Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Map of Mozambique
- Introduction
- Part I CONCEPTIONS OF GENDER & GENDER POLITICS IN MOZAMBIQUE
- Part II NIGHT OF THE WOMEN, DAY OF THE MEN: MEANINGS OF FEMALE INITIATION
- 6 Feminism & Gendered Bodies
- 7 Moonlight & mato
- 8 Wineliwa – the Creation of Women
- 9 Female Initiation & the Coloniality of Gender (2000/2010)
- 10 Situational Gender & Subversive Sex?
- Part III IMPLICATIONS OF MATRILINY IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
7 - Moonlight & mato
Initiation Rituals in Ribáué (1999)
from Part II - NIGHT OF THE WOMEN, DAY OF THE MEN: MEANINGS OF FEMALE INITIATION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Glossary
- Map of Mozambique
- Introduction
- Part I CONCEPTIONS OF GENDER & GENDER POLITICS IN MOZAMBIQUE
- Part II NIGHT OF THE WOMEN, DAY OF THE MEN: MEANINGS OF FEMALE INITIATION
- 6 Feminism & Gendered Bodies
- 7 Moonlight & mato
- 8 Wineliwa – the Creation of Women
- 9 Female Initiation & the Coloniality of Gender (2000/2010)
- 10 Situational Gender & Subversive Sex?
- Part III IMPLICATIONS OF MATRILINY IN NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Summary
During the after-harvest period 1998 to 1999 in Ribáué there had been several celebrations of female initiation rites. The ‘festive season’ – with sufficient supplies of grain for beer-brewing and food for feasting – starts in September or October and goes on until January. The celebration on which this account is based took place early February and was the last one of the season. The rains were approaching, and with them a new cycle of agricultural work.
I had just arrived to Ribáué for the second round of fieldwork, when I was informed that a session of initiation rites—the last of the season—was due to take place the following weekend, and that I was invited to attend the proceedings. This particular session of female initiation rites took place in the compound of the namalaka, Arissa, in the mandioca fields behind her house, and in a nearby mato, close to the mountains, beyond a small stream. Arissa's house is situated a few kilometers outside Ribáué town, at the other side of the river. Arissa is a curandeira (traditional healer), a conselheira (counsellor) and a remarkable woman. During the whole sequence of the rites that went on continuously from Saturday morning to Sunday noon, Arissa was in charge; she was the organizer, the speaker, the chanter, the performer, untiringly for 30 hours non stop. Arissa works in close collaboration with three other conselheiras, they are her permanent assistants, together with the batuqueira, the woman that beats the drum.
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- Sexuality and Gender Politics in MozambiqueRethinking Gender in Africa, pp. 152 - 165Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011