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Girls' Puberty Songs and their Relation to Fertility, Health, Morality and Religion among the Zulu1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

Eileen Jensen Krige
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Extract

In the tradition of van Gennep anthropologists have studied puberty rites mainly as rites of passage marking changes in status at the crises of life and, more recently, the role which these ceremonies play in the ordering and reordering of social relations. My purpose here is to approach Zulu puberty rites from a different angle: to examine them in the context of a system of beliefs and values underlying a whole group of ritual activities for the welfare of the community—for health, for rain, for fertility in man and beast. This context was suggested to my mind when, a few years ago, I attended a spring ceremonial in the form of hoeing a field in honour of Inkosazana or Nomkhubulwana, a maiden deity. These rites, long thought to have died out, have not only survived in outlying parts of the country, but have lately been revived in many areas, some quite close to Durban. When I heard the songs that were being sung in this ceremony it was suddenly brought home to me that this rite to secure good crops was conceived of in terms of a girl's puberty ceremony. Inkosazana, personification of nature, was symbolized as standing on the threshold of summer like a girl at her puberty ceremony, ready for marriage and procreation. These puberty songs form part also of a number of other rituals associated with Inkosazana rites to combat pests and epidemics and the herding of the cattle for a day by girls, a rite which Gluckman, mistakenly in my opinion, has interpreted as a ritual of rebellion. My main concern in this paper is to present and analyse some of the Zulu girls' puberty songs (reproduced in Appendix II), to show how they are connected with ideas of morality and to indicate briefly the relation of puberty rites to rituals associated with the deity Inkosazana.

Résumé

CHANTS DE PUBERTÉ CHEZ LES JEUNES FILLES, CONNOTANT LA FERTILITÉ, LA SANTÉ, LA MORALE ET LA RELIGION CHEZ LES ZOULOU

Une étude détaillée des chants associés à un certain rituel Zoulou a permis de mettre en évidence les rapports entre les rites de puberté des jeunes filles et d'autres rites associés à la fertilité, la pluie et la prévention des désastres saisonniers, tant pour l'homme que pour les récoltes. Ces rites ont un caractère fortement magique, mais sont aussi effectués à l'intention d'une divinité et doivent davantage être considérés comme une manifestation importante de la religion Zoulou, qui n'a jamais été approfondie. Cette divinité, Inkosazana, est une personnification de la nature conçue comme une jeune vierge. Elle ne peut être vénérée que par des femmes, plus spécialement par des jeunes filles vierges, qui agissent au nom de la communauté dans un certain nombre de rites pour le bien général. Il y a une sorte de rapport de moralité entre l'homme et cette divinité, qui fait que l'on considère la peste ou certaines épidémies comme la conséquence de la rupture d'un interdit sexuel dans la communauté.

Les rites sont divisés en deux parties: udwa, qui a lieu à l'occasion des premières menstrues, rite qui a presque complètement disparu dans certains districts, et omula, rite de classe d'âge, encore largement répandu, exécuté en fonction du mariage par les jeunes filles vierges uniquement. Les principales manifestations d'omula sont les chants spécifiques, le sacrifice en l'honneur des jeunes filles, et les danses publiques du dernier jour. Les chants (cités en Appendix II) sont répartis en un certain nombre de catégories. D'une manière générate, ils explicitent le sens et la raison d'être des menstrues; ils décrivent l'acte sexuel et ses rapports avec la procréation, exaltent l'organe sexuel masculin et, comme on accorde une grande importance à la virginité, mettent en garde contre les rapports trop intimes avant le mariage.

En Appendix I, l'auteur critique l'interprétation de Gluckman, concernant les rites agraires des femmes Zoulou et les considérant comme des rites de rébellion, et apporte quelques arguments de poids à son propos.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , April 1968 , pp. 173 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1968

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References

page 174 note 2 The seduced girl must not be naked.

page 175 note 1 The word umshophi covers a much wider class of evil. E.g. an epidemic can be averted by virgins dressed in a covering of marsh grass going from kraal to kraal singing puberty songs, then bathing in the river and spurting out water from their mouths with the words ‘Phuma mthakathi’.

page 175 note 2 I have witnessed a number of these ceremonies in the Umvoti District. The omula may also be referred to as ukukhehla.

page 175 note 3 Omula and udwa (first menstruation) songs are said to be largely identical.

page 176 note 1 It is also said of the goat, and of the ox that is killed ‘ibahlanganisa nedlozi—it puts them (people) into touch with the spirits’.

page 176 note 2 This is a short-handled assegai known as isinqindi. Every family keeps one for omula and marriage ceremonial. The assegai is a symbol of the male who will ‘stab’ or pierce her and in dancing the girl points it at the prospective bridegroom or, when she is not engaged, at the mother's father or people) brother.

page 176 note 3 The parading of women before the army with lifted skirts to prevent it from going to war is said to have been similar to ukubhina. Once this had been done the men could not go into battle as evil or bad luck would most certainly befall them.

page 179 note 1 We, maye, mame are exclamations of grief, fear, sorrow. I am told that in this kind of praise or song it is usual to have such exclamations. There is clearly much work to be done in analysing the forms of, and logic underlying, Zulu songs and praises.

page 180 note 1 The song sung on this occasion is Maye ngamabele obabao—Alas for the corn—Oh fathers! Obabao is an exclamation of woe which carries an appeal to the fathers. It is similar to we mame—Oh mother!

page 181 note 1 It is interesting to note that, for purposes of this rite the women are referred to simply as mabandla ka msunu, companies of vagina (personification. (In one ceremony, when their leader called to them to come and hoe the small field on which she had scattered seeds of every description, she simply called out, ‘Come vaginas’.

page 181 note 2 See note in Song No. 17 on the properties of umsenge.

page 183 note 1 See Appendix I for some of the weaknesses in Gluckman's argument.

page 184 note 1 Information by Phika Zulu, son of Sitheku, son of Mpande.

page 186 note 1 The chorus has been separated out from the rest of these songs merely for convenience in presentation of the words. In most cases it forms an almost integral part of the whole song which may be exceedingly complex in musical structure.

page 186 note 2 This is a vulgar word, hardly ever used; inhlunu and ingquthu are more common words for vagina.

page 186 note 3 In this song it is clearly indicated that it is Inkosazana that has matured.

page 187 note 1 Noun formed from an ideophone ngci meaning ‘hold tight or firmly shut’; also an expression of delight.

page 187 note 2 Wulukuhla—to pour out in a flood. The noun isiwulukuhla means a great pouring out or a ‘whoppingly large thing’ (Bryant).

page 187 note 3 The ideophone isingcingcingci in the song conveys all three of the above meanings.

page 188 note 1 Banga—to quarrel or contend for. This possibly refers to the fact that a young girl is expected to put up a fight or struggle when her lover tries to have external intercourse with her—even though he may have come to visit her for this express purpose. Even after marriage a woman must not submit easily.

page 188 note 2 Njengenjenge describes slithering fish or mucus or clotted blood.

page 188 note 3 Ideophones bhilikixi, walakahla, or gilikiqi all describe the coming out full force of a slippery, slimy, or jelly-like substance. The use of ideophones is similar to that of symbols in that it is not always easy to know exactly what is meant. One educated informant felt that the white, jelly-like stuff referred to mucus in the vagina and that the final two lines refer to the slipping out of the foetus in childbirth and landing ‘flop’ on the floor or in the hands of the midwife. It is very difficult to give one translation to cover all these meanings which are interrelated.

page 188 note 4 Uh! Uh! Uh! was said to be the sound made by women during intercourse.

page 189 note 1 The word abafo ‘strangers’ in the song may be used to emphasize the importance of clan exogamy, or it may simply mean ‘fellows’.

page 189 note 2 iThunga—milk pail symbolizes the vagina or womb into which semen is ‘milked’, which begets children. iThunga refers also to amasi (sour milk) abstentions and the omula—coming of age. (See Bryant's Dictionary under I (li)Tunga)—again a double symbol.

page 189 note 3 Ngqoza was given as describing the action of the penis in and out but this word does not appear in the dictionaries. It may be a verb derived from the ideophone ngqo, referring to butting or ramming.

page 190 note 1 By water here is meant semen; in the last line it refers to leucorrhoeic fluid or mucous discharge of the woman.

page 190 note 2 Hares often sit eyes wide open but as if asleep. The injunction is not to be asleep like the hare but to go to your lover when you need to. It was permissible for an intombi to go to her sweetheart any time she wished. She would go with a long stick and push it through the grass wall of the bee-hive hut in which the boys were sleeping, indicating that there was a girl for one of them. They would then get up and find out who it was.

page 190 note 3 Each time as the word lapha (here) is uttered various joints of the body are indicated—elbow, wrists, hips, knees, back of the neck. The gist of the song is that the girl aches in every joint of her body for the ‘prodder’.

page 191 note 1 Esihlanjeni. Vlei or marshy place near the river; the spot where boys meet girls when they fetch water. The word also symbolizes the vagina in a state of readiness or desire.

page 191 note 2 The vagina of the maturing girl is like a shrill whistle attracting attention.

page 191 note 3 lit. they are now going ‘ngqopho’.

page 192 note 1 Khuza—order it to stop—stop it—i.e. stop the penis. According to Bryant, khuza has the following meanings: to express utter astonishment or wonder; to express astonishment (in a disapproving disbelieving sense); to condole with (express sentiments of pained surprise at the death of a person); to command or give orders.

page 193 note 1 Beyond the ‘eye’ (hymen) there is said to be a small lump (called isigalagald) which is red. The meaning here is that he has full intercourse (beyond the ‘eye’). This is taboo to a young girl.

page 193 note 2 Kissing is not common in Zulu society except for women kissing babies, especially on their private parts. But it is commonly employed in preliminaries to the sex act. It was explained that ‘licking’ is similar to kissing; also that kissing is not necessarily confined to the mouth—any part of the body might be kissed, but that it is impossible to generalize in such essentially personal matters.

page 194 note 1 When not erect the penis is badly-shaped, ugly. The verb ma = to stand, to be in a certain state, position or condition.

page 194 note 2 Umhlwenga is the term used for a horse's mane and for the hair round the neck of a dog, which rises when it is angry and excited. Inja ivusa umhlwenga = the dog's hair rises. It is said the penis similarly rises when excited. It was stated by some women that the term umhlwenga is the term also for a man's foreskin.

page 194 note 3 Umhluhluwe refers to the glans penis which when erect is hard and has ‘pricking’ power. According to the dictionary of Doke and Vilakazi the term refers only to the thorny monkey-rope and the spur of a cock.

page 195 note 1 Mayoyo. This word is said to have no meaning, but to an educated woman it suggested some weak, soft thing like labia.

page 196 note 1 Ingqungqulu (Bateleur's eagle—Terathopius ecaudatus) is a large, striking and remarkable bird which lives very largely in the air and is capable of terrific speed. It captures small mammals, birds and snakes but is largely a carrion eater. (Gill, L., First Guide to South African Birds.) It is called the bird of heaven by the Zulu. When it cries it is said to beat its wings and make a terrible noise like thunder. When you hear this it foretells rain, according to my informants. (See also Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, p. 408.) Another bird of heaven is the insingisi. If you kill it and throw it into a pool it will rain—heaven will wail for it in an isililo or funeral wail.

page 197 note 1 Ehenibo is difficult to translate. The impression this expression made on educated Zulus listening to the song was: ‘We are worried.’ It can also mean surprise.

page 197 note 2 Baba or babuu or Maye Baboo are exclamations made when anyone is in a fix The exclamation ‘Oh, mother’ is similarly used.

page 197 note 3 Hongoza—to chant in procession in chasing out an epidemic. Bryant says it means ‘give forth a rumble of distant singing or rumble singingly along as a hunting-party, young men out walking, a bridal party arriving at a bridegroom's kraal’. But informants said hongoza is primarily used to express threatening weather or dark, ominous clouds. Liyahongoza namhlanje = the weather is threatening; it looks like a storm; one can expect a downpour as the clouds are dark. The girls and the cattle are gathered together like a threatening storm or gathering cloud—in this case imitating conditions for rain.

page 197 note 4 He, he, he—traditionally used in singing like ‘la, la’ in English.

page 197 note 5 umsenge—cabbage tree (Cussonia spicata). The leaves of this tree figure prominently in efforts to secure rain. They are evergreen and large and palmately divided into five to nine leaflets which radiate from the end of a long leaf stalk. They are very good fodder. The tree has large succulent roots which are cool, sappy and thirst-quenching, often used in time of drought and it is said that in the early days they often served to quench the thirst of passing travellers. (See Palmer, E., and Pitman, N., Trees of South Africa, A. A. Balkema, Cape Town, 1961.)Google Scholar

The general import of the song is, then, that the girls draw attention to the sad plight of the community. They hongoza, giving forth a rumble like thunder. They are going to sleep on the mountain (where rain or mist touches the earth). They gird themselves with umsenge leaves which are closely associated with rain and rain-making.