The Ceremony of Mishashe (Green Vegetables)held in MashonalandM. GelfandDepartment of Medicine, University College of Rhodesia,Salisbury,The ceremony which is being described washeld on 14th January, 1968, some 80 miles to theEast of Salisbury in the tribal trust area of Cbidu-ku in the village of Tambatsoka. Here Mucheterathe medium (svikiro) of the great tribal spirit ofChaminuka lives. So powerful is this spirit con-sidered that it is accepted by many Africans livingfar from the medium's home, A similar ritualtakes place in other parts of the country, andalthough the ceremonies vary slightly in detailtheir object is the same. It is to thank the mhon-doro or vadzimu of the larger family lineage forthe edible greens (muriwo mutsva) in their gar-dens which have grown as a result of the onsetof the rains several weeks previously.The Shona people of Rhodesia pray to andremember two main groups of spirits, the clan(tutelary) spirits often referred to as mhondoro,and the vadzimu of the individual or nuclearfamilies. These spirits have their origin from once-living men and women, but on death their spiritsassume supernatural powers. Each clan living inwhat is now known as the Tribal Trust Area hadits origin in a founder whose spirit upon deathhas become elevated to a high position in thespirit hierarchy. The spirit (now called the mhon-doro) looks after the clan's interests, such as thebestowal of rain and good crops. The family spirits(vadzimu), composed of the dead grandparentsor parents of smaller family units or lineages, pro-tect these small units from disease and evil, andthey generally ensure harmonious living amongits members.Pumpkin leaves and other green plants maynot be eaten before the thanksgiving ceremony hastaken place. Certainly no medium (svikiro) of afamily spirit (mudzimu) or a tutelary spirit(mhondoro) wouid disobey this injunction.After the ceremony of mishashe two otherrather similar rituals concerned with crops andrain take place. In April there is the harvest cere-mony of rokudyazvitsva when the mhondoro ofeach district (nyika) is petitioned to send goodrains and to bless its people with bountiful crops.The ritual of mishashe is usually a shorter onethan those held in April and September since nobeer is taken to the sacred muhacha tree (Pari-nari curatellifolia). Sweet beer is brewed andedible greens are added to it and the mixturegiven to the people to drink.Usually the ceremony (biro) for green vege-tables (muriwo mutsva) begins the night beforewith dancing and the playing of mbira. Themedium becomes possessed with the mhondorospirit. The acolyte welcomes the mhondoro say-ing "you have come Changamire. We want to giveyou musumo (the first pot of beer) for the biraso that your people may eat new vegetables(muriwo mutsva)," The acolyte then takes someleaves of the pumpkin and maize plants, mixesthem with medicine (mushonga) and places themin a wooden plate. The medium pours a littlesweet beer (bume) into the plate, mixing it withthe leaves and medicine. He stirs the mixture,drinks a little and then instructs the acolyte to addmore sweet beer to the plate and give it to thepeople to drink. Everyone present drinks a littlefrom the plate. Then all the people dance to thetunes of the mbira. The medium of the tribalspirit and other mediums present become posses-sed during the evening. At about nine or teno'clock, after a short prayer by the possessedmedium, the beer is handed round and music anddancing continue until the mediums are depos-sessed again.DESCRIPTIONWe arrived at Muchetera's village at about ninein the morning of the day of the ceremony. Myparty was ushered into a large circular brickbuilding, known as banya. The roof was still inthe course of being repaired, so the sun shonethrough it. Muchetera, the medium of Chaminu-ka, dressed in his black vestments, sat on a reedmat near the centre of the circular wall. Next tohim were his nkekwe (tobacco container) and aclay pot of beer covered with a wooden lid. Tothe right of him and similarly dressed sat Whafa-naka, his acolyte. On his left were a group ofwomen and children seated on the ground. Threeof them had black or blue clothes wrapped roundtheir waists. They later turned out to be mediums,and when they became possessed their heads andshoulders were covered with these cloths. To theright of Muchetera and Whafanaka, and occupy-ing most of that half of the banya. were the malesŠ adults of different ages and a number of youthsand young boys. Many were covered with blackgarments and two of the men were in a state ofposession. Every now and then one of themuttered a sudden grunt or noise which attractedeveryone's attention.When we were seated the medium asked theacolyte to give us a calabash (mukombe) of sweetbeer, which we drank. After some minutes Muche-tera turned to a pot on his right covered with awooden plate, lifted the plate and poured someof the contents of the pot on to it. After he hadfilled the plate the acolyte took it round at randomto different people in the congregation Š old andyoung, male and female without regard to senior-ity. He held the plate up to the individual's mouthwhilst the recipient drank a little from it. Then hetook it to the next person and so on until theplate was empty when it was replenished fromthe pot beside the medium. The distribution ofthe vegetables and sweet beer took about half anhour, by which time the pot was emptied of itscontents.The next stage in the ceremony was reachedwith the playing of music. The mbira players tookup their position ŁŠ men and youngsters, togetherwith Muchetera the medium; six of them sat ina line, with a few men to the side and behind themholding rattles in their hands. The music beganand the women and children came up to dance. Iwas struck by the joy in the faces of all the partici-pants. The number of dancers varied greatly ineach musical session. A group of women, threeor four men, or at times, a group of men andwomen would dance before the mbira. Impres-sive too were the women mediums who becamepossessed whilst dancing.The tunes and songs varied a good deal. Thefirst song was called "Nyamaropa" (blood of meat)because it had been sung many years ago by thepeople after Chaminuka was killed by the Madzviti(Matabele warriors). It was during the playing ofthis song that women started to become possessed,kneeling or convulsing their bodies, uttering loudsounds when possession had taken place, and leav-ing the dancing area for a while to return laterand continue the dance. The second song, calledmutamba, was played in the days before Chami-nuka was killed when the mbira were at theheight of their glory. vSmall boys took part verygracefully in this dance. The third song was des-cribed as shumba and whilst it was being playeda fully possessed woman danced in front of thembira players and then left the banya.The men who play the mbira are referred to asvamaridzambira. About midday it was clear thatthe ceremony was drawing to a dose and Muche-tera and one of the elderly mediums still posses-sed, walked out of the banya. I followed closelybehind them. They went down a narrow foot-path surrounded by dense bush and both beganto become depossessed. First Muchetera stretchedout his hands towards the sky, almost like a birdwith its wings fully extended about to set off inflight. The entire stage of depossession lasted lessthan 30 seconds and just as it was ending I noticedthe elderly medium about to undergo a similarperformance and was able to take a good photo-graph of him in this state. As soon as they weredepossessed they removed their black cloths (iira)and rejoined the dancers as if nothing hadoccurred.COMMENTThe ceremony of mishashe illustrates well themain features associated with any Shona religiousritual. The function of any such ceremony is todraw the members attending it into contact withthe spirits in whose honour they have gathered.The whole purpose is to awake in the heart ofevery person a feeling of happiness and a senseof being supported and protected through their< ŁŁ 110vi\Fig. 1 ŠMuchetera, the main medium, who is possessedwith the spirit of Chaminuka. On his let! arctwo young women mediums.Fig, 2 Muchetera about to take some snuff.* Ł3-ŠAfter blessing the green vegetables, the mediumremoves the fid of the pot filled wish greenvegetables and sweet beer.Fig. 4 Whal'anaka, the acolyte of Muchelera, handingShe wooden plate of green vegetables to a man,who will (ake them round to the congregants.'</Ł.'Ł "'/,Fig. 5ŠWhafanaka. the acolvipoitions ot the green \egelablese. pouring out the lastFig. 6Š-A young woman has her share of ihe conseeraledvegetables.Fig. 7Š-The congregants display their j<:Fig. 8ŠA medium in the process of becoming depossessed.contact with the dead. Every person feels strength-ened through this reunion of the past and present.Each individual must feel completely alone yet atone with the spirit with whom contact is sought.Therefore it is necessary for the medium (svikiro)of the spirit to be present and to become pos-sessed. For this to occur music must be playedsince this is the best means of causing the spirit toenter its medium, especially if the tunes are theones that were liked by the spirit when it lived onthis earth. Beer is always required to lighten thefeelings of the congregants. Alcohol releasesman's inhibitions and this encourages the feelingof happiness.In this ritual we meet the I-thou relationshipdescribed by Martin Buber through which theparticipant feels an ecstatic experience (Gelfand1969). As the tempo of the music quickens in thecompany of his fellow men he acquires a sensationof delight. He attains spiritual contact with hiswife, his family and his parents, alive and dead,in the group, dancing with great concentration, isthe medium who is the central figure of the cere-mony and who is intensely aware of this. In hisecstasy his mind passes out of conscious controlinto what we have called the state of possession.His muscles, particularly those of his neck, stiffenand stand out rigidly like cords. Many who be-come possessed cry out with a long inspiratorysound which often amounts to a sort of groan.As possession takes place the person becomescalmer, quivering now and then. From his appear-ance the onlookers can tell that he is not "quitethere". He is in a dream world of his own andyet he appears to follow what is going on aroundhim. As soon as possession occurs his assistant orfriend comes up to him and covers his shoulderswith his ritual cloth. Now a problem can be putto him and he may answer either in an affectedvoice or in his natural way of speaking.In this ceremony we meet the principle of al-ways obeying the requests of the dead. Theremust be no refusal (kuramba), only obedience(kuterera) in listening to the words of the tribalor family spirits, that is, in not eating the greenvegetables until the first offering has been held atthe ceremony of mishathe. This ceremony alsobrings out another feature whereby the dead areremembered (kutondera). By remembering theancestral spirits they are all brought togetherinto one closely knit family union and the livingare assured of their protection.ACK N OWLEDGM ENTI am deeply grateful to Rev. M. Hannan, S.J.,for his help.REFERENCEGELFAND, M. 1969 The Shona Religion. Zambezia, 1, 37-45.11