Vimbuza
Traditional dance of Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Vimbuza is a traditional dance of the Tumbuka people of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, used in healing rituals.[1]
In 2005, it was recognized by UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. 2008, it was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[1]
History
Origins
The Vimbuza dance originated in the 16th century in the Nkhamangam, located in what is now northern and central Malawi, and southern Tanzania and eastern Zambia.[1]
The models of Tumbuka traditional religion and ghost beliefs have developed through exchanges with neighboring peoples and under the influence of Christian missionaries since the end of the 19th century.[2]
Religious shrines were located in central locations, where a possessive nature spirit or a lowly deity called chiŵanda (pl. viŵanda) was worshiped. Men or women who were possessed by this spirit were henceforth to serve him at his shrine. The possessed could go into trance and communicate with the spirit, and in economic emergencies, they received messages about how humans could restore the lost harmony with nature. Regardless of their gender, they were called "women of the spirit".[2]
In the 1850s, the Nguni invaded the southern part of the settlement area from the south and subjugated the simple Tumbuka population that had not fled. There were changes in the economic and cultural fields. The Nguni suppressed the religious practices of the Tumbuka, causing the shrines to largely disappear. By the end of the 1870's, the population had grown too large for the previous methods of cultivation. Farmers began to burn down forests to fertilize the fields with the ashes. Deforestation has dried up rivers and reduced overall agricultural production. There were several hunger uprisings of the Tumbuka against their social oppression and increased religious activities to counter the loss of their own culture. The Tumbuka and other Nguni-dependent lower classes, as they became increasingly impoverished, created an increasingly powerful spiritual counterworld. The Nguni ruling class increasingly faced accusations of witchcraft. Generally, an unexplained misfortune is attributed to the magical action of malicious enemies. It offered to use the Tumbuka's ancient defense methods (mwavi) to track down the witches and stop them. In place of the earlier, destructive ghost shrines of the organized Tumbuka cult, new shrines were now being built everywhere to worship previously unknown spirits, who were thought to have been brought by the Nguni. Among them were possessive spirits who, regardless of their cultural background, spread to the lower classes.[2]
Vimbuza ghosts spread in the early 1920s as an almost exclusively female phenomenon. Concerned Presbyterian missionaries responded with bans and the exclusion of women from the church who participated in the rituals. They declared the healers to be witches and the dances to be immoral, held for the purpose of adultery. The fact that the British banned the Vimbuza ceremony in 1924 did not solve the problem. Beginning in the Kasitu River valley in the south, the spirit cult spread rapidly through other areas by migrating families. In addition to the hard-line Presbyterians and Catholics, Christian sects provided a receptacle for all who would not bow to strict doctrine. The Livingstonia Mission faced competition from Jehovah's Witnesses and Zionist churches. Sects such as the Last Church of God and his Christ, founded in the mid-1920's, sought rapid growth by permitting polygamy, as did the African National Church, founded in 1929. There were baptisms without prior Christian instruction and promises of salvation in the afterlife despite the retention of the previous way of life. This is where the ghost cult gathered.[2]
Classes of spirits
The spirits worshiped by the Tumbuka today have evolved from various cultural influences. According to their mythological origins, they can be divided into several groups: Vimbuza are explained with the spirits of fallen warriors, the end of the 19th century. The European Parliament has already expressed its views on the Commission's proposal for a directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos. Vilombos are powerful animal spirits of lions, leopards, and pythons that originate from the widespread African cosmogony. The animals must be characterized as wild and alien. The most dangerous are the vyanusi, who are the returned spirits of the Nguni of deceased powerful healers and witch-finders (nchimi). The word vyanusi comes from izanusi, "the stinkers". Another spirit that does not appear in the ceremony, however, is the mzungu (European), probably because it is difficult to imagine a dancing missionary or a dancing British colonial official. Nor are ancestral spirits (pl. mizimu) suitable for the ceremony. Ancestors are one's own, they can speak to people in dreams or visions and give instructions, but they are not trusted to take possession of a person. Structurally different, Ancestors stands for culture (above) and Vimbuza for nature (below).[2]
Animal sacrifice and dancing ceremony
Health is understood as a balance between inner heat and cold. Once a person is diagnosed an obsession, the patient gets too hot. To find out, the woman visits a botanist (ng'anga/mzamba) who used to be obsessed herself. She can talk to the spirit and maybe classify it. For treatment, she prescribes a medicine and thus becomes the mbuya (spiritual protector) of the patient. If necessary, she organizes the public therapeutic dance ceremony.[2]
An animal sacrifice (kusawiska) is offered to the Vimbuza patient, as is the case with other African possession spirits. Ghosts need fresh blood (chilopa), and if this desire is not satisfied, the ghost may take the patient's blood. An animal sacrifice is the basic prerequisite for the healing process. In the chilopa ritual, the patient drinks the blood that has just gushed from the throat, soothing the mind and alleviating the patient's suffering, at least in the short term. Ghosts are often described as mphepo. The sacrificial animals are usually suffocated, the killing is seen as drinking the animal's air. Drinking the warm gushing blood is equivalent to taking in the essence of life, so the process is not taking life, but taking in life. Unlike other sacrificial rituals performed by priests, in the chilopa the patient himself makes the sacrifice, meaning that the Vimbuza spirits directly receive the life energy in the form of animal blood. The first animal sacrifice begins with a chicken, to increase to a goat or, rarely, even a cow. If after the victim's symptoms have disappeared, meaning the spirit has cooled, the patient does not need further treatment, he can live with the spirit inside. Otherwise, he has difficult to cure ancestral dreams (mizimu).[2]
Such a sacrifice may take place independently of or at the beginning of the dance ceremony. Two large mphanje drums (also called kamango) and two small mphoza drums (also called mphiningu) are used. They play complex polyrhythmic structures that warm the mind, that is, evoke (kuwuska). Have him speak and identify himself. The patient or group of patients is seated close to the drums. By trial and error, the drummers repeat the rhythms specific to each individual spirit until one spirit is addressed, as seen when the patient falls into a trance. The woman is then dressed in a goat- or monkey-skin dress (madumbo), now usually made of cotton (mazamba), and small bells (mangwanda, also called nyisi) are hung on her feet or on her hips. In her hands, she carries a small axe (mphompho) and a fly rod (litchowa), symbols of dominance, with which the woman expresses her radically changed social position in this exceptional situation. The woman may behave arrogantly and aggressively, insulting spectators and musicians or threatening with the axe.[2]
The fluttering stripes of the dress are the visible counterpart of the drum beats to which the dancer must accurately move. With the bells on her hips or feet, she amplifies the wild rhythm, making trips and shaking her shoulders. When the spirits have become accustomed to the dance movements (kuvara, "mature"), the dancer begins to stabilize, and with her departure, the event is over.[2]
Vimbuza is particularly significant for women, who make up the majority of patients seeking treatment for mental health issues. Under the guidance of esteemed healers, patients undergo a transformative ritual that combines music, dance, and spirituality. The healing process takes place in a temphiri, a communal village house, where patients are welcomed and supported throughout their journey.[1]
As the patient enters a trance-like state, the village women and children form a circle around them, singing songs that invoke the helping spirits. The rhythmic beats of the drums, played by male musicians, complement the singing, creating a potent synergy that allows patients to express and overcome their afflictions.[1]
Development after independence
With the independence of Malawi and Zambia in 1964, the official attitude towards Vimbuza changed. The ceremony was no longer dismissed with contempt, but in the course of Africanization, it was recognized as an important part of traditional culture. However, the therapeutic aspect and the mythological meaning disappeared, a form of entertainment dances purified of their ghostly ideas developed, in which men participated. At the instigation of the Ministries of Culture of Malawi and Zambia, shows were created for tourists. In 1968, a Zambian postage stamp featured a male Vimbuza dancer.[citation needed] In this context, Vimbuza was included in the UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity Programme in 2005.[1]
The events have been commercialized. The witch hunters (nchimi) compete as paid organizers of the dances. In addition, they treat the possessed patients without public attention in "private clinics" with herbal medicine and Christian prayers. Diseases arising from the social situation and formerly treated within the village community have become the private problem of an individual who, as in Western countries, needs psychological counselling. Public dance events are no longer affordable for most women.[2]
Missionary intervention
Despite being forbidden by Christian missionaries, Vimbuza continued to thrive, providing a vital outlet for people to express their emotions and find healing.
In the cultural heritage of the Tumbuka people of northern Malawi and eastern Zambia, Vimbuza encompasses possessive spirits, the bodily manifestations they trigger, and the therapeutic performances aimed at alleviating these symptoms.[1]
Diagnosed by healers, patients undergo a dance healing ritual treatment that spans several weeks or months, accompanied by spirit-specific drum rhythms created by men. The dance aims to induce a trance-like state in the patient, while the songs beckon the spirits to offer their assistance.[3]
Vimbuza encompasses a broader set of beliefs and practices, serving as a traditional healing procedure for both psychological ailments and demonic possession. In certain regions, specific variations of the Vimbuza dance are performed as exorcism rites, such as the mkhalachitatu Vimbuza in Rumphi and Mzimba, and the masyabi in Nkhata Bay, which incorporates indigenous elements.[4][5][6][7]