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The purpose of this site is to try and get the world to start dealing with the interaction between culture and success in a mature and intelligent manner. Poll: Do you believe culture influences success? Yes 69.01% No 19.5% Uncertain 11.4% - Newest Articles - Per capita income figures for the countries and regions of the world. While rarely read this is Gandhi's most important written work. The traditional explanation for the noticeable differences in income across cultures was to say that they differed in their level of civilization. - Categories - - All Articles - Per capita income figures for the countries and regions of the world. While rarely read this is Gandhi's most important written work. The traditional explanation for the noticeable differences in income across cultures was to say that they differed in their level of civilization. This 1920 work by Roger Babson is a classic with in its genre. It promotes the traditional, pre-1960s explanation for the connection between success and culture. Current events in Zimbabwe are giving us an unprecedented opportunity to measure and judge the effect of white settlement and colonization in Africa. Average US Incomes by Race, Ethnicity and Religion. Max Weber's claim that Protestantism is more conducive to success than Catholicism and that Calvinism is in particular more successful is widely repeated and rarely examined. We need to recognize that culture is the personality of a group or race and we must see culture and having seen it, make it a work of art. The moral justification for welfare is supposed to be that we are temporarily helping out our fellow man through a rough stretch of road or helping the disabled permanently. If it is to become a system for continually transferring wealth from one group to another the people behind this change owe us an explanation. The great taboo of our age is not speaking about race, but speaking about culture. Bourgeoisie is more than just a term of abuse used by the Left, it refers to a real people who led real lives. Selections from the Federal Outlook Selections from a 1960's Rhodesian newspaper. How Africa Underdeveloped Africa Africa is the poorest place in the world. Why? Will Famine Come to Zimbabwe? The end of commercial farming in Zimbabwe could plunge the country into famine. The Tragedy of the Zimbabwe Commons Communally owned property always has and always will suffer from the 'tragedy of the commons' problem. Band Aid Africa recieves $15 billion a year in aid. Is it helping? |
Gotosa, Nyangwa and the Legend of the Land Taboo
by C. E. Shand
When one works from day to day, lives, discusses, jokes together with primitive tribesmen, such as those of the Mkota Chieftainship, one tends to develop an appreciation of their forms of entertainment. What could be more enjoyable than to sit, alfresco by the fire in the evening, with one or two of the tribesmen, and watch their sad and tired old eyes sparkle back to life as they gaze into the past, almost as if they could see it as clear as day, and relate to you some of the stories which they were told when still young. One such story was that of their ancestor, Gotosa, and the legend of Nyangwa's spiritual power.
Before we drift into the past with my old friend, I would like to let you know some of the past Mkota history.
The Mkota people are of the Tonga tribe, being, relatively, one of the more primitive peoples in Rhodesia, whose diets are still largely supplemented with many indigenous plants, roots and small animals, such as mice, lizards and monkeys. The present Mkota tribal area is in the extreme northeast of Rhodesia, bounded by the Mazoe river in the north, the Mozambique border in the east, the main SalisburyTete road in the south, and the Kudzwe river in the west.
It is said that the tribe originated in Zambia and migrated into the area which they found unoccupied.
Gotosa and the Strength of His Tribal Spirit
Gotosa was the 7th Chief in the lineage and came from the first house Mudzukwa (of which the present Chief Thomas is a member).
It was said that the Midzimu (spirits) of that day were very strong. Any misfortune arose only from neglect of one's Midzimu and any needs of the people could be met by their Midzumu who could perform many Mishamiso (wonders) for them.
One year the rains did not come, and the drought caused much starvation. Even the roots, leaves and rodents which contributed to their subsistence were in short supply. The cries of starvation were carried to Gotosa.
The Mhondoro (tribal spirit) had to be consulted and so Gotosa instructed the Muzukuru we umambo (his sister's eldest son, who is Master of Ceremonies) to prepare consultation of the Mhondoro with spiritual beer at the Modzimbahwe (spiritual shrines on the sacred mountain near his home). This mountain, being sacred, could only be climbed by those guided by the Mhondoro.
On completion of the ceremony the Masvikiro returned with the message that the Mhondoro had heard their cries and had accepted their beer. He said that the many Miuyu (baobab or cream of tartar trees) in the area would bear a fruit, Mauyu, in a hard pod. They were to crack these and boil the fruit in water to make a porridge and the black baobab seeds could also be extracted and cracked open and the kernels eaten too (apparently high in protein).
The remainder of the beer was drunk and the old women (those who could no longer bear children) did traditional dances and smeared Masese (dregs of the African beer) on each others' faces, these being the dances of the Mhondoro at the end of the ceremony where the women roar and scratch like lions and a certain distinctive drum is used with a rapid tnbeat; pause; tnbeat; described by my old friend as "gogogo, gogogo".
And so it was that the people would no longer suffer hunger in times of drought.
Nyangwa's Power and the Land Taboo
Nyangwa, who was the sister of Gotosa, was also the Svikiro of a strong spirit which proclaimed itself a Mhondoro (lion or tribal spirit). When she was possessed the spirit spoke in a man's voice, denouncing the Chief's Masvikiro as being imposters and claiming that Gotosa was not the rightful Chief, but wrongly chosen by the false Masvikiro.
When the elders demanded a consultation of the Mhondoro beer was brewed and consecrated to the tribal spirit. When the Masvikiro were possessed the Mhondoro was said to roar in anger, divining Nyangwa as being a witch, and that she should be exiled to beyond the Vombosi.
But Nyangwa's spirit was strong so she fled to the sacred mountain, to the Madzimbahwe where only the Masvikiro could find her.
It was said that those pursuing her were spat at by the cobras she sent and were blinded, unable to see the steep slopes of the mountain and fell to their deaths. The Mhondoro was consulted again and it was instructed that beer was to be brewed and they were to take the Nevanje ("he to whom the sand will be given by the Mhondoro"). During the ceremony for installation of a chief, he is given medicated soil to hold representing the land he is given to tonga (rule) ). The Nevanje was to be shaven bald (a ceremony often done by njangas) whereupon he would be able to capture Nyangwa without being harmed, for the spirits which had chosen him would protect him.
When Nyangwa was captured, she was driven across the Vombosi river by the men of the tribe. Nyangwa, in her anger, cursed the land over the Vombosi river, on which she was standing, claiming that any man of the Mkota tribe who set foot there would die and his spirit be lost.
My old friend's eyes dimmed as he gazed into the fire and stirred the coals for more warmth. "The spirits don't have the strength they once had," he sighed, "today's youth only think of smart clothes, European beer and more money."
2/ On checking the genealogy chart I found the successor to Gotosa to be listed as Jigu. When asking one of the tribal elders about him, I was told his name, Jigu, was not his true name, but a nickname. It meant, in the old Tonga language "To lift up one's head". He was said to have been given the name because in a ceremony before he was a Chief he was told to lift up his head to be shaven.
Could this Jigu be the Nevanje in the story of Nyangwa who was shaven bald before capturing her?
I have noted two interesting things in our modern day and age that could be connected to this story of Nyangwa.
(a) There is a mountain range near the river Nyangombe, a few kilometres from the present chief's traditional home. It is called the Nyangwa Range and is very steep and heavily wooded (grid reference VS854463). It is taboo for tribesmen to climb the mountain, and it is said that Gotosa, who is now regarded as the head tribal spirit, was buried there.
fb) During the Protected Village programme of 1976, the Chief was moved rom his home near the Mazoe river (Nyakuku) to Msau P.V. and the shrines were also moved and remade a short distance from the P.V. site. However, a lack of water at Msau made completion of the P.V. impossible, so the people were moved across the Vombosi river to Kondo in late '76 and early '77. In 1977, however, when it was time for the annual appeasement of the spirits for rain, the Chief asked permission to cross back over the Vombosi to Msau, to carry out the ceremony. He said it was impossible to reconstruct the shrines at Kondo. When asked why he claimed that only the spirits knew, and he could not tell me. Could it be true that Nyangwa had cursed the land across the Vombosi? Could a curse so long ago still affect the spirits of the tribesmen who lived in her time?
People's lives are said to be governed by their beliefs, and fear of the supernatural. Are there such things as spirits? Did such things really take place? Or are we, as human beings, just affected by what can be described as too vivid an imagination? One never can tell.