Chewa

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The Chewa are a Bantu - people that, especially in the southern half of the South East African state of Malawi lives, and also in the east of Zambia , as well as in the regions of Niassa , Tete and Milange in Mozambique , right down to Zimbabwe . A related speaking group is called Nyanja , a distinction is also made between the Sena speakers in Mozambique and Malawi. Portuguese records mention contacts with Chewa and their sub-tribes Banda and Phiri in the area. Today the Chewa form the largest and dominant ethnic group in the Republic of Malawi, their sub-tribe or clan, the Phiri, focus on leadership tasks, the sub-tribe or clan of the Banda on healing and shamanism .

The language of the Chewa is called Chichewa ("language of the Chewa"), outside of Malawi also Chinyanja, Chisena or Banti. Besides English, Chichewa is the official language in Malawi and is spoken by 50% of the population as their mother tongue. Chichewa is also the name for the Chewa culture.

history

The origin of the Chewa is believed to be in the south of the Congo Basin , more precisely in Malombo in the Luba region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Before the end of the 1st millennium (according to weaker sources, not until 1480), the Chewa migrated south over the north of Zambia and allegedly founded the legendary kingdom of Maravi there . The first written witnesses are Portuguese reports of contacts with the Chewa around 1608 and 1667, but they do not give any information about their culture or mention anything about a kingdom. Up until 1900 there were almost no other sources.

The official head of all Chewa in the three states of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique has been Fred Daka, the successor of the popular Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi , since 2004 . Its traditional seat is in Mkaika east of Petauke in Zambia. The first president (and later dictator ) of the Republic of Malawi, which he himself proclaimed in 1966, was Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1896–1997), a Chewa from the Banda tribe who made Chichewa the official language.

Culture and religion

In the traditional religion of the Chewa there is a creator god ( Mzimu Wamkulu, also Chiuta or Chaunta ) who sets the world on Mount Kapirintiwa on the border between western Mozambique and the central highlands of Malawi (possibly the 1335 meter high Kapiriuta south of Lilongwe ) created during a thunderstorm. Mediators between humans and God are the ancestral spirits , who have a great influence on humans. People therefore have to make the ancestral spirits positive with regular offerings and dances. The Nyau mask dances ( Gule Wamkulu ), through which contact with the ancestors is established, are therefore at the center of the religious Chewa identity . To distinguish themselves from the numerous ethnic groups who immigrated to Malawi, especially the Ngoni who immigrated from the south in the 19th century , the Chewa cultivated special traditions: the tattoos , their language and the secret societies of traditional religion ( Nyau ), which were used as funeral rituals with masks and dances practicing more or less abstract animal forms.

The Chewa still have a matrilineal line of succession for property and rights. Mbele means "offspring from the same breast". These make up the family, the Mbumba . The mother's older brothers are called Nkhoswe , and are lineage leaders and mentors to their sisters' sons. It is believed that the white rock paintings in the Chongoni area were created as part of female initiation rites, among other things.

literature

  • JWM van Breugel: Chewa Traditional Religion . Kachere Series, 2nd edition, 2001.
  • Claude Boucher: When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance. Gule Wamkulu: The Great Dance of the Chewa People of Malawi . Kungoni Center of Culture and Art, 2012.

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