article
Symbolic rebirth: the "Mwali" rite among the Luguru of eastern Tanzania
Africa • 48 (2) • Published In 1978 • Pages: 176-188
By: Brain, James Lewton.
Abstract
This study argues that Luguru female initiation rites can be linked to what the author calls "unconscious male envy of female procreativity." This claim is justified through systematic interpretation of important symbols and prescriptions featured during different phases of the rite. The seclusion of the girl in a dark room at the onset of her first menstruation is likened to conception in the womb. In the course of her long seclusion the girl has to lie in a fetal position on a short bed and simulate total helplessness. At the end of her seclusion, the girl appears to a waiting crowd, carried on the shoulders of a brother of her soon-to-be husband, almost naked, covered in oil and with her eyes closed, as if emerging from the womb. As a whole, these instructions and displays signal that while women give birth to babies, men control the ultimate formula for making an adult woman.
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Eastern Africa
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Anthropologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Teferi Abate Adem; 2020
- Field Date
- 1965-1966
- Coverage Date
- 1965-1966
- Coverage Place
- Uluguru Mountains, Morogoro Region, Tanzania
- Notes
- James L. Brain
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-188)
- LCCN
- 29010790
- LCSH
- Luguru (African people)