 percent of the population. The two tribes, Shona and Matabele, have had a long history of mutual hostility.
THE BRITISH
The British tribe is composed of several subgroups: the Scots, Irish, Welsh, and English. One of these, the English, has been dominant for several centuries. The British gained control of Zimbabwe around 1890, but not without violent dissent from the Shona and Matabele. Several uprisings occurred before 1965, when the British lost control of the country. From 1965 to 1979 Zimbabwe was ruled by a small minority of English tribesmen.
THE PORTUGUESE
The Portuguese first settled in East Africa in the fifteenth century. They pursued a policy of conquest and trade with the interior for five centuries, and developed the slave trade from around 1600 until the late nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, a great number of Portuguese immigrated to colonies in Africa. After Mozambique and Angola became independent in 1975, many of these people moved to South Africa, Zimbabwe, or back to Portugal.
THE AFRIKANERS
While the Afrikaners’ language is based on Dutch, only about a third of their ancestors actually came from Holland. They are a mixture of Dutch, French Huguenots, and Germans. They also clearly have a few English, Malay, Hottentot, and black African ancestors as well. In spite of this mixture, they form a distinct culture with strict Protestant ethics. Beginning in the late seventeenth century, they established farms throughout South Africa. In 1906 only about 6 percent of them lived in cities, towns, or villages.
Some of the early Afrikaners became wandering farmers, or Trekboers, and performed amazing feats of courage and endurance. Each group was highly individualistic, with a patriarch and a holy mission to find the Promised Land under the guidance of God. Some, hazy on geography, thought they had reached the Nile River when they were about halfway up South Africa. Trekboers went as far as Kenya in their wanderings, and many settled in Zimbabwe.
THE TRIBES OF MOZAMBIQUE
Many Shona-speaking people live in Mozambique. Other cultural groups include the Maravi, the Yao, and the Maconde. The most important influence on the tribal system of northern Mozambique was the slave trade. This was carried on by Arab traders, the Portuguese, and the Yao from the sixteenth century on, but became epidemic from about 1790 to 1840. Serious depopulation and great displacement of people occurred. This permanently disrupted the traditional culture. One group, the Tonga, appears to be the remnant of several groups of fleeing people rather than a genuine tribe.
The Portuguese in Mozambique gave up slavery in 1890, although it had become technically illegal years earlier. At this time the majority of the Yao converted to Islam in order to keep trading slaves with the Muslim sheikhs on the coast and with the sultan of Zanzibar.
THE BELIEF SYSTEM OF THE SHONA
Shona culture is extremely complicated. The following is intended only as a brief overview.
MWARI
The supreme being of the Shona is usually called Mwari, although he—or she, for Mwari is both—is known by many praise names. Mwari could best be described as Natural Order. Anything thought contrary to Natural Order, such as the birth of twins, must be put right or disaster will follow. Mwari may not be referred to as “it” because he/she is a sexual being involved with the mysteries of fertility. He/she is a bringer of rain, and one of his/her praise names is Dzivaguru, the Great Pool.
Great Zimbabwe, the ancient city, was a religious shrine that operated as a spiritual and governmental center in the same way as West-minster Abbey in England. In the nineteenth century a ceremony was held in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe every second year. A black cow was sacrificed as a request for rain. Two other cattle were killed, one for the priests and one to feed the wild animals of the forest. The latter carcass was left near a building known as the temple. If it was devoured, it was a sign that Mwari had accepted the prayers. The high priests who transmitted the messages of the spirit world to ordinary people were—and are—called the Ear, the Eye, and the Mouth. I changed the latter to Arm in an earlier book to indicate the physical way in which things are communicated through possession in Africa.
Now the center of the religion has shifted to the Matopos Hills near the city of Bulawayo in southern Zimbabwe. This is the one place on earth where the voice of Mwari can still be heard. Below the priests is a lower circle of devotees called the mbonga and the hossanahs. Mbonga are virgins dedicated to the service of the god. They care for the shrines until they reach puberty, when they are expected to marry. The hossanahs are young men who dance during ceremonies and carry messages for the priests.
The mbonga, when they marry, move to another status as mediums for tribal spirits, and when they pass child-bearing age they become very
important as muchembera, priestesses who brew the sacred beer used in ceremonies.
THE MHONDORO
A mhondoro, or lion spirit, is concerned with the land and its people as a whole. Because the Shona are actually made up of several tribes, each tribe has a mhondoro and a lion-spirit medium. The mhondoro is concerned with general problems, such as rainfall and famine.
THE MUDZIMU
The mudzimu (plural, vadzimu) is a more personal spirit belonging to a family. Each person has at least four, his or her parents and patrilineal grandparents, who may make contact to warn of impending danger or to demand that some wrong be righted. Other ancestors may or may not take an interest in their offspring. One consults a specific male or female ancestor through a spirit medium to receive advice on personal problems. Certain family spirits may become interested in their descendants and teach them skills. This is why particular abilities run in families.
Old people are considered to be close to the spirit world and therefore are cloaked in power. The elderly are treated with great respect in Shona society.
SHAVE
A shave (plural, mashave) is someone who died far from home and therefore couldn’t receive proper burial rites. A shave can possess anyone he or she likes, to impart knowledge. This is what happens when an unusual skill shows up in a family, for example a computer expert in a family noted for hunting. Race or tribe is unimportant in this possession. The original names of the spirits are not known, so they are referred to by the attributes or skills they impart. Some of the more popular mashave are Mazinda, who teaches one how to dance; Rotunhu, who imparts the art of healing; Nkupa, who teaches generosity; and Rokuba, who turns people into kleptomaniacs.
