Читать книгу Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa - Nwando Achebe - Страница 12

1

Spiritual Monarchs

God, Goddesses, Spirit Mediums, and Rain Queens

The modjadji or rain queen of Lovedu, South Africa, is¹ believed to be the living embodiment of the rain goddess. She has special powers. Also referred to as the Khifidola-maru-a-Daja (transformer of clouds), the modjadji guarantees the seasonal cycle and controls the clouds, rainfall, and fertility of the crops. Like rain queens, spirit mediums are believed to be embodiments of the spirits or the ancestors. It is a form of possession in which a person serves as an intermediary between the gods and society. In hierarchical societies, such as the Nyamwezi, spirit medium societies provide women with the most-direct avenues for active participation in politics and religious life. Spirit mediums can achieve measures of power that place them above men and all mortals.

In African societies, deities, the most powerful of whom is the Great Creator God, serve as the true political heads or spiritual monarchs of their communities. Next in rank to God are the lesser gods and goddesses. Personifications of natural phenomena, the most influential are gendered females, deities in charge of the waters and the land. These deities are the moral judges of conduct and wield power indiscriminately.

Starting with the African Great Creator God, this chapter locates the sources of female/women’s ritual and political power, which I refer to as the female spiritual political constituency, within various African communities. In the pages that follow, I center the leadership of (fe)male gendered spiritual forces such as goddesses, oracles, female medicines, and their human helpers (e.g., priestesses, diviners, spirit mediums, and prophetesses)—the real rulers of African kingdoms, paramounts, towns, and communities. I anchor my discussion in regional case studies that speak to the power, gender, and metaphor of God, the ultimate leader of the spiritual political constituency, and the power, authority, and influence of (fe)male lesser deities, rain queens, spirit mediums, priestesses of the gods, priests of the goddesses, and traditional medicine workers and healers. First, we must understand how African society is organized politically.

The Female Principle in African Politics: The Female Spiritual Political Constituency

In Africa, there are basically two political constituencies: the spiritual and the human. The spiritual political constituency is made up of divinities: male and female functionaries who derive their political power from an association with the spiritual world. These spiritual functionaries or leaders are organized in a hierarchical manner (see worldview diagram, figure I.1, in the introduction).

The human political constituency (see chapter 2) is made up of executives who achieve their political potential as human actors in the physical realm. The text that follows delves into the spiritual political constituency, starting with the most powerful of these spiritual entities, the African Great God.

The Power of God

African cosmological accounts submit that God is the origin of all things. All-knowing and all-powerful, Great or High God is the supreme being who created the world, nature, animals, and humans. The 512 nations that make up present-day Nigeria have descriptive names for God. The Igbo, for instance, call God Chukwu, which means “the Great One from whom beings originate.” They also call God Chineke, “The Creator of all things.” The Edo refer to God as Osanobua (or Osanobwa), meaning “the Source of all beings who carries and sustains the world or universe”; and the Nupe call God Soko, meaning “the Creator or Supreme Deity that resides in heaven.” Other West African groups like the Mende of Sierra Leone also have descriptors for God. For them, God or Ngewo is “the Eternal One who rules from above.”²

Ngai is the Supreme Being of the Gĩkũyũ, Maasai, and Kamba people of East Africa. Although Ngai’s abode is in the sky, Ngai’s special dwelling place on earth is the Kirinyaga mountain ranges; hence the Gĩkũyũ also refer to God as Ngai wa Kirinyaga. In Tanzania, there is no equal to the Ruanda people’s Supreme Being Imana. The southern Sudanese Dinka call God Nhailic (“That which is above”) or Jok, meaning “Spirit” or “Power.” To the Nuer of Sudan, God is Kwoth, and Kwoth is not the sky, the moon, or the rain; Kwoth reveals Her-/Himself through these natural phenomena.³

Among the Batswana of southern Africa, God is Modimo (Molimo), meaning “One who dwells on high or the High One.” Among the Zulu, Great God is called uNkulunkulu, meaning “Great, Great One” or “Old, Old, One.” The Zulu regard God, also called Mvelinqangi (the First Out Comer), as the ancestor of all. Some southern African Nguni groups call God Qamata (The First One), and Umdali (Creator).⁴ Among the Baila and Botanga of northern Zambia, God is known as Leza (the One who does what no other can do).

African peoples believe that God is eternal and immortal. One of the names that the Kono of Sierra Leone call God is Meketa (the Everlasting One).⁵ God is also invisible, incomprehensible, mysterious, beyond understanding, and unpredictable. God may never be questioned or cursed. Radically transcendent and immanent, God is above and greater than all else. God is not limited to a particular place or time, God cannot be confined to heaven or earth. God is everywhere. God dwells among us and within us. The Kono of Sierra Leone express this reality in another one of the names that they give God, Yataa, meaning “God is the One you meet everywhere.”⁶

In spite of these attributes, God is not usually worshipped directly, but is paid high respect. In some African nations, God does not have any priests or dedicated shrines, hence the intimation by some scholars that the African God is a distant God. This assessment is, however, simplistic and does not read entirely true. The African understanding of God is more complex and nuanced than mere binary classifications. In reality, God is distant, or separated from the affairs of human beings, only in the sense that God is perceived as being too big to behold by these humans, and therefore they cannot understand God. This paradoxical complementarity of the closeness yet distance of God is expressed by the Nupe in their conceptualization of God (Soko). They say, “God is far away. God is in front. God is in the back.”⁷

The Gender of God in Africa: How God Became He

In the Judeo-Christian framework God is presented as male. In this Western patriarchal religious tradition, the female persona of God in Africa is suppressed. In addition, African theologians and scholars have attempted to prove that the European missionaries did not introduce the concept of God to the continent; thus, many of them equated the belief in an African Supreme God in all three thousand–plus nations in Africa to belief in a Christian God who is imagined as male. This assessment spilled over to their non-African counterparts, who in their writing and interpretations of God also necessarily adopted male pronouns and gender. P. J. Paris, a theologian specializing in African religion, for instance, argues that the African God is the same as the Christian God, who is regarded as the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, not His mother.⁸

The true conceptualization of God in Africa is actually much more nuanced, much more complex. In several African societies, the supreme divinity is neither male nor female. However, referring to God in English has been complicated by the fact that African languages do not have gender-specific pronouns—African pronouns are gender-neutral. This gender neutrality has however been lost when African names for God have been translated into European languages. The result is that the genderless African Creator God has been written about with the pronoun “He,” a handicap that owes its origins to the gender-specific nature of these languages. In consequence, translations of African theology into the missionary/colonial languages of English, French, and Portuguese produced a discourse about God in Africa in which God became male.

The Metaphor of God

Nevertheless, African metaphors for God do not necessarily reflect the ways in which theologians or religious historians of Africa write about God. For the Zulu, Swati, Xhosa, Basotho, Batswana, Bapedi and Barotse, Shona, Kalnga, Ndau, Sena, Venda, Tsonga, Ihambane, Herero, and Ndebele, and the three thousand–plus peoples that inhabit the African continent, the names for God are gender-neutral. Indeed, most African societies believe that the world was created by a genderless Creator God. Among the Diola of present-day Senegambia, the genderless Great God is called Emitai. The Igbo Great God of eastern Nigeria, Chukwu (or Chineke), is likewise neither male or female. The Ewe and Fon Creator Deity, Mawu (female) Lisa (male), exhibits both male and female qualities or principles. For the Ga of Ghana, Ataa Naa Nyonmo is a combination of Ataa (old man) and Naa (old woman). Thus, Ataa Naa Nyonmo translates into “Father Mother God.”⁹ The Akan also believe in a genderless God, Kwasi Asi a daa Awisi (“The Male-Female One”).¹⁰

Some African societies regard their Creator God as female. For instance, the Creator God of the Tarakiri Ezon of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Tamarau, is considered female and her name means “our Mother.” She is sometimes also called Ayebau, which means “the Mother of the world.” For the Krobos of Ghana, God—Kpetekplenye—is also female. She is considered to be the “Mother of all big and wonderful things.”¹¹ The southern Nuba, who have a matrilineal system of descent, also personify the Supreme God as female. According to comparative religious scholar Geoffrey Parrinder, “The southern Nuba . . . refer to God as ‘the Great Mother’ and when praying beside a dying person they say, ‘Our God, who has brought us into this world, may She take you.’”¹²

Mwari is the most common name for God among the Shona of Southern Africa. The metaphors surrounding Mwari exist in closest association with the female principle. For instance, the metaphor for God most commonly used among the Shona is Mbuya (grandmother). The VaHera substitute Mbuya for Mwari when they refer to Mwari’s powers of creation and fertility. Runji is another God as mother metaphor used to depict the Creator God. This Shona word means “needle,” which, like lightning, metaphorically sews the heavens and earth together. The craft of sewing (kusona) among the Shona, moreover, is not only traditionally associated with women: all women are expected to know how to sew.¹³

The female image of God is also reflected in the Shona metaphor for God as muvumbapasi (molder or fashioner of things). Another popular metaphor used for God among the Shona is musikavanhu. This metaphor speaks to the fact that God is both male and female. Among the Shona, the word kusika is associated with the kindling of fire with two sticks. One of the sticks has a hole in it, in which grass is placed, and the other stick, musika, is twisted in the hole until fire is created. This fire-making tool symbolizes male and female organs.¹⁴ The female image of God is also expressed in metaphors that depict God as dziva/dzivaguru and chidziva chopo. These metaphors associate God with water. Water is regarded by the Shona as a symbol for the universal mother, who is the source of all life. The Shona also have metaphors that clearly depict God as male. One is sororezhou/wokumusoro. Sororezhou means “elephant head” or father, and wokumusoro means “he who dwells on high.” Thus, in Shonaland, God is both male and female.¹⁵

The Genderless or Dual-Gender African God

Among the Malagasy of Southern Africa, the Supreme God is Zanahary or Andriamanitra. The source of life, creator of all things, and the founding and primary ancestor of the Malagasy, Zanahary is believed to be both male and female. She/He is both celestial and terrestrial. The earthly Zanahary created humans from clay or wood, and the heavenly Zanahary breathed life into them. Zanahary is a supreme judge of moral justice. She/He judges tangena¹⁶ ordeals and distinguishes between the innocent and the guilty. Zanahary also sees in the darkness as well as in the light.¹⁷

In the western part of the continent live the Diola of Casamance, who call the Great God Emitai. Emitai is both male and female. She/He is believed to have “made everything, even the little ants.”¹⁸ She/He is all-knowing, the provider of the necessities of life, and a source of aid in times of trouble. Emitai is closely associated with rain and fertility, She/He communicates with humans through dreams and visions and selects certain people to reveal Her/His moral teachings.¹⁹

The Dogon of Mali, neighbors of the Senegambia and the Diola, refer to the Creator God as Amma. Amma is the maker of the earth, life, fertility, and rain.²⁰ The word amma, like many African words, has more than one meaning. In addition to referencing the Dogon Supreme God, the word can also mean “to grasp, to hold firm, or to establish.” The Dogon believe that Amma holds the world firmly in both hands. Although commonly written about as male, the metaphor of Amma as the God who gives life and fertility invokes the female principle. To this end, the Dogon consider Amma to symbolize both male and female principles. Amma is therefore more appropriately characterized as genderless or as being of dual gender.²¹

The Maasai, Embu, Meru, and Gĩkũyũ of Kenya call their genderless Great God Ngai. Ngai created the world and is sometimes referred to as female, as is suggested in the saying, “Naamoni aiyai,” which means “The She to whom I pray.” Ngai manifests in two forms: Ngai Narok, the good and benevolent Ngai, who is represented as black; and Ngai Na-nyokie, the angry Ngai, who is represented as red. In neighboring Tanzania, among the Haya people their Great God, Wamara, rules the universe. Wamara is neither male or female, and Her/His role is not gender-specific. Wamara is supreme among all other deities and spirits and is the sovereign of the souls of the dead. Haya women play a central role in the worship of Wamara. The new moon sacrifice performed in Wamara’s honor is marked by the gathering of the clan, and the offering of coffee beans, banana beer, and grass by the women.²²

Whereas the vast majority of African groups describe a gradual formulation of the world or universe in stages, the ancient Egyptians reference a time before creation, a time before the appearance of land and light, during which four pairs of male and female forces emerged out of chaos. This is in agreement with the African belief in the importance of dualities and balance in their worlds. The male and female forces appeared simultaneously. Nun (m) and nunet (f) represented the watery expanse, and lack of solidity. They were the god and goddess of the ocean. Heh (m) and hehet (f) represented unending time, a lack of time. They were charged with raising the sun. Kek (m) and keket (f) represented darkness or a lack of light. Their mission was to produce the gloom of the night in which light would emerge. Finally, tenem or amun (m) and tenemet or amaunet (f) represented a lack of direction, wandering. They were the forces of mystery or the hidden. These eight forces that existed before creation, or the Hermopolitan Ogdoad, represent the Egyptian early stage of creation, which continued with the emergence of Ra and the first generation of deities.

Creation proper was then ordered by the ancient Egyptian principal Creator God, the Sun-God, Ra. Ra was also called Atum, Atem, or Tem, the “Complete One,” who created, completed, or finished the world. This universal God of the Egyptians rules heaven, earth, and all other gods. Atum is connected to a pair of male and female forces: Shu, the air and moisture that carry the sky, and Tefinut, the female supplement of Shu. Shu and Tefinut are offshoots of Ra or Atum; they are expressions of Atum’s function.²³ South of Egypt, in the land of the Nubians, the Great Creator God of the Shilluk people of Sudan is Juok. Juok is formless and invisible, and like air is believed to be everywhere. Juok is more powerful than any deity or human, and is worshipped through Nyakang, the first king and founder of the Shilluk nation.²⁴

To summarize, the dual nature of God is consistent with the broader cosmological principles of numerous African nations—that of a duality, a pairing and/or balancing of opposite forces (the idea that male and female principles make a complete whole). The Igbo of eastern Nigeria express this concept in the adage, “where one thing stands, something else will stand beside it.” It is this duality, this complementarity, this balance, that is symbolically expressed in most facets of African religions, culture, and sociopolitical organization. And the most powerful of these spiritual forces is the genderless African Great God—the highest-ranking monarch of the African spiritual political constituency.

Great God’s Helpers: Goddesses

Great God’s helpers are the lesser gods and goddesses. They are personifications of natural phenomena. They are powerful and worshipped. The Egyptian goddess hathor is a prehistoric goddess from whom all other gods and goddesses derived. Usually depicted as a woman with the head and ears of a cow, she personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood.²⁵ The Egyptian goddess nut is the goddess of the sky. She regulates the times of the day by swallowing the sun in the evening and giving birth to it in the morning. Nut is hathor’s sister and is wife to geb, the Egyptian god of the earth. With geb, nut gave birth to the gods and goddess osiris, horus, seth, and isis. Nut belongs to the first family of the deities in Egypt.²⁶ Nut’s daughter, isis, is a goddess of healing. Her Pylon Temple was a great center of healing.²⁷ Another Egyptian goddess, qadesh (the holy one), is the goddess of love, sensuality, and fertility. She is most commonly depicted riding on the back of a lion, sometimes standing up, holding snakes, lotus buds, or papyrus plants—all symbols of fertility. Egyptians also worshipped qadesh as the goddess of nature.²⁸

Figure 1.1. Narmer Palette, Egypt, ca. 3100 BCE—Royal Ontario Museum. Photograph by Daderot, 20 November 2011.

In Nubian country, buk is the river goddess of the Nuer of Sudan. She is believed to be the daughter of fireflies and guardian against crocodile attacks. Her presence is invoked by the sacrifice of a goat. Among the Dinka of the Sudan, buk is known as abuk or acol. Abuk or acol is a patron goddess of Dinka women as well as gardens. Her emblems are a small snake, the moon, and sheep.²⁹

In the western part of the continent, the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria worship a river and fertility goddess called oshun. She lives in a shrine in Oshogbo, Yorubaland, under which the Oshun River runs.³⁰ Oshun controls the Oshun River, which gives fertility to barren women who bathe in its water and pray to her. The goddess is celebrated annually in a nine-day festival.³¹ In neighboring Benin, among the Fon, the goddess most closely identified with motherhood and childbearing is minona or fa. She exists in a paradoxical space: on the one hand, she is constructed as a goddess of mothering, birth, and nurturance; on the other hand, she is constructed as a goddess of witchcraft and death.³² In her latter role, she is the patron goddess of witches, to whom she gives power.³³

Among the Baga people of Guinea, nimba is the goddess of fertility, mother of the earth, and protector of pregnant women. She is the most important deity of the Baga.³⁴ Nimba is represented by a mask, which is also called d’mba.³⁵ She is powerful and beautiful and presides over all agricultural ceremonies. Nimba represents the joy of living. She is the promise of an abundant harvest. Nimba’s presence is exemplified in all aspects of Baga life. She is present at weddings and showers and blesses new unions. She is present at harvest time to celebrate the fertility of crops. She is also present at funerals to usher the dead into the world of the ancestors.³⁶

On the southern tip of the continent reigns mbaba mwana waresa, a Zulu goddess of the harvest, rain, and agriculture. She governs storm clouds, lightning, and thunder. The Zulus attribute the invention of beer to her. She also reigns over rainbows, which are a symbol of the connection between heaven and earth. The Zulu call on mbaba mwana waresa when they want guidance in making important decisions.³⁷ South Africa’s neighbor, Zimbabwe, has a goddess called dzivaguru. She is the earth goddess of the Korekore people. A powerful deity who ruled both heaven and earth, she is the oldest of all Korekore deities, and the goddess of great wealth and medicinal power. She is depicted wearing goatskins and bearing many medicinal substances. Her sacred creatures are golden sunbirds.³⁸

All these African goddesses, to varying degrees, served centrally important leadership roles in their societies. Their counsel was sought in everyday life, and they acted to enforce morality and build cooperation among societal groups. Most goddesses were highly complex and influential forces with particular functions, like protection and fertility, and met the needs of the peoples who worshiped them. As supernatural and authoritative forces, these goddesses influenced human life and reflected the values and traditions of their societies. They manifested their supernatural power to provide meaning, order, and ethics. In short, they were influential and authoritative leaders in the African spiritual political constituency.

Great God’s Helpers: Oracles

Oracles are forces that predict the future and explain the past. They also, through their priests and priestesses, adjudicate and settle cases, and take care of other societal needs. In Arochukwu, eastern Nigeria, existed an all-powerful female oracle called ibiniukpabi (in Ibibio, “Drum of the Creator God”). She was known to the British as the Long Juju. The oracle originally belonged to the Ibibio and Efik peoples of the neighboring region. However, in the sixteenth century, the Aro seized control of the oracle, transforming it into a dreaded and powerful institution, whose power, authority, and influence were felt all over Igboland and beyond.

One of the reasons for ibiniukpabi’s success was the fact that the new Aro custodians of the oracle were careful not to pit ibiniukpabi against the most powerful of all Igbo deities, ani, the earth goddess and creator of law or omenani (that which the goddess ani decrees to be right or wrong). Being a female oracle, ibiniukpabi’s mouthpieces were men, who served her ably as priests. Ibiniukpabi served as the supreme court of the Aro people. She heard and settled cases, particularly murder, witchcraft, poisoning, and family cases. Her pronouncements were final. Offenders received their judgment by walking into ibiniukpabi’s tunnel, otherwise known as the “tunnel of disappearance.” If the accused was guilty, he or she would never be seen again. The offender would be “eaten up” by the “Red River,” which would turn red as an indication to the offender’s family that the said offender had been found guilty and ibiniukpabi had “eaten” him or her.

However, ibiniukpabi’s priests became corrupted during the height of the transatlantic slave trade, and would, instead of carrying out her decrees, clandestinely redirect offenders to be carried away into slave networks.³⁹

Great God’s Helpers: Female Medicines

Medicines can be private or public, protective or aggressive. They can also be manipulated by the diviners and priests who prepare them for the community. Some medicines are believed to derive their power from God. They are also believed to be able to act from a distance without direct contact. These medicines range from personal amulets or crossroad medicines to great, powerful shrine-type medicines that enjoy widespread high reputation.

The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade had a transformative effect on indigenous societies of western Africa. In fact, internal “slavery” continued unabated for many years, thus shepherding in a period of great instability in the West African interior. Even after the so-called destruction of ibiniukpabi between November 1901 and March 1903, Aro slave activity soared in the Igbo interior, wreaking incalculable havoc and destruction on the communities the Aro confronted.

In the mid- to late nineteenth century in the northern Igbo town of Alor-Uno, a great medicine, adoro, emerged in response to the incessant slave-raiding activities of the Aro and Nike. The people of Alor-Uno desired protection, a worthy protector from their neighbors’ slave raiding. Thus, the community pooled its resources and engaged the services of the most powerful medicine-making family in the region. The medicine makers concocted a powerful protective female medicine called adoro, meaning ka fa donata (may they return), to both safeguard Alor-Uno’s citizens from further devastation and appeal to the exiled Alor-Uno populace “to return home.” And protect them she did. With adoro in place, no longer were the people of Alor-Uno cowed by the action of their enemy slavers. The Alor-Uno people were therefore able to remain in their present place.

In the course of her life, Alor-Uno people would elevate adoro from a medicine, which was merely venerated, to a universally respected and worshipped female deity who married wives in a process called igo mma ogo (becoming the in-law of a deity), therefore fulfilling the “birthing” responsibilities of the mother goddess. In fact, adoro remains one of the most powerful expressions of female religious and political power in Igboland. She is believed to be so powerful that as many as five male attamas (priests) are needed to minister to her, one in each of the Alor-Uno villages. The most senior attama serves as the onyishi (head) of all the attamas.⁴⁰

Female Spiritual Monarchs: The Lovedu Rain Queens

Droughts are common in southern Africa and are a threat to the well-being of the nations of the region. Thus, Sotho-speaking people routinely practice rain rituals that are directed to the ancestors of their past rulers, asking that they intercede on their behalf. The Lovedu believe that if these rain rituals are not performed drought will occur.

Rain is essential for survival in the arid area the Lovedu inhabit. It is necessary for drinking water and subsistence farming. The Lovedu rain queen (modjadji) is the only one endowed with the power and authority to perform rituals and evoke the necessary medicine to bring forth rain. Rain queens also have the power to control and transform clouds into rain. They are therefore referred to as khifidola-maru-a-daja (transformer of clouds). Their power and authority also allow them to send rainstorms and hurricanes; and withhold rain from Lovedu enemies.

The rainmaking ceremony is one of most important rituals of the Lovedu. The ceremony is held annually at the beginning of the rainy or wet season. Sacred cycad trees are used in the rainmaking rites. The purpose of the rainmaking ritual is to appeal to the ancestors, gods, and goddesses to supply sufficient rain for human consumption and to ensure a good harvest and adequate grazing for livestock.

When rain is needed, the Lovedu sacrifice gifts to inform their rain queen of the “crying of her people” and the need for her to protect them. The rain queen then gathers secrets from her “rain potion” medicines, which are stored in rock shelters and prepared in clay pots. The chief ingredient used for rainmaking is the skin of a deceased chief. The rain queen grinds various medicines, empties them into a pot filled with water, and stirs so vigorously that froth appears on top of the pot. Once this happens, the pot will “create” rain. She also mixes medicine into the “rain horns,” and when burnt, the smoke rises into the air and produces clouds. As the only being that can produce clouds, make and withhold rain, and make and withhold hurricanes, her power, authority, and influence are boundless.

In the Lovedu kingdom, the modjadji reigns supreme. Unlike elsewhere in Africa where there is a dual-sex or complementary system (in which male rulers take care of what is important to their male subjects, and female rulers take care of what is important to their female subjects), the Lovedu have exclusively female leadership structures. But this was not always so. Oral tradition suggests that the first rulers of the Lovedu were male. The first of these male rulers was one Makaphimo, who ruled the Lovedu until around 1800. Makaphimo was succeeded by his son Muhale. The Lovedu also had other male rulers, including Peduli, Khiali, and Mugede. The last known male leader was Mugede. During Mugede’s reign, his rainmaking ability was in decline, and in order to rejuvenate these powers, Mugede committed incest with his daughter. This abominable act ushered in a shift in leadership from men to women. In fact, Mugede’s daughter would become the first modjadji of the Lovedu.

Referred to by European observers and surrounding Africans as “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed,” the modjadji was renowned, respected, and feared throughout Southern Africa. Lovedu kinship, politics, economy, and religion were united in the person of the rain queen. The modjadji was the living embodiment of the rain goddess; as such, she was inaccessible and mysterious. No one could claim to have seen the rain queen. This inaccessibility, compounded by the fact that the rain queen was immortal and thus could neither be killed nor die from natural causes, elevated the influence and authority that she had. In fact, the modjadji had to take her own life in ritual suicide—a selfless and powerful act—but not before she chose a successor.

Although the rain queen guaranteed the yearly seasonal cycle and fertility of crops, her emotions were believed to influence rain. If she was dissatisfied, angry, or sad she would not work well and the rain would not come. In 1934 or 1935, during the reign of Modjadji III, the first rains did not come until December. The consequential drought was attributed to her being upset about her daughter’s liaison with a commoner.

There have been six rain queens in recent times: Maselekwane Modjadji I (1800–1854); Masalanabo Modjadji II (1854–95); Khesetoane Modjadji III (1896–1959); Makoma Modjadji IV (1959–80); Mokope Modjadji V (1981–2001); and Makobo Constance Modjadji VI (2003–5).

Maselekwane Modjadji I was feared for her power and famed for her diplomacy and influence. When she assumed office, she turned the chaos of her male predecessor’s reign into peace and prosperity. She was, however, surrounded by restrictions that drove her into seclusion. She used Lovedu women for diplomacy by pacifying intruders in the Lovedu kingdom with beer and girls. She won fame and influence, which drew many foreign ambassadors to her court. Some came with cattle; others, with their daughters or sisters—gifts with which they would show homage or supplicate for rain. Some rain queens from far-away lands came to be strengthened and fitted for their office by the powerful modjadji. Even the Zulu king, Chaka, supplicated the Lovedu rain queen as “rain-maker of all rain-makers.”⁴¹ She governed without an official husband but was female husband to as many as forty-two wives, who did for their husband, the rain queen, what ordinary Lovedu women did for theirs, including hoeing her fields, brewing her beer, cooking her food, keeping her in domestic comfort, and trading for her. In 1854 Maselekwane committed ritual suicide.

Masalanabo Modjadji II succeeded her mother. Like her mother, she never married the father of her children but was a female husband who was cared for by her wives. As rain queen she was inaccessible to her people, and seldom appeared in public, further elevating her mystique and influence in society. Like her mother, she committed ritual suicide after having designated the daughter of her sister as her heir.

More than a century later, Makobo Constance would reign as modjadji. She was consecrated sixth rain queen of the Lovedu, on April 16, 2003, after the death of her grandmother. She was twenty-five years old. Her mother had been designated successor but died two days before her grandmother, Modjadji V. The youngest rain queen in the history of the Lovedu, the reluctant modjadji Makobo was the only rain queen who had been formally educated. On the day of her coronation, there was a slight drizzle, which was interpreted as a good omen. Makobo Constance, although respected for her power, abilities, and lineage, was seen as too modern to be a rain queen. Custom, for instance, dictated that rain queens live reclusive lives, hidden in the royal kraal with their wives. Makobo, however, wore jeans and T-shirts, visited dance clubs, watched soap operas, and chatted on her cell phone. She also had a boyfriend, David Mogale, a former municipal manager of the Greater Letaba Municipality. He was rumored to have moved into the Royal Compound, causing great controversy with the Royal Council, because the rain queen was only supposed to have sex with nobles the Royal Council chose. Thus, her lover was banned from the village, and the rain queen’s two children were never recognized by the Council. On June 10, 2005, Makobo was admitted to Polokwane Medi-Clinic. She died two days later at the age of twenty-seven. The official cause of death was chronic meningitis.

For many years after Makobo died, no rain queen was named. Moreover, speculation was rife that because the rain queen’s daughter was fathered by a commoner, the Lovedu were not likely to accept her as the rightful heiress to the rain queen crown. Therefore, there were worries that the 400-year-old powerful rain queen dynasty may have come to an end. These worries, however, abated in 2016, when eleven-year-old Masalanabo, daughter of Makobo, was recognized as Modjadji VII by President Jacob Zuma following the recommendations of South Africa’s Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, also known as the Tolo Commission.⁴²

Spirit Mediums: Human Interpreters of the Spiritual World

In the Nyamwezi areas of East Africa (present-day southern and western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and northwestern Tanzania), women, in the 1800s, had an unusual degree of power, authority, and influence as spirit mediums which provided them with long-term, high-status positions. In the kingdoms of Bunyoro and Buganda (modern Uganda), Buha, Unyamwezi, and Usukuma (northwestern Tanzania), spirit possession societies centered on groups of legendary heroes known as the Cwezi or Imandwa. Cwezi were the early rulers of western Uganda. As the Cwezi kingdom declined, the people began to honor the spirits of their departed kings. In Rwanda and Burundi, the societies were dominated by spirits of their legendary heroes, Ryangombe and Kiranga. These possession societies were inclusive in their gender makeup.

Most Nyamwezi people lived in scattered settlements, spoke closely related Bantu languages, and were patrilineal. Their economic life revolved around combinations of agriculture and cattle raising. With the exception of the Kiga of southwestern Uganda, the Nyamwezi groups had centralized political structures. Bunganda, Bunyoro, Nkore, Rwanda, and Burundi were large relatively unified kingdoms whereas Buhaya, Buha, Unyamwezi, Usukuma, and Usumbwa were small states. All were hierarchical.

Few upper-class women were able to attain considerable wealth and authority. Spirit mediumship societies, therefore, provided women with the greatest avenues for active participation in politics and religious life. Spirit mediumship was a form of possession in which a person serves as intermediary between the spirits and society. Society interprets possession as a sign that a spirit or deity has chosen to inhabit a person for the good of the community. Spirit mediumship acknowledges communication between the supernatural world and the societal group the medium inhabits.

Spirit mediums were consulted either when difficulties arose or as a precautionary measure to ensure health, prosperity, and fertility. The people believed that if properly conciliated, their gods would, through spirit mediums, intercede on their behalf. Spirit mediums were able to accomplish this through either formal initiation or direct possession.

Spirit mediumship allowed women to transform into a higher sociopolitical and economic status. Spirit mediums were elevated and separated from regular society by the special regalia that they wore. They had secret vocabulary, possessed esoteric knowledge, and observed food taboos similar to those of upper classes. All spirit mediums viewed noninitiates as minors who were incapable of full participation in community affairs. Most important, spirit mediums possessed legal immunity.