Vimbuza

The Vimbuza is a traditional dance of the Tumbuka people of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, used in healing rituals. ¹

In 2005, it was recognized by UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. 2008, it was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. ¹

The Vimbuza dance originated in the 16th century in the Nkhamangam, located in what is now northern and central Malawi, and southern Tanzania and eastern Zambia. The models of Tumbuka traditional religion and ghost beliefs have developed through exchanges with neighboring peoples and under the influence of Christian missionaries since the end of the 19th century. Religious shrines were located in central locations, where a possessive nature spirit or a lowly deity called chiŵanda (pl. viŵanda) was worshiped. Men or women who were possessed by this spirit were henceforth to serve him at his shrine. The possessed could go into trance and communicate with the spirit, and in economic emergencies, they received messages about how humans could restore the lost harmony with nature. Regardless of their gender, they were called "women of the spirit". ¹

In the 1850s, the Nguni invaded the southern part of the settlement area from the south and subjugated the simple Tumbuka population that had not fled. There were changes in the economic and cultural fields. The Nguni suppressed the religious practices of the Tumbuka, causing the shrines to largely disappear. By the end of the 1870's, the population had grown too large for the previous methods of cultivation. Farmers began to burn down forests to fertilize the fields with the ashes. Deforestation has dried up rivers and reduced overall agricultural production. There were several hunger uprisings of the Tumbuka against their social oppression and increased religious activities to counter the loss of their own culture. The Tumbuka and other Nguni-dependent lower classes, as they became increasingly impoverished, created an increasingly powerful spiritual counterworld. ¹

The spirits worshiped by the Tumbuka today have evolved from various cultural influences. According to their mythological origins, they can be divided into several groups: Vimbuza are explained with the spirits of fallen warriors, the end of the 19th century. The European Parliament has already expressed its views on the Commission's proposal for a directive on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos. Vilombos are powerful animal spirits of lions, leopards, and pythons that originate from the widespread African cosmogony. The animals must be characterized as wild and alien. The most dangerous are the vyanusi, who are the returned spirits of the Nguni of deceased powerful healers and witch-finders (nchimi). The word vyanusi comes from izanusi, "the stinkers". Another spirit that does not appear in the ceremony, however, is the mzungu (European), probably because it is difficult to imagine a dancing missionary or a dancing British colonial official. Nor are ancestral spirits (pl. mizimu) suitable for the ceremony. Ancestors are one's own, they can speak to people in dreams or visions and give instructions, but they are not trusted to take possession of a person. Structurally different, Ancestors stands for culture (above) and Vimbuza for nature (below). ¹

Health is understood as a balance between inner heat and cold. Once a person is diagnosed an obsession, the patient gets too hot. To find out, the woman visits a botanist (ng'anga/mzamba) who used to be obsessed herself. She can talk to the spirit and maybe classify it. For treatment, she prescribes a medicine and thus becomes the mbuya (spiritual protector) of the patient. If necessary, she organizes the public therapeutic dance ceremony. An animal sacrifice (kusawiska) is offered to the Vimbuza patient, as is the case with other African possession spirits. Ghosts need fresh blood (chilopa), and if this desire is not satisfied, the ghost may take the patient's blood. An animal sacrifice is the basic prerequisite for the healing process. In the chilopa ritual, the patient drinks the blood that has just gushed from the throat, soothing the mind and alleviating the patient's suffering, at least in the short term. Ghosts are often described as mphepo. The sacrificial animals are usually suffocated, the killing is seen as drinking the animal's air. Drinking the warm gushing blood is equivalent to taking in the essence of life, so the process is not taking life, but taking in life. Unlike other sacrificial rituals performed by priests, in the chilopa the patient himself makes the sacrifice, meaning that the Vimbuza spirits directly receive the life energy in the form of animal blood. The first animal sacrifice begins with a chicken, to increase to a goat or, rarely, even a cow. If after the victim's symptoms have disappeared, meaning the spirit has cooled, the patient does not need further treatment, he can live with the spirit inside. ¹

With the independence of Malawi and Zambia in 1964, the official attitude towards Vimbuza changed. The ceremony was no longer dismissed with contempt, but in the course of Africanization, it was recognized as an important part of traditional culture. However, the therapeutic aspect and the mythological meaning disappeared, a form of entertainment dances purified of their ghostly ideas developed, in which men participated. At the instigation of the Ministries of Culture of Malawi and Zambia, shows were created for tourists. In 1968, a Zambian postage stamp featured a male Vimbuza dancer. In this context, Vimbuza was included in the UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity Programme in 2005. The events have been commercialized. The witch hunters (nchimi) compete as paid organizers of the dances. In addition, they treat the possessed patients without public attention in "private clinics" with herbal medicine and Christian prayers. Diseases arising from the social situation and formerly treated within the village community have become the private problem of an individual who, as in Western countries, needs psychological counselling. Public dance events are no longer affordable for most women. ¹

Despite being forbidden by Christian missionaries, Vimbuza continued to thrive, providing a vital outlet for people to express their emotions and find healing. In the cultural heritage of the Tumbuka people of northern Malawi and eastern Zambia, Vimbuza encompasses possessive spirits, the bodily manifestations they trigger, and the therapeutic performances aimed at alleviating these symptoms. Diagnosed by healers, patients undergo a dance healing ritual treatment that spans several weeks or months, accompanied by spirit-specific drum rhythms created by men. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Vimbuza”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Vimbuza is type of dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 3 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²