adminPathisa Nyathi Cultural Heritage
TODAY we bring to a close the symbolism and technological manipulations that result in the formation of rain. A colleague whose mother is a wosana added some dimension which I felt should be availed to the followers of this column. Her contribution adds some element relating to symbolism which dictates the manner of dancing.
Her argument was that they went to Njelele to perform rain dances as part of a request to Mwali to let the rain fall. You may have observed some dance forms where the dancers lift their feet high and land them on the ground with a thud. Dance is a performance; essentially it is movement with a deeper meaning.
On the basis of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) dances belong to Domain 2. As dance forms they are a cultural expression. They will express fundamental African cosmology. It has always been my argument that Africans document through their various ICH forms.
But what are these forms? Domain 1 is the Oral Traditions and Expression, including Language as Vehicle of the ICH. Domain 3 has to do with Social Practices, Rituals and Festive Events. Domain 4 is to do with Knowledge and Practices Concerning Nature and the Universe. Finally, there is Domain 5 that deals with Craftsmanship.
This, in our view, is the totality of documenting experiences, which experiences are rooted in human interaction with the environment, both material/physical and spiritual. There were social experiences that were terrible such as slavery. When the five domains are objectively scrutinised we should be able to unravel evidence of slavery in one of the domains.
Slavery depleted African populations in addition to its other extreme vices. In other words, it ran counter to the idea of continuity and perpetuity for the African people, a condition that Africans held dear. We know that continuity of the human species is achieved through sexual reproduction. The question now is how has Africa expressed, through dance, and other expressive forms the idea of fertility?
It has been argued that the depleting and threatened African populations cosmologically countered population depletion through dance displays. Wriggling of the waist in an erotic manner, as in kwasakwasa dance of the Democratic Republic of Congo is one way Africans reacted to the scourge of slavery. At the same time it was a way of documenting for all time the vices of slavery. Through the sexual act, as captured in the wriggling of the waist, they were determined to multiply and thus ensure their continuity as a people.
This goes also for the colonial experiences. Some dances, particularly in Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi have created characters that were involved in the process of colonisation. The colours of the masks, mode of dress and attire have cast the white men as the perpetrators of the colonial project. And yet all that is captured through a dance. As we have said before, a dance is a community in motion. We only need to carefully interpret every facet of the dance and the experience is like reading a history book.
Back to my colleague’s mother who was one of those amawosana who undertook pilgrimages to Njelele. They used to walk long distances, all the way from Mberengwa. Once at Njelele they performed the rain dances. The one thing she told her son was that when they danced they did not lift their feet high above the ground. What the pilgrims sought was a quiet and peaceful rain. The least they expected was “cheeky” rain, one accompanied by thunder and lightning. The latter condition resulted when the dancers lifted their feet high. Those familiar with the wosana dance do know that the dancing is characterised by the stamping of feet which are not lifted high.
The poise of the wosana dancers is also important to observe. They do not dance erect. Their upper bodies bend towards the ground (land).
Usually they would be holding some staff as if supporting their bodies. This is further evidence of a link with the land which they seek to have fertilised and thus become the source of sustenance for their communities. Even the trees and rocks were not spared. In that “arrested” form the amawosana would perform spiritual acrobatic stints that saw them climb up trees and suspended from precipitous rocks.
When feet are lifted high they land with great force which symbolises aggression, cheek and violence. Such rain kills through lightning strikes on humans. In fact, there were measures within some communities that were taken to pacify angry and violent rain. A few years ago we looked at such measures among the BaKalanga.
It has been said the Njelele Concept is associated with peace. That peace must start with the peaceful rain. The inherent peace is evident in the manner of dancing as just explained above. The dancers generally adorn themselves in black cloth and black beads. White and sky blue may be tolerated. Colour red which is associated with death is never used during a dance that is centred on peace.
The colour black is the colour of rain-bearing clouds. The symbolism at work in wosana dance is just the same as that in the woso dance. The leg rattles produce a light sound akin to the pattering rain drops as they hit the ground. After all, both rain dances are inspired by a common cosmology, the knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe.
The wosana dance is associated with the land which must be fertilised by rain. This association with the land is evident even when the dancers get “arrested” (sungwa’d) and roll on the ground. The length of arrest varies from say five minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 and up to 25 minutes or even longer. It has been suggested that the length of “arrest” depends on the spiritual purity or lack of same with regard to the wosana (the medium). If he/she engaged in adultery the arrest took longer as some form of punishment. If the medium did not visit the rain shrine regularly that also resulted in lengthy “arrest” (Interview with Douglas Mathwalingubo Khupe, 26 May 2014 Bulawayo).
One regular visitor to Njelele reports that the pilgrims took certain gifts to present to Mwali. They took with them skins of animals such as kudu and dassie, among other animal skins. The skins were tanned before they were taken for presentation.
When the pilgrims, comprising amawosana and the men accompanying them, as part of security, their tracks were extinguished or deleted by the falling rain. It was an indicator of the success of their pilgrimage. Mwali had smiled on them and showered them with rain.
Less and less pilgrimages are being undertaken to the rain shrines. Western education, Christianity, urbanisation and globalisation are at work eroding traditional African beliefs and practices. Where cosmology is under severe onslaught, the centre can longer hold and things begin to fall apart.
Next week we shall try to bring out the uniqueness of the BaKalanga deity and compare it with Judaic spirituality and religious practices.
Online Reporter