By Our reporter
When our classmate, Haji Attata suddenly changed his behavior from being a sociable, easy-going person to a loner our whole class was puzzled.
Haji Atta suddenly quarantined himself from all social activities, including playing football, which everyone knew he had adored sincerely since early childhood.
When the night fell Haji Atatta exhibited other conspicuous behavior. He made sure that his bedroom was always scented with the sweet smell of jasmine flowers; and he never went to sleep without immersing himself in an Arabian perfume called Khalta Maryam.
His old friend Othman Baya confided in me that Haji’s dramatic change of behavior had caused his family to seek help from alternative medicine to cure him.
A well-known traditional healer in the village Mzee Kitazihad been consulted and with his guidance the family had concluded that their son was inhabited by a female spirit!Consequently, the healing process would involve, among other things, visiting to a powerful ‘msimu’ (a spirit’s home) for the purpose of conducting a sacrificial ceremony.
The belief in spirits in Swahili culture is as old as human history itself, and is still widespread among the Swahili people along the East Africa coast.
In Zanzibar different sorts of spirits, both male and female are believed to cohabit with human beings.
Some people are remarked to possess them or vice versa; the humans are possessed by the spirits. There are local as well as foreign spirits, among them Arabs, Indian and Europeans.
The European or “kizungu’ spirits as they are locally called are said to have come across the seas from Europe. Which part of Europe? It is anyone’s guess. Likewise, the Arab spirits are said to have accompanied the Omani Arabs who in the past came to rule the islands of Zanzibar.
According to local hearsay it is believed that not only the people but also the spirits from faraway land were so intrigued by the beauty of Zanzibar that they have remained amongst Zanzibari people. Unlike Arab spirits that are found all over the coastal East Africa, 'kizungu' spirits are said to have their abodes only in Makunduchi in Zanzibar and Tanga in mainland Tanzania.
Women are believed to be more susceptible than men to attacks by these specific spirits. However, experience shows that men are more liable to become possessed by female spirits, well known as being immensely jealous.
With a female spirit, a man, if not dispossessed, may not marry for the rest of his life as the female spirit always hates rivals! Spirits are associated with, and frequently blamed for causing various natural phenomena such as illness, infertility, impotence and even business failures and bad luck in loves.
Casting out a spirit from a possessed person is the best known solution to end a victim’s suffering. However, those who believe in spirits often take preventative measures and take various precaution not to be attacked by evil spirits in the first place.
Believers, for instance, perform elaborate rituals before going to a distance place in the dark as demonic attacks are said to take place at that time. It is believed that the spirits reside in natural features such as caves, forests and large trees.
These places in Swahili called ‘mzimu’ in singular or ‘mizimu’ in plural. Some families are known to own mizimu but other mizimu are public, such as the Slave Caves in Mangapwani which areinhabited by a good spirit known asMainda and appears in the form of snake.
In Makunduchithe msimu called Tawakal is inhabited by a spirit called MwendaKazi. Traditionally mizimu are not visited without the owners’ consent nor are they entered without observingstrict and elaborate rituals.
According to Ms. Julie Bardenwerper, who did research on ‘Spirits and Sacred Sites’, one has to call “Hodi!” or “Hello!” before enteringmzimu. What happens to a person who is possessed by a 'kizungu' spirit? Interestingly enough, it is believed that a person may be possessed by more than one spirits simultaneously, and may need to exorcize them. When it comes to exorcizing a ‘kizungu’ spirit, many of the rituals performed reflect some traces of western culture.
During a dance of exorcism, a possessed person dresses in western clothes such as a white hat, trousers and a shirt and; the diet s/he asks for would consist of biscuits, cakes and whisky.
Drumming and singing, used to entice the spirit up the possessor’s ‘head’, are slightly changed and given a foreign context which is not the case when a spirit is non-European. As the spirit rises, the possessed person loses control over him or herself and falls into a trance.
Thereafter, he or she would put forward demands in Swahili with heavy English overtones.
However, some possessed people express their demands in English. The demands may include things like a golden ring or even a cow. It is believed that it is not the possessed victim, but the spirit inside him or her that presents demands after being enticed.
A victim is usually set free by the spirit after the fulfillment of these demands. However, at this point the exorcised spirit may attack another person. Similarly, if a host dies, the spirit is inherited by any of the host’s relatives.
What happened to our friend Haji Attata who was sent to a spirit’s home for conducting a sacrificial ceremony? The ritual ceremony didn’t bring him the immediate relief. He continued possessed by the female spirit for almost ten years until finally his family decided to seek help from the most powerful healer from the village,Mzee Hapingwa who successfully casted the spirit out from him through medicinal herbs, drumming and singing for the whole week. Haji Attatagot married recently and is again a sociable person. It is said that his ex-female spirit is now looking for another person to possess!
When our classmate, Haji Attata suddenly changed his behavior from being a sociable, easy-going person to a loner our whole class was puzzled.
Haji Atta suddenly quarantined himself from all social activities, including playing football, which everyone knew he had adored sincerely since early childhood.
When the night fell Haji Atatta exhibited other conspicuous behavior. He made sure that his bedroom was always scented with the sweet smell of jasmine flowers; and he never went to sleep without immersing himself in an Arabian perfume called Khalta Maryam.
His old friend Othman Baya confided in me that Haji’s dramatic change of behavior had caused his family to seek help from alternative medicine to cure him.
A well-known traditional healer in the village Mzee Kitazihad been consulted and with his guidance the family had concluded that their son was inhabited by a female spirit!Consequently, the healing process would involve, among other things, visiting to a powerful ‘msimu’ (a spirit’s home) for the purpose of conducting a sacrificial ceremony.
The belief in spirits in Swahili culture is as old as human history itself, and is still widespread among the Swahili people along the East Africa coast.
In Zanzibar different sorts of spirits, both male and female are believed to cohabit with human beings.
Some people are remarked to possess them or vice versa; the humans are possessed by the spirits. There are local as well as foreign spirits, among them Arabs, Indian and Europeans.
The European or “kizungu’ spirits as they are locally called are said to have come across the seas from Europe. Which part of Europe? It is anyone’s guess. Likewise, the Arab spirits are said to have accompanied the Omani Arabs who in the past came to rule the islands of Zanzibar.
According to local hearsay it is believed that not only the people but also the spirits from faraway land were so intrigued by the beauty of Zanzibar that they have remained amongst Zanzibari people. Unlike Arab spirits that are found all over the coastal East Africa, 'kizungu' spirits are said to have their abodes only in Makunduchi in Zanzibar and Tanga in mainland Tanzania.
Women are believed to be more susceptible than men to attacks by these specific spirits. However, experience shows that men are more liable to become possessed by female spirits, well known as being immensely jealous.
With a female spirit, a man, if not dispossessed, may not marry for the rest of his life as the female spirit always hates rivals! Spirits are associated with, and frequently blamed for causing various natural phenomena such as illness, infertility, impotence and even business failures and bad luck in loves.
Casting out a spirit from a possessed person is the best known solution to end a victim’s suffering. However, those who believe in spirits often take preventative measures and take various precaution not to be attacked by evil spirits in the first place.
Believers, for instance, perform elaborate rituals before going to a distance place in the dark as demonic attacks are said to take place at that time. It is believed that the spirits reside in natural features such as caves, forests and large trees.
These places in Swahili called ‘mzimu’ in singular or ‘mizimu’ in plural. Some families are known to own mizimu but other mizimu are public, such as the Slave Caves in Mangapwani which areinhabited by a good spirit known asMainda and appears in the form of snake.
In Makunduchithe msimu called Tawakal is inhabited by a spirit called MwendaKazi. Traditionally mizimu are not visited without the owners’ consent nor are they entered without observingstrict and elaborate rituals.
According to Ms. Julie Bardenwerper, who did research on ‘Spirits and Sacred Sites’, one has to call “Hodi!” or “Hello!” before enteringmzimu. What happens to a person who is possessed by a 'kizungu' spirit? Interestingly enough, it is believed that a person may be possessed by more than one spirits simultaneously, and may need to exorcize them. When it comes to exorcizing a ‘kizungu’ spirit, many of the rituals performed reflect some traces of western culture.
During a dance of exorcism, a possessed person dresses in western clothes such as a white hat, trousers and a shirt and; the diet s/he asks for would consist of biscuits, cakes and whisky.
Drumming and singing, used to entice the spirit up the possessor’s ‘head’, are slightly changed and given a foreign context which is not the case when a spirit is non-European. As the spirit rises, the possessed person loses control over him or herself and falls into a trance.
Thereafter, he or she would put forward demands in Swahili with heavy English overtones.
However, some possessed people express their demands in English. The demands may include things like a golden ring or even a cow. It is believed that it is not the possessed victim, but the spirit inside him or her that presents demands after being enticed.
A victim is usually set free by the spirit after the fulfillment of these demands. However, at this point the exorcised spirit may attack another person. Similarly, if a host dies, the spirit is inherited by any of the host’s relatives.
What happened to our friend Haji Attata who was sent to a spirit’s home for conducting a sacrificial ceremony? The ritual ceremony didn’t bring him the immediate relief. He continued possessed by the female spirit for almost ten years until finally his family decided to seek help from the most powerful healer from the village,Mzee Hapingwa who successfully casted the spirit out from him through medicinal herbs, drumming and singing for the whole week. Haji Attatagot married recently and is again a sociable person. It is said that his ex-female spirit is now looking for another person to possess!
No comments:
Post a Comment