Nyau
Encyclopedia
Nyau is a secret society
of the Chewa, a tribe of the Bantu peoples from Central
and Southern Africa
. The society consists solely of men who have to be initiated
to be a part of the Nyau. The word Nyau is not only used for the society itself, but also for the men who form this society, their ritual dance, and their masks and animal structures used for the dances. Nyau societies operate at the village level, but women and children are not supposed to have any knowledge of Nyau and often rush into the houses when a Nyau performance is put on. Increasing westernization
has led to a decrease in Nyau.
depicts Kayisa Maliro, a type of Nyau mask that dates to 992 CE
. The Nyau cult continued during the time of the Ngoni
colonists, remaining unchanged until after the First World War. Due to heavy punishment for talking about the Nyau cult (e.g. who are the men dancing) the origin of Nyau could not be clarified by the first missionaries and colonialists arriving in Maravi
. Penalties went as far as the person revealing secrets being killed by members of the cult. The arrival of missionaries during the 1920s had a growing influence on Nyau at the village level, which produced open conflict. Though Christian missionaries banned Nyau in Chewa communities, the society and its practice survived under British colonial rule through adaptation that included some aspects of Christianity
. Presently, it is still practiced with Chewa men belonging to a Christian church
and a Nyau society. Although some other tribes have developed similar secret societies and dances, such as the Ngoni
, Yao and Mang'anja
, the Nyau cult of the Chewa can be considered the origin of the secret societies and dances in areas around Lake Malawi
.
s, memorial services and Puberty rites (for girls: Chinamwali). Each dancer represents a special character relating to the mask or animal structure he wears. The zilombo ("dancers" or "wild animals") are representations of animal or ancestral spirits. The secrecy behind Nyau incorporates coded language, riddles, and signing. Viewed with suspicion by other cultures, Nyau has been misunderstood and misrepresented by others, including the Christian church.
Initiation of men into the secret cult begins with residing in a cemetery
for a week. Particularly in Zimbabwe
, Nayau’s who migrated from Malawi and are now part of the Shona Culture
are practitioners of this cult. They perform dances in the suburbs of Mabvuku
, Highfield
and Tafara. They attempt to scare away people who wish to interview them saying "Wavekutamba nemoto unotsva" (you are now playing with fire you will get burnt).
Women and children are not supposed to have any knowledge of Nyau and often rush into the houses when a Nyau performance is put on. However, during the funeral period, women are said to joke with the Nyau in a practice called kasinja whilst brewing beer, and women and children may also sing songs for the Nyau as they dance, even though many may avoid them. In Zambia
n villages, boys may participate in groups called kalumbu who join a group from as young as five or six. However, they must pay a joining fee (often around 2 kwacha
in 1993) which they raise by hunting and selling birds, or the fee is paid by their parents. Upon joining the novices are often beaten with branches before learning the discipline. The minimum age of boys joining the Nyau itself is usually around ten years of age.
, this is certainly not the case; Nyau should rather be considered a religious dance, as its function is to communicate with the ancestral world
.
Since 2005, Gule Wamkulu has been classified as one of the 90 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
, a program by UNESCO
for preservation of intangible cultural heritage. This dance form may date to the great Chewa Empire of the 17th century. Gule Wamkulu, or big dance, is the best-known and longest dance of the Nyau. It is also known as pemphero lathu lalikulu la mizimu ("great prayer to our ancestors") or gulu la anamwaliri ("dance of the ancestors"). Prior to the Gule Wamkulu dance, Nyau dancers observe a series of secret rituals which are associated with their society, a secret brotherhood. The dance is mainly performed at funerals and memorial services but also at initiations and other celebrations. The masks worn by the dancers on such performances are in the form of animals or "beasts". The purpose is said to be a way of communicating messages of the ancestors to the villagers. Since it is also adopted to scare people to extract money, it has been used as a connotation to describe the dancers: "He dumped the whole Christian thing these days, he's gone back to his roots and joined Nyau" or "Behave yourself, stop acting like a Nyau".
, Malawi
.
There are a variety of mask types, some of which include:
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
of the Chewa, a tribe of the Bantu peoples from Central
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
and Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
. The society consists solely of men who have to be initiated
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
to be a part of the Nyau. The word Nyau is not only used for the society itself, but also for the men who form this society, their ritual dance, and their masks and animal structures used for the dances. Nyau societies operate at the village level, but women and children are not supposed to have any knowledge of Nyau and often rush into the houses when a Nyau performance is put on. Increasing westernization
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
has led to a decrease in Nyau.
History
A cave painting in ZaireZaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
depicts Kayisa Maliro, a type of Nyau mask that dates to 992 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. The Nyau cult continued during the time of the Ngoni
Ngoni people
The Ngoni people are an ethnic group living in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, in east-central Africa. The Ngoni trace their origins to the Zulu people of kwaZulu-Natal in South Africa...
colonists, remaining unchanged until after the First World War. Due to heavy punishment for talking about the Nyau cult (e.g. who are the men dancing) the origin of Nyau could not be clarified by the first missionaries and colonialists arriving in Maravi
Maravi
Maravi was a state established by the Bantu Chewa people, descendants of the Amaravi, in the area of Lake Malawi, in present-day Malawi, in the 16th century...
. Penalties went as far as the person revealing secrets being killed by members of the cult. The arrival of missionaries during the 1920s had a growing influence on Nyau at the village level, which produced open conflict. Though Christian missionaries banned Nyau in Chewa communities, the society and its practice survived under British colonial rule through adaptation that included some aspects of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. Presently, it is still practiced with Chewa men belonging to a Christian church
Christian Church
The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...
and a Nyau society. Although some other tribes have developed similar secret societies and dances, such as the Ngoni
Ngoni people
The Ngoni people are an ethnic group living in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, in east-central Africa. The Ngoni trace their origins to the Zulu people of kwaZulu-Natal in South Africa...
, Yao and Mang'anja
Mang'anja
The Mang'anja are a Bantu people of central and southern Africa, particularly around Chikwawa in the Shire River valley of southern Malawi. They speak a dialect of the Nyanja language, and are a branch of the Amaravi people. As of 1996 their population was estimated at 2,486,070....
, the Nyau cult of the Chewa can be considered the origin of the secret societies and dances in areas around Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi , is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system of East Africa. This lake, the third largest in Africa and the eighth largest lake in the world, is located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania...
.
Belief system
The Chewa believe that life exists within their ancestors and those not yet born, as well as the living. The Nyau beliefs include communication with those who are dead, or their spirits, calling this act pemphero lalikulu ("Great Prayer"). The spirit world's symbolism is presented at the Gule Wamkulu ("Big Dance"), which incorporates mwambo ("traditions"), masks, song, dance and rules. Nyau incorporates sophisticated reverse role-playing. Primarily the Nyau perform their masked dances at funeralFuneral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
s, memorial services and Puberty rites (for girls: Chinamwali). Each dancer represents a special character relating to the mask or animal structure he wears. The zilombo ("dancers" or "wild animals") are representations of animal or ancestral spirits. The secrecy behind Nyau incorporates coded language, riddles, and signing. Viewed with suspicion by other cultures, Nyau has been misunderstood and misrepresented by others, including the Christian church.
Initiation of men into the secret cult begins with residing in a cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
for a week. Particularly in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, Nayau’s who migrated from Malawi and are now part of the Shona Culture
Shona people
Shona is the name collectively given to two groups of people in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique.-Shona Regional Classification:...
are practitioners of this cult. They perform dances in the suburbs of Mabvuku
Mabvuku
Mabvuku is a high density suburb some 17 km east of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe.Its classified as a suburb or township of Harare, with Harare City Council constituting local government....
, Highfield
Highfield, Harare
Highfield is a high density suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is one of the oldest townships in Zimbabwe.- Geography :Highfield is a high density suburb to the south west of Harare the capital of Zimbabwe. Popularly known as Fio in local slang...
and Tafara. They attempt to scare away people who wish to interview them saying "Wavekutamba nemoto unotsva" (you are now playing with fire you will get burnt).
Women and children are not supposed to have any knowledge of Nyau and often rush into the houses when a Nyau performance is put on. However, during the funeral period, women are said to joke with the Nyau in a practice called kasinja whilst brewing beer, and women and children may also sing songs for the Nyau as they dance, even though many may avoid them. In Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
n villages, boys may participate in groups called kalumbu who join a group from as young as five or six. However, they must pay a joining fee (often around 2 kwacha
Zambian kwacha
The kwacha is the currency of Zambia. It is subdivided into 100 ngwee.-Etymology:The name derives from the Nyanja and Bemba word for "dawn", alluding to the Zambian nationalist slogan of a "new dawn of freedom"...
in 1993) which they raise by hunting and selling birds, or the fee is paid by their parents. Upon joining the novices are often beaten with branches before learning the discipline. The minimum age of boys joining the Nyau itself is usually around ten years of age.
Dances
Nyau dances involve intricate footwork coupled with waist-wriggling. The dancers, described as "fleet-footed or nimble-footed", appear in scary masks representing a human being or animal; the weak-kneed run away from sights of such dances. While it may be considered in many places to be a folk danceFolk dance
The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....
, this is certainly not the case; Nyau should rather be considered a religious dance, as its function is to communicate with the ancestral world
Veneration of the dead
Veneration of the dead is based on the belief that the deceased, often family members, have a continued existence and/or possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living...
.
Since 2005, Gule Wamkulu has been classified as one of the 90 Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness on intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and the local people who sustain these forms of cultural...
, a program by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
for preservation of intangible cultural heritage. This dance form may date to the great Chewa Empire of the 17th century. Gule Wamkulu, or big dance, is the best-known and longest dance of the Nyau. It is also known as pemphero lathu lalikulu la mizimu ("great prayer to our ancestors") or gulu la anamwaliri ("dance of the ancestors"). Prior to the Gule Wamkulu dance, Nyau dancers observe a series of secret rituals which are associated with their society, a secret brotherhood. The dance is mainly performed at funerals and memorial services but also at initiations and other celebrations. The masks worn by the dancers on such performances are in the form of animals or "beasts". The purpose is said to be a way of communicating messages of the ancestors to the villagers. Since it is also adopted to scare people to extract money, it has been used as a connotation to describe the dancers: "He dumped the whole Christian thing these days, he's gone back to his roots and joined Nyau" or "Behave yourself, stop acting like a Nyau".
Attire
The variety of masks, resembling ancestors is huge and ever growing, unlike the animal structures. Some mask carvers are professionals while others are occasional artisans. Over 400 masks which are associated with the Nyau society and the Gule wamkulu ritual are exhibited at the Chamare Museum in Dedza DistrictDedza District
Dedza is a district in the Central Region of Malawi. It covers an area of 3,624 km.² to the south of the Malawi capital, Lilongwe, between Mozambique and Lake Malawi.-Geography:...
, Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
.
Masks
Nyau masks are constructed of wood and straw. and are divided into three types. The first is a feathered net mask, the second is a wooden mask and the third is a large zoomorphic basketry structure that envelops the entire body of the dancer. Wearing the latter, dancers tend to turn around and around in a motion known as Nyau yolemba. They are representations of a large variety of characters, including wild animals such as antelope, lions and hyenas. With names such as Bwindi, Chibano, and Wakana, the masks portray a variety of traits and types such as the philanderer, a helpless epileptic, lust, greed, foolishness, vanity, infertility, sorcery, and ambition.; even a helicopter.There are a variety of mask types, some of which include:
- Bwana wokwera pa ndege/pa galimoto (Mister in a plane/in a car) is representing a "white" person. This mask shows how those who already had money and power in their lifetime, will keep this even when they have passed in the ancestral world.
- Chabwera kumanda (the one who came back from the grave) is a character who misreads people and resembles an ancestor who hunts people in their dreams in order to get attention and offerings (e.g. beer, meat, etc.). While his dance, Chabwera kumanda chases people around which underlines his evil character.
- Kasinja or Kamchacha is the messenger of important ancestors. He partly plays some kind of moderator and tells which mask or animal is coming next to perform its dance.
- Kondola which originated as Msakambewa ("Mouse Hunter"), then changed into To Ndola (a man in a copper mining town), and then changed again, to Chizonono (someone afflicted with gonorrheaGonorrheaGonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The usual symptoms in men are burning with urination and penile discharge. Women, on the other hand, are asymptomatic half the time or have vaginal discharge and pelvic pain...
), is an example of a mask that has undergone transformation because of changing pressures and societal influences. - Maliya (eventually from MaryMary (mother of Jesus)Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
) represents a kindhearted female ancestor. This dancer will sing and dance together with the people. - Mfiti (witch) is wearing a very nasty mask and has in general a very demolished and shaggy appearance. The outer shape resembles its evil character, since witches are believed to kill people with their juju.
- Simoni (eventually from Saint PeterSaint PeterSaint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
) wears a red mask, resembling an Englishman with sunburn. Therefore he is further wearing a suit made of rags. This character might be a caricature on the English colonialists.
Animal structures
The Nyau members wearing animal structures resemble wild animals or nyama za ku tchire, which are responsible for the death of people and therefore feared. There is some kind of hierarchy between the different animals, with some very respected animals (such as njobvu, the elephant) and some less important. Highly respected animals are also believed to resemble very important ancestors such as chiefs or members of the Nyau cult. Most animal structures usually have a barrel-like shape, with an entry hole at the bottom. Inside the structure, bars are mounted to be able to carry the structure around. All structures completely cover the dancer, only his feet are to be seen. In the following some structures are explained in order of their importance.- Njobvu (the elephant) is the most important figure of all. Four Nyau dancers are needed to move this structure. Njobvu resembles an important chief, since the elephant is the most important animal for the Chewa, because of its size. Therefore, this rare structure is only seen at funerals for chiefs.
- Ndondo (the snake) is the second-most important structure and is carried around by up to twelve men. It also resembles an important ancestor and is often seen at funerals for members of the Nyau.
- Mkango (the lion) resembles the evil spirit of an ancestor, which attacks and even kills people. Therefore, women run away as soon as they see mkango approaching. The figure Mkango illustrates that ancestors must not be annoyed, just as a lion must not be annoyed, since it might attack people for their disrespect.
Literature
- Gerhard Kubik: Makisi nyau mapiko. Maskentradition im bantu-sprachigen Afrika. Trickster Verlag, München 1993
- W.H.J. Rangeley: Nyau in Kotakota District. The Nyasaland Journal No.2, 1949