UNION INTERNATIONALE DES SCIENCES PRÉHISTORIQUES ET PROTOHISTORIQUES

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE XV WORLD CONGRESS (LISBON, 4-9 SEPTEMBER 2006)

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VOL. 27

Session C26

Prehistoric Art:
Signs, Symbols, Myth, Ideology
Edited by

Dario Seglie
Marcel Otte
Luiz Oosterbeek
Laurence Remacle

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2009
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 GIRLS’ INITIATION ROCK ART IN SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICA:
WOMEN’S VOICES
Leslie ZUBIETA
PhD Candidate, Rock Art Research Institute, P. Bag 3 PO WITS 2050, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Email: leslie@rockart.wits.ac.za

Abstract: The White Spread-eagled painted tradition from South-central Africa has been linked to girls’ initiation ceremonies and
more specifically to Chinamwali of the Cheŵa people; a link that I verified in my masters research. This is a rock art that talks about
women concerns and views of the world.
The tradition of painting in rock shelters for girls’ initiation ceremonies is no longer performed. Nevertheless the tradition is not
forgotten. There is still knowledge of the use of some shelters in central Malaŵi in the past as places that embraced some part of the
Chinamwali. However, the ceremony has changed in the last five decades and the relationship with the paintings in a few years will
be completely forgotten. This paper seeks to capture and record some of the last memories of the old uses and meanings of the rock
art.
Keywords: Rock art, Initiation, South-central Africa

Résumé: La tradition de peinture rupestre White Spread-eagled d’Afrique Centrale méridionale a été reliée aux cérémonies
d’initiation des filles et plus particulièrement au Chinamwali des Cheŵa; un lien que j’ai confirmé durant mes travaux de master. Il
s’agit d’un art rupestre qui parle des préoccupations des femmes et de leur vision du monde.
La peinture des abris-sous-roche pour les cérémonies d’initiation des filles n’est plus pratiquée. Néanmoins, cette tradition n’est pas
oubliée. Au Malaŵi central, on se souvient encore de l’utilisation par le passé de certains abris pour pratiquer des parties du
Chinamwali. Cependant la cérémonie a changé durant ces cinq dernières décennies et la relation avec les peintures sera
complètement perdue dans quelques années. Cet article cherche à capturer et consigner les derniers souvenirs des anciennes
utilisations et significations de cet art rupestre.
Mots-clés: Art rupestre, Initiation, Afrique Centrale méridionale

In this paper I want to draw your attention to what we people and basketwork figures, which still appear during
know in the present of the rock art linked to the farming Nyau rites of passage and ceremonies (Phillipson 1976,
people in a region that comprises the eastern part of 1977; Mgomezulu 1978; Lindgren & Schoffeleers 1978;
Zambia, central Malaŵi and the northwestern portion of Juwayeyi & Phiri 1992; Yoshida 1992; Smith 1997, 2001).
Mozambique. Various people have done research in this
area (Clark 1959a, 1959b; Phillipson 1972, 1976; Nyau has two sets of performers, the animal structures
Metcalfe 1956; Rangeley 1949; Schoffeleers 1985; and the masked dancers. All the structures represent wild
Lindgren & Schoffeleers 1978; Juwayeyi & 1992 Phiri animals and they are symbolic representations of
1992; Smith 1995, 1997, 2001) and after four decades, powerful entities that play as guardians of the ancestral
two traditions of farming rock art have been recognized. customs.
Smith (1997) named them the White Zoomorphic
Tradition and the White Spread-eagled Tradition. The second tradition, the White Spread-eagled tradition is
also finger painted mostly in white. This tradition its
Even though these painting traditions have now ceased, it characterized most prominently by a figure that has been
is have been accepted by different scholars that these later termed the spread-eagled design. This figure resembles a
white traditions were made by ancestors of people we stretched hide seen from above.
know in the present as Cheŵa (Clark 1959a, 1959b;
Chaplin 1962; Phillipson 1972, 1976; Lindgren & The central body of these motifs generally runs vertically,
Schoffeleers 1978; Juwayeyi & Phiri 1992; Smith 1995, often with various protrusions from its head. It is also
1997, 2001). This matrilineal group arrived in the area very common to find the spread-eagled design’s body
towards the end of the first millennium A.D., bringing a covered with dots. In Dedza District, central Malawi, the
new way of life, different ceremonies and a different kind dots are usually black, whereas in eastern Zambia white
of artistic expression to the one of the hunter-gatherers dots are sometimes used to fill-in the body (Clark 1973;
who originally inhabitated this region. Smith 1995, 1997; Zubieta 2006). The spread-eagled
designs have been found in massive superimpositioned
The first of the two traditions the White Zoomorphic, is sequences covering the rock surface in some shelters.
executed by finger-painting and comprises stylised animal This design is almost always accompanied by snake-like
forms and human figures in white pigment and charcoal motifs and other geometric designs such as circles and
(see Figure 18.1). lines of dots (see Figure 18.2).

The paintings have been related to Cheŵa men and their David Phillipson (1976) suggested since the 1970s that
closed association: Nyau. The depictions represent masked the White Spread-eagled tradition was related to girls’

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PREHISTORIC ART – SIGNS, SYMBOLS, MITH, IDEOLOGY

Fig. 18.1. Paintings in Namzeze Shelter, Malaŵi (Photo: Leslie Zubieta)

Fig. 18.2. Spread-eagled design in Mphunzi, Malaŵi (Photo: Leslie Zubieta)

initiation ceremonies. More recently it has been linked thing similar happened around the same time (1972) to
especifically to the girl’s initiation of the Cheŵa people: Desmond Clark when he was excavating Mwana wa
Chinamwali (Smith 1995, 1997; Zubieta 2006). Chentcherere II in central Malaŵi: people were not keen
to share any detailed information with the outsiders (Clark
However, Phillipson’s suggestion was difficult to confirm 1973).
because of the limited information he managed to collect
on the subject when he was excavating in Eastern Zambia. Indeed, amongst the Cheŵa matrilineal society the
People refused to give him detailed information about the Chinamwali ceremony is perhaps the most important
links between the paintings and girls’ initiation. Some- ritual of all. Just like the men’s Nyau, the Chinamwali is a

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 L. ZUBIETA: GIRLS’ INITIATION ROCK ART IN SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICA: WOMEN’S VOICES

restricted ceremony. Only women can attend and learn its Chinamwali is the most important experience in the life of
secrets and thus women are banned to disclose the secret a Cheŵa woman. If one of the girls does not attend the
aspects of the ceremony with non-initiates. initiation, it is believed that she will not be fertile, and she
will not know the important rules of behaviour. She can
In the mid 1990s, Smith’s doctoral thesis on the rock art put everyone at risk of mdulo, ‘the causing of illness in
of central Malaŵi and eastern Zambia was perhaps the oneself or another person by indulging in sexual
beginning of the quest to explain the relation between the intercourse at prohibited times, or, more rarely, by
paintings and Chinamwali ceremony. However, there was abstaining therefrom when it is prescribed’ (Hodgson
an obstacle; Smith as a male researcher was also banned 1933:129).
from knowing the teachings of Chinamwali. For the same
reason, thirty years ago, Phillipson and Clark did not get How, though, were the ceremony and the paintings
information on the subject either. Women refuse to talk to connected? In the early 1990s, Kenji Yoshida’s
men about their ritual teachings because they have been anthropological research in eastern Zambia revealed that
told they will die if they share this information; most some Cheŵa women used to make clay figurines on the
especially with men. ground called vilengo to instruct initiates in different
lessons (Yoshida 1992). The figurines on the ground
Although some of the general steps of the ceremony have resembled animals seen from above (see Figure 18.3).
already been published (Hodgson 1933; Rangeley 1949;
Winterbottom & Lancaster 1965; Van Breugel 2001); It is important not only to emphasize the resemblance of
most details in this paper come from my fieldwork in these figures to the paintings, specifically the spread-
Malaŵi. In accordance with the wishes of the Cheŵa eagled designs, but also to understand their ritual use.
women, I will present only some aspects of the initiation According to Yoshida (1992), the tutors made the girls
ceremony, which I was allowed to attend and participate dance and sing around the clay figures. They were used as
in. mnemonic devices to ensure that the girls did not forget
what they were taught.
Chinamwali is the initiation ceremony that all Cheŵa
girls must attend to graduate from childhood to The use of mnemonic devices by the Cheŵa and
womanhood. Girls usually between the ages of 10 and 13 neighbouring groups for initiation purposes, such as the
go through initiation when they just have had their first Nsenga, suggests strongly the use of mnemonic devices
menstrual period. The Cheŵa community waits until there for instruction purposes in girls’ initiation rituals by the
is a large number of girls in order to optimize resources Cheŵa in the past.
and efforts.
After I attended Chinamwali, some Cheŵa women in
The girls are secluded in a place call the tsimba, a hut in central Malaŵi were able to tell me the meanings of three
which the teacher or namkunwgi instructs them in the of the paintings in the panel at Mwana wa Chentcherere II
secrets of the tradition: the mwambo. The initiate learns rock shelter. The information that the women still
songs and dances in order to help remember the teachings. remember was passed to them via oral tradition.
She has a tutor responsible for looking after her progress:
her phungu. The second special place where the teaching The meaning of the three images was closely related to
takes place is the mtengo, literally meaning a tree. In both the ceremony. The first painting was meant to represent
places, the girls are not allowed to be seen or to speak to when the tutor takes the initiate to the river. The
anyone who is not an initiated woman. underlying meaning of the second one was a baboon,
which is regarded by the Cheŵa as an animal whose
Once the seclusion is over, the initiate will be ready for sexual behaviour resembles that of a human, especially a
one of the most important parts of the ceremony, the man. Women are taught when to run away from them,
Chingondo. The initiate will wear a clay figurine on her because it is believed by the Cheŵa that male baboons
head, used as a symbol that unifies all the teachings and used to have sexual intercourse with Che ŵa women
experiences of the initiation (Zubieta 2006). (Morris 2000a). The third figure of the panel was said to
represent a dance that takes place during Chinamwali.
After the Chingondo the girls are taken to a river and their
head, arm pit and pubic hair is shaved. The hair is thrown Just like tsimba and the mtengo, it is probable that in the
away as a symbol of the transition from girlhood to past the girls were taken to rock shelters which were
womanhood. The initiate is dressed in new clothes and is secluded from non-initiate eyes to learn the teachings of
given a new name. The old name will never be spoken Chinamwali. There, the teacher painted a figure or
again. When the girls return to the village, the Nyau repainted others on the rock face and used them as
masks are waiting for the procession and the big dance mnemonic devices. As in the present, only the initiates
begins: the gule wamkulu. At the last stage of the could have access to the meanings of such figures. This
ceremony, the initiate will be walked back to her home condition thus creates an especially difficult challenge to
surrounded by women who shout with joy. Her body is interpret the meanings of this rock art as the paintings
usually covered with white and black dots. were only understood by initiated women. Nevertheless, I

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Fig. 18.3. Similarities between the paintings and the vilengo (left a close up of a vilengo
from Yoshida (1993: fig.14) and right taken from Zubieta’s (2006: appendix) redrawing)

think that there are ways to get to its interpretation, such with profound psychological issues in which identity
as with the assistance of ethnography. and sexuality are involved (Yates 1993; Meskell 1999).
The main contribution of this approach for rock art
I do not presume a radical uniformity of the past and studies is to start realizing that the specific perception of
present cultural forms, but I do want to stress the the body is also reflected in the way this is represented in
important role that the oral traditions and indigenous the art.
knowledge of south-central Africa have for the
interpretation of the rock art in this area. In particular for this study, where the paintings are
strongly linked to the living culture, the meanings of these
Thus, in order to understand some of the meanings of the representations can be explored by understanding the
figures; I have employed recent social and cultural body perceptions of the Cheŵa people.
analyses of the human body, becoming known under the
name “body theory” (Turner 1996; Synott 1993; Yates In Cheŵa thought a woman’s body is imagined by the use
1993; Meskell 1999). This approach has assisted me to of metaphors. Sometimes these are used to talk about the
construct a theoretical framework that specifically has female organs in a veiled way (Father Boucher pers.
contributed to the way we understand gender concerns comm. December 16, 2003). Metaphors are models to
and animal symbolism in the Whtie Spread-eagled understand the world that operate not only in language but
Tradition (Zubieta 2006). also in thought and action (Stevenson 1995). Some of the
animal bodies represented in the paintings, I posit, were
However, body concerns are specially related to the used in the White Spread-eagled tradition as metaphors
academic study of gender and this is not restricted only to for the human body and human body behaviour (Zubieta
feminism. Gender centres on the social construction of In Press).
masculinity and femininity and the social values invested
in the sexual difference between women and men The Cheŵa cosmology of the body provides some
(Gilchrist 1991). Gender becomes then a dynamic cultural important insights on how the ecological setting is
construction; and as such it is then culturally specific. interrelated with the body schemas. According to Kaspin
(1996) the conceptions of the body are based on
As gender I refer in this study to a set of roles that are agricultural metaphors. However, I will further argue that
constructed, both at the individual level and at a cultural animal symbolism is important to understand fully the
level through the recognition of the body functions and perception of the body for Cheŵa people.
body behaviour. Gender roles in this sense are the set of
tasks that a human being fills within society based on The Cheŵa perceptions of, and metaphors relating to the
social expectations deeply rooted in stereotypes of how a animal world have been mainly studied by Brian Morris
person of a particular sex should act, think or feel. (1995, 2000a, 2000b), Kenji Yoshida (1992) and
Schoffeleers and Roscoe (1985). My analysis of Cheŵa
However, the body does not only relate to the physical representation of the body and its relation to the animal
features of it; it is more than just flesh and bones: it deals world draws largely upon their work.

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 L. ZUBIETA: GIRLS’ INITIATION ROCK ART IN SOUTH-CENTRAL AFRICA: WOMEN’S VOICES

Animals, it should be noted, are present in Cheŵa HODGSON, A.G.O. (1933). Notes on the Achewa and
creation myths, folk tales and proverbs. The Cheŵa Angoni of the Dowa District of the Nyasaland
consider certain animals ― specifically baboons, hyenas, Protectorate. The Journal of the Royal Anthropo-
and dogs (Morris 2000b) ― to be representative of logical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 63: 123–
powerful human sexual passions (chilakolako). Bodily 164.
representations then make use of these animals. Perhaps KASPIN, D. (1996). A Chewa cosmology of the body.
each painting, or groups of them, was related to songs that American Ethnologist 23(3): 561–578.
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example, when the women pointed out the baboon to me LINDGREN, N.E. & SCHOFELEERS, J.M. (1978). Rock
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was related to such a figure. Antiquities Publication No. 18. Ministry of Education
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MGOMEZULU, G.G.Y. (1978). Food production: the
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of California, Berkley.
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