August - the month of traditional worship

THE lunar month of August starting on Tuesday is upon us. Zimbabwe is a country in which that period is culturally associated with traditional worshipping at several shrines in various regions.

In the misty past during the Mambo era, the month known as Ndlana in TjiKalanga, was the time during which successive hereditary Rozwi rulers performed ritual killings of appropriate boys some of whose body parts would be used to revitalise the rulers' war charms.

That royal Rozwi practice was referred to as "pisa Ndlana," literally meaning "to burn the month of Ndlana".

The advent of the Venda deity called Mwali, Mwari, uNgwali, to the Mambo empire was characterised by rain prayers, virtually an integral part of the worshipping of all those who practice the Mwali religion. That should be the case in view of this geographical region's susceptibility to devastating droughts.

Three shrines come to one's mind in this area, that is, Matabeleland. They are the major one, Njelele in the Matopo Hills, then two subordinate ones, Manyangwa at Tjehanga in the Bulilima District, and the Dula Shrine in the southern sector of the Esigodini District.

Some religious traditionalists travel from various parts of Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Botswana to one or other of those sacred places to worship. Official intercessors at each of those shrines are, or should be, men or women of integrity and a high level of morality. Mwali, just like the biblical or Hebraic Yahweh, is very much against recklessly drunken lifestyles, to say nothing about debauchery.

Those worshipping at any of those shrines should always bear in mind that the places are as holy as any Christian temple or Moslem mosque. Keepers of the shrines have the authority and the right to prohibit anyone whose behaviour or pronouncements are disrespectful. Supplicants as well as shrine officials are expected to be both respectable and respectful for there are holy duties performed at the sacred places.

Traditional Mwali worshippers believe that during (lunar) August is the most auspicious 28-day-long period during which to communicate with their god. That makes much sense as August is the beginning of spring in the southern hemisphere, when trees and other kinds of vegetation come back to life.

Agricultural communities need to ensure that their fields are ready for tilling so that should rain fall early, first crops can benefit from every drop. We should also bear in mind that the period when plants grow relatively fast in our hemisphere is from about the first week of August to about the middle of November. It is during that period that most planting should be done.

It is quite common that Mwali gives this kind of information in August when he/she also advises supplicants how many gourds (mikombe/ inkezo) of water (rain) he/she will give them in the following season. Should she say she/he will give them only one nkombe/inkezo, a drought should be expected. Two mikombe represent a moderate rainfall. Three, four upwards mean a very good rainy season.

Some, if not most of Mwali's predictions come true, especially those concerning birth of children. This is a matter that is as controversial as some so-called prophecies by some Apostolic and Pentecostal pastors. How most helpful they could be if they, too, could prophesy about rain in Zimbabwe!

Zimbabwe is extremely lucky to have those shrines in that if properly looked after and managed, they can contribute immensely to this country's tourist earnings. That brings us to a very important aspect of this discussion, which is public accommodation at each of those shrines. It is either non-existent or most inadequate.

Those concerned with the general maintenance of those culturally important institutions should look seriously into the construction of relatively comfortable rondavels at all the shrines so that pilgrims from afar can spend a few days in relative comfort at the those centres.

Presently most pilgrims pay "flying" visits because they do not have any comfortable overnight accommodation. The opinion of this author is that rondavels with thatched roofs are preferable because they would give an original traditional appearance to the site.

The Tourism and the Culture ministries could play a leading role in the planning and construction of such rondavels; not that they would have to fund any aspect of the project, no more than they fund any Christian or Moslem church.

But they certainly can and should motivate the concerned traditional religious communities to provide or improve facilities for health reasons. The Tourism Ministry could benefit financially by tourist expenditure in the country.

The districts in which the shrines are located could also benefit by such cultural development schemes as they could generate employment.

Meanwhile, some Christian denominations may feel threatened by what may be interpreted as the promotion of traditional religion, what some so-called prophets' term demonic organisations. That is neither here nor there because the Zimbabwe national constitution guarantees freedom of worship which, in other words, means freedom of religion. Where there is freedom of worship, there is freedom not to worship or, differently stated, freedom not to believe in any deity.

That is what obtains today in Zimbabwe, and that is precisely what we fought to achieve. We should promote one another's right to worship or not to worship even if we ourselves are very ardent Christians, and that is, incidentally, what the author of this article is.

-Saul Gwakuba Ndlovu is a retired, Bulawayo-based journalist. He can be contacted on cell 0734 328 136 or through email. sgwakuba@gmail.com