IN 1980, following the war of liberation (1965-1979), a group of spirit mediums from Dande, Chinamhora, Chishawasha, Nyika, Guruve, Nharira, Njerere, Zvimba and Mhondoro professed “Dai vakuru vapangura nyika, nekuti nyika yakagarwa matundu”.
Yet others held: “Dai vakuru vaita bira reNykia sezvaiitwa nevakuru vabva kuhondo pasichigare” – If only our leaders would conduct a national cleansing ceremony as was practised by our elders following the return of soldiers from battle in the past.
In other words, it was paramount for Zimbabwe to hold a National Bira in 1980, to appease those aggrieved wandering spirits who gave their lives for the freedom of their country from colonial bondage.
This traditional cultural rite known as “Doro rekuchenerusa Nyika”, is a beer ceremony to cleanse the nation (of the blood spilt during the war), has been practised since the 9th century, following several succession and civil wars that occurred during the reigns of the Munhumutapas of Zimbabwe.
Archaeological excavations, dating back to archaic times at Great Zimbabwe, of pottery shards with beer sediment in the bases of some pots, attest to the practice of brewing beer to mark the various cycles of human progress.
It has been and is an integral component of African agronomical, cultural and ritual ceremonies throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Beer pots reflected in the pre-historic friezes of rock art also testify to the long tradition of beer brewing industry in Zimbabwe, and according to Dr Tony Monda, a cultural expert in Shona culture and post-colonial heritage, the archaeological discovery of pottery shards dating from the Iron Age, illustrate that Bushmen drank to be transported into trances and get visions which sometimes resulted in the elongated figures depicted on the walls of the caves.
The rite of beer brewing and offering is an integral part of many indigenous Africans, including Zimbabwean way of life, from birth to death.
Ample amounts of traditional beer are also consumed during a traditional gata — a ceremony held after the demise, to ascertain the cause of death, akin to an autopsy.
Small grain varieties such as zviyo, mapfunde/imfe (sweet reed grain), finger millet, rapoko, maize meal (upfu), and rukweza (sorghum), are the main ingredients used in the brewing of various traditional beers.
The grains mainly chimera,are soaked in water in a clay pot – hari, until they begin to sprout. After draining, the grain is spread out to germinate and dry in the sun and subsequently ground into a meal, which is mixed with maize meal into a light paste.
Cold water for the requisite viscosity is added and brought to the boil stirring continuously. The brew is kept in cool dark place to allow the mixture to ferment for 1-2 days according to taste and potency. The process can be repeated several times until it is accepted, or rejected, by the spirits usually after 10 days.
The brewing of beer is usually undertaken by woman past childbearing age or young virgin girls not menstruating at the time – “asati ayenda kumwedzi”, or a spirit medium who abides to the conventions pertaining to the laws that apply to the brewing of spiritual beer.
Traditional beer is consumed as a means of communicating communal solidarity and cohesiveness and as a celebration of the renewal of nature.
Human progress is attributed to the annual beer offering, known as “kupira vadzimu/ukuthethela amadhlozi”, which is a libation for the deceased ancestors.
Beer is brewed to placate the ancestors and to cleanse any spiritual impediments such as aggrieved spirits, deaths, murders, wrongdoings, etc., and to prevent/overcome droughts, plagues, pestilence and war as well as national non-productivity, especially at such times as now during the current economic hardships and deprivations faced by most Zimbabweans, and the COVID-19 pandemic which we have yet to overcome.
Despite the proliferation of foreign Western colonial religions that have taken root in Zimbabwe, many spirit mediums have continued to voice that Zimbabwe’s socio-economic stability can only be fully realised following the placation of the countless wandering spirits of the unknown soldiers and those innumerable innocent villagers and children that died in the cross fire and are buried in mass graves such as those in Chibondo, Chimoyo and Nyadzonya and others that are yet to be identified and exhumed.
Spiritually it can be said: “Hatisati tabva kuhondo” – Our nation has not yet returned from the war. African traditions (Chivanhu), cannot be erased by a white chalk duster from a blackboard; nor deleted from a smartphone or internet system.
Indigenous culture is not virtual reality, it is a living tradition.
As a matter of fact, African traditional knowledge and culture has guided the building of many ancient African civilisations from Egypt to MaDzimbahwe; exemplified in the Courts of Munhumutapas that was at one time in our history a world renowned commercial, industrial and cultural megapolis.
Missionaries and the Christian churches recognised the importance of beer for the reinforcement of our cultural empowerment and as a factor in inducing spirit possession, and consequently derided African spiritual beliefs as ‘barbaric nonsense’ and tried to eradicate the practice. Colonial laws were also introduced and prohibition against indigenous beer drinking was strictly enforced by the white settler regimes.
According to Shona cultural and post-colonial heritage expert, Dr Monda: “Cultural restitution is paramount for the renaissance of Africa, particularly in post-colonial Zimbabwe that has yet to come to terms with its decolonisation and self-discovery. As a result, over 40 years following the end of the War of Liberation, our nation is still in a state of spiritual and cultural catalepsy.”
Although traditional African beer when consumed in excess, has brought about its fair share of societal problems such as prostitution, delinquency and disrespect in youths and broken homes, especially in urban communities, it is an integral and essential part of African hunhu/ubuntu in traditional customs for communal gatherings, discussions, planning, providing social cohesion. Its secular role in community co-operation cannot be discounted.
Several indigenous rites necessitate the brewing and offerings of traditional beer as libation for ritual gatherings, from the first beer brewed to thank the ancestors for the birth of a child — Doro rematendera/doro rekuzvarwa kwemwana and the child naming beer known as “doro rekupazita”; “doro rehurudza” as harvest thanksgiving, beer to invoke rain known as “doro remakoto/doro remapfuwhe/ doro remvura”.
Beer is also brewed to receive blessings from ancestors through invocation. Each beer has its specific rite or occasion at which it should be drunk by the community.
Being a patriot of all things Zimbabwe, I found it necessary to write about the role of traditional beer for the appeasement of those who died in the war for the liberation of Zimbabwe.
Often derided as an inferior belief system in public fora, African traditional knowledge has become a major academic discipline in many foreign universities and cultural institutions from Illinois University to University of Washington and Smithsonian Institution in the US, Oxford University in the UK, to Upsala University in Sweden and to Beijing University in China, which attests to its importance for the understanding of contemporary times.
It is incumbent therefore, for our leaders to heed the words of our sages if we are to end the state of spiritual catalepsy responsible for the annual recurring cycles of unpredictable weather, crop pestilence and failures, livestock diseases, mal-and-undernutrition, national unemployment, social dissolution, youth disrespect, corruption and the general socio-economic decline and inertia, (even the COVID-19 pandemic currently afflicting the globe), that has characterised the nation for almost four decades, if we are to achieve a middle-income society envisioned for Vision 2030.
Perhaps “Doro rekuchenerusa Nyika” is the answer; after all, spirit mediums guided the fighters and brewed the beers that won the war for our independence. We have nothing to lose!
Dr Michelina Rudo Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian Researcher and Industrial Designer. She is a published author in her field. For comments E-mail: linamanucci@gmail.com