Chibale Zambia: becoming a spirit-possessed, a short story

Chibale Zambia: becoming a spirit-possessed. To give an impression of what happens on the personal and group level and to introduce the reader to the spirit possession milieu in Chibale, especially from the end of the 1970s until well into the 1990s, we present the following short story. This story is not told because it represents all instances of becoming a spirit-possessed nor because it describes the variety of ways shing’anga treated their patients. For an outsider, the diversity in anything related to possession was both stimulating and disturbing.

Chisenga falls ill

Chisenga falls ill. She visits the Rural Health Centre, gets some medicine, and goes home. Her illness becomes worse, and dreams start coming at night. She fears the dreams of people in white clothes who dance and sing. They want to tell her something, but she does not understand. When visiting the church, she suddenly faints and has to be carried home. As working is becoming difficult for her, she again goes to the Health Centre. She is advised to go to a shing’anga who is better equipped to find out the cause of the illness she has. Her relatives advise against this. They gather some money, and her brother takes her to the hospital in Kabwe. After some time, they both return. The doctors can’t find what is wrong. She is thin now, only capable of sitting and staring. Dreams also come during the day.

Stay with the shing’anga

Her parents go to a shing’anga in the evening and ask for a secret treatment. After Kubuka¹See the article about diagnosis and treatment., a diagnosis by the spirits possessing him, the shing’anga says her case is too serious. She has to come and live in his village for treatment. Finally, the faction in Chisenga’s family favouring a treatment by the shing’anga wins, mainly because her illness has developed to the point where she might die if not sent to the shing’anga. The shing’anga dia­gnoses that she has possession illness and immediately starts a treatment. Chisenga receives certain herbs, washings, and rules of healing (mishila ya kupola) regarding food and behaviour. At times, she consults the spirits possessing the shing’anga, in the evening during Kubuka. Gradually, they manage to make contact with the spirits possessing her.
Through the shi­ng’anga’s treatment and teachings, and through negotiations between the shing’anga’s spirits and the spirits possessing Chisenga, as well as with her husband and parents, her spirits are persuaded to live with her in peace and to reveal who they are. During the treatment, Chisenga stays in the shing’anga’s village. As soon as it is possible, she takes up work for him in the village, later also in the field.

The cibombe ca cisungu

After a three-month stay, the shing’anga’s spirits decide she is ready for the drums. A date is chosen on which her Cibombe ca cisungu will be held. The Cibombe marks the end of the treatment period, especially the withdrawal (kushilulula) of the rules that were specific to it. It will initiate her into the ranks of the spirit-possessed mediums (ngwilwa). From a mwana we lyanga, child of medicine, she becomes the wife of her spirits. That is why she is called cisungu, girl-in-initiation (preceding marriage)²A male possession initiate is also called cisungu., during the Cibombe.
In the week preceding the Cibombe, two preparatory rituals (kushinkile ngoma) are held, on the nights of the first and fifth day of brewing of the Cibombe beer, which she brews herself. In these rituals, as well as during the Cibombe, already initiated spirit-possessed come ‘to help in the dancing’. Most of them have also been treated by her shing’anga.

On the evening of the Cibombe, many people gather to see the ‘child’ (mwana) dance for the first time. Some of Chisenga’s relatives have come, though not all. Spirit-possessed who are already initiated start songs. Each song is taken over by the assembled people, after which the three drums join in. If this goes well, the starter of the song dances to the music. In fact, it is not the human being (muntu) who starts the song and dances, but the spirit possessing the human being. After an hour or so, the shing’anga joins in, and the gathering becomes very animated as he is a popular dancer and starter of songs.

The possessing spirits sing and dance through her

At a given moment Chisenga, who is lying in a house near the dance circle, starts shivering and tries to rise. The women with her, the wives of the shing’anga, call him.
While the music and dance continue, he leads her into the circle, covered with a big white piece of cloth. She is put on the ground, and he pulls away the cloth.

He puts her in a sitting position and he gives her some medicines. The drummers gather around her, beating loudly. Slowly, she starts swaying, lifting her arms graciously. Her eyes are closed, her head slightly bent backwards. Then, her movements become awkward and frantic gradually catching up with the tempo of the singing and drumming.
She gets up. By guiding her with his stick, the shing’anga helps her to stand. There is a sudden hush when she starts mumbling a song line: her spirit reveals itself and what its work, through her, will be.

Song 4

Mwami song introducing the possessing spirit. No recording.

Text of Song 4 ∵ Here is Muyumba

Lelo ni ba Muyumba bakashanina mu cimpetu
Mbano ba Muyumba mu bulenge

Today it is Muyumba who will dance in the circle
Here is Muyumba in the Lenje region

The possessing spirit reveals itself

So she is possessed by the Mwami spirit Muyumba, a deceased chief from the Lenje region. It specialises in healing and sings and dances. The song is taken over fanatically, the drummers beat loudly and precisely. Muyumba starts dancing. Not much later, the dancing suddenly becomes frantic and wild. Mu­yumba has overpowered his wife, Chisenga. She falls down unconsciously and lands on her back with her arms spread. The way she lies and the movements she makes with her hips seem to express the consummation of the marriage³During the Cibombe I witnessed in town, the public loudly applauded movements like these by spirit-possessed patients in trance.. When the singing dies down, she becomes conscious and sits numbly staring. The shing’anga starts a song, and the dancing begins again. Later that night, she brings the same song and dances without falling down.

After the initiation

The next morning, she eats a meal with the shing’anga and his adepts, which includes the food she was prohibited from eating. Her relatives pay the shing’anga for his services. She will return to the shing’anga often for additional treatment and to help him treat and initiate new patients. This help, along with the work she will do in his fields, will pay the shing’anga for the further treatment.
She still has many mushila⁴See the article Rules of life in an expanding world. to follow, some temporarily, some permanently. For instance, keeping her fire unstained, or refraining from cooking for others, or making love, when she menstruates. She should not eat slimy relish, barbel fish, or zebra. Before she can eat from the new crops, she has to attend the ritual the shing’anga organises for that purpose. She should not see dead people nor come too close to graves. And, she should not wear anything red. If her relatives prevent her from following these mushila, from visiting the shing’anga, or from dancing at the rituals of the spirit-possessed, the spirits will respond with disease.

Being a medium

When she proves successful (when there is kumfwana between her spirit and her) because her spirits can provide valuable information through her or are loved for their singing and dancing, she will experience fewer problems. She might then begin treating patients herself under the guidance of her shing’anga, in which case she will be called a mwana­ng’anga, a child-shing’anga. The more famous she becomes, the more often she will be referred to as bamuka­Muyumba (the spouse of Muyumba) or colloquially, simply as Muyumba⁵The woman in this story is referred to as ba Chisenga in her capacity as a human being (muntu), bamukaMuyumba in her capacity as a successful medium, and ba Muyumba in ‘her’ capacity as a spirit..
Though she is ‘a spirit-possessed’ (muciwila), she is mostly not in a state of being possessed. Only after a special preparation (kulalikisha) to receive the spirits: kuseluka⁶Seluka: come down, descend (also in Madan 1908:129), related to the verb -semuka, which is used in Lenje/Lamba regions for the same action. Mapoma (1980a:83): -semuka from the Swahili -sema: speak. at the beginning of the night, during nightly rituals, or during sleep, will the spirits communicate with or through her.