GOATS migrated to Southern Africa
approximately 500-600 years ago, and
have since fulfi lled a crucial role in both
ceremonial and food security aspects
of African cultures. The increasing
numbers of goats
in the SADC
region indicate
that their relative
importance has not
diminished over time, and
that they still contribute signifi cantly to
the world population.
In the African context, goats do
not confer the same status to farmers
as cattle that represent wealth and
symbolises power. However, they
play a signifi cant role in terms of food
security, liquid capital and as sacrifi ces
in cultural ceremonies, notably fertility
rites as described below.
The generality of Zimbabweans
understand life as being passed from
one person to another through blood.
This belief arises from the observation
that menstruation marks the visual
onset of fertility and that, once pregnant, most women stop menstruation
until after delivery.
The nine months stoppage of periodic
fl ows is seen as meaning that the blood
has been turned into a new life. A parent,
therefore, describes off spring as
ropa rangu (my blood). For that reason,
the Shona are not at ease when blood is
spilled, even naturally through the body’s
periodic cleansing.
Thus, when a girl fi rst menstruates, it
is taken as a crisis situation because the
girl does not yet know how to handle the
life-giving blood. In the strictly traditional
sense, the spilled blood requires a goat
sacrifi ce to the ancestors, asking them for
many healthy children from the maturing
maiden.
The girl’s blood that has been spilled
on the fl oor is immediately smeared with
cow dung (a traditional fl oor polish), both
for hygienic purposes and to do justice to
the life lost through spilled blood. If fertilised,
the blood would have produced a
life. The girl has to immediately undergo
menstrual care lessons under the tutelage
of her aunt or any other close senior female
relation.
The end of the menstrual care training
is marked by a sacrifi ce intended to make
the mafundo (uterus knots/loops) productive
so that the girl may bear healthy
children. A goat is used to atone for the
lost blood through sacrifi ce, imploring
the ancestors to guarantee the fertility of
the girl.
The girl’s uterus is seen as the receptive
homwe (pocket) for the man’s fertilising
sperm.
Without the receiving uterus, human
life is greatly aff ected, which makes the
propitiation of the ancestors at this point
highly essential. The ancestors are the
intermediaries between the living and
Musikavahu (Creator), who is generally
referred to as Mwari. This sacrifi ce is the
fi rst of the six or so goat sacrifi ces in honour
of female fertility.
The second goat sacrifi ce is part of the
welcoming ceremony for a new bride. Another
goat is slaughtered for mafundo at
this moment. Mafundo has here acquired
expanded meaning over the years. The
mafundo as noted earlier has connections
with female reproductive organs.
Here it expands to embrace plentifulness
where one eats until there is no
more space in the stomach. As kids often
formally told by the father of the household
of the foreign blood growing in their
daughter’s womb and implored to allow
the embryo to grow to safe delivery.
The back part of the goat is given to the
mother-in-law, as a representative of the
reproductive organs. Once this has been
completed, the two families can formally
greet each other and ask after each other’s
health. At the completion of the ceremony,
the wife is left with her parents
until delivery under the auspices of her
family ancestors.
This ceremony is not done for a barren
woman because no foreign blood ever
grows in her womb, but it is done for a
pregnant woman for her fi rst pregnancy
with a particular man. This means a
change of husband may necessitate a new
ceremony because the nature of the outsider
blood growing inside the daughter’s
womb has essentially changed.
While the he-goat which belongs to the
father of the household is ritually slaughtered
and consumed as described above,
the she-goat which belongs to the mother-
in-law is spared. This goat is allowed
to procreate as a symbolic replacement of
the family daughter who is now expected
to help in the growth of the outsider lineage
into which she is now married.
At some point, a family gathering may
be called to partake of one or more ritually
slaughtered goats from this herd. This
masungiro goat forms part of the danga
ramai (mother-in-law). The mother-inlaw
uses this economic boost to propitiate
her ancestors using the goats.
The fourth goat ceremony comes with
safe delivery. This ceremony, like the
second one, is also called mafundo by
some of those Shona groups that practise
the ritual. It is a thanksgiving ceremony
to Mwari through the ancestors, for the
safe delivery of the baby, which is a clear
indication of the productivity of the girl’s
uterus (fundo).
Like the second one, it pays attention to
the importance of the womb as well as to
the physical body which has been depleted
by childbirth. Protein from the goat is
meant to replenish the loss of blood and
energy suff ered during child delivery. The
ancestors are formally told of a newborn.
The birth of the fi rst child necessitates
this ceremony and calls for the attention
of the two families
A fi fth goat ceremony accompanies the
reception of the child by the husband’s
family (mapereko). Like in the fi rst mapereko
when the virgin was taken to her
husband and there was mafundo, traditional
foods are prepared (this time by
the new mother’s relatives) and the child
is received in the traditional way.
Payments are done to those who have
brought the child home before the two
families can partake of the meal, which
like its predecessor has both spiritual
and physiological dimensions for the new
mother.
Family members pay to have a view of
the fi rstborn of the young couple, with accompanying
fanfare. The child is formally
introduced to the household ancestors by
the immediate head of the lineage.
The sixth goat sacrifi ce, mbwazukuru,
has a diff erent dimension from the fi rst
fi ve. First, it is given in honour of female
ancestors, in particular, female grandparents
of the bride or wife. It is given to the
grandmother who looked after the girl
in her infancy, particularly immediately
after her weaning.
Very often the sons-in-law postpone
the payment of mbwazukuru until it is
diagnosed by a diviner.
Such diagnosis is normally associated
with barrenness in which infertility is
seen as being caused by angry female
spirits. If the particular grandmother is
already deceased, her daughter receives
the goat and informs her ancestors that
the she-goat has come in accordance
with their demands. She then implores
them to open the young woman’s womb
for procreation now that the payment
has been received. Normally, all present
partake of the meat of the goat immediately
after dedication. But this she-goat is
sometimes allowed to procreate in place
of the girl who has taken her fertility elsewhere
away from the clan.
