Zaramo

Note 72: For a discussion of the role of mganga's in Zaramo communities, see L. Swantz, Medicine Man.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Swantz reports that in Zaramo communities hirizi and kinga amulets were often used synonymously.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

She bridged the gaps resulting from distinctions made among nature spirits in Zaramo beliefs.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

She found that in Zaramo communities the time when a woman's first female child reached puberty was a time of joyous celebration in her maternal grandmother's life because a granddaughter's fertility effectively guaranteed lineage survival, and for that reason chaudele celebrations were held in their honor. 24 The name of the celebration parallels precisely the way early Ruvu communities named a woman's firstborn child.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Swantz's use of dawa represents a Swahili word in Zaramo.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

However, if matters concerning rain arose, a contingent of Kwere representatives could be sent to the well-known rainmaker in the Uluguru Mountains. 116 Lugulu speakers claimed that they and Zaramo, Kaguru, and Doe speakers have propitiated at Kolelo for rain and for support in recently fought battles.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Note 61: L. Swantz, "Zaramo of Tanzania," 45. back

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Swantz reports that Zaramo women were highly skilled in plaiting such items as floor mats, baskets, bags, sacks, hats, food covers, and rope.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

In an altruistic act of * - tambiko, one might say that the formerly "possessed" person offered his or her body to the spirit. 131 The prevalence of such interventions within the somewhat limited coastal and immediate hinterland zones of the Ruvu, Kutu, Kwere, and Zaramo speech communities makes it likely that possessing spirits turned up in their communities no earlier than the proto-Central-East-Ruvu period of about five or six hundred years ago.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Schoenbrun suggests that the state of being bewitched, and therefore ill, can be interpreted as having been "bound" by witchcraft. 67 Similarly, Lloyd Swantz notes that Zaramo communities took it for granted that "herbs and roots alone are not sufficient [for healing], they must be accompanied by the proper words and rituals and only then do they become what we call traditional medicine."

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008