Ngoni of Malawi

The Ngoni of M'mbelwa came from what is now South Africa after Shaka Zulu rose to power, and settled in Mzimba around 1855. Missionaries eventually switched from Ngoni to Tumbuka in their preaching, and Tumbuka gradually replaced the Ngoni language.

The Christian faith arrived in the late nineteenth century. In 1897, Chief Mpherembe agreed to let missionaries open a school in his area on condition that he receive gifts. In October 1928, Pastor Peter Zimema Thole arrived to serve the congregations of Njuyu and Emcisweni and preached only in Ngoni, which was unusual. The Ngoni also brought their music into the church: they composed ingoma songs for worship services, and melodies from the Ngoni first-harvest festival formed the basis of a hymnal.

In Mpherembe, Ngoni customs have endured. The sangweni, the men’s space in the village, was where young men learned the traditions. Marriage with lobola, in which the groom’s family gives cattle for the bride, continues, and there are strong rules of respect between generations and between men and women. Cattle raising has always been important to the Ngoni.

In Chimkwenzule, a predominantly Ngoni and Christian village in Machinga District, nsima, a stiff maize porridge, is synonymous with food. Families sell rice, beans, sweet potatoes and cassava to buy maize, and raise pigs for meat.

Christianity is the majority religion, but some Ngoni follow traditional religion. In Mtwalo, in North Mzimba, Ngoni Catholics continue to observe traditional burial rites. They say they do this to maintain harmony between the living and the dead.

When someone in the household dies, the family informs relatives who have already died, mourns with the spirit of the deceased and offers it beer to please it. The family does this privately, without the church, which later conducts the Christian service and burial at the family’s request.

Those who read Chichewa have the Buku Lopatulika Bible, the first Bible translated into a language of Malawi, produced between about 1900 and 1922. It was revised to replace very old and difficult words, and an introduction to each book and a glossary were added. The complete Bible in audio and films about Jesus are also available in Chichewa. In the north, Tumbuka has also been used in preaching and Christian teaching.

In Mtwalo, Ngoni Catholics maintain traditional funeral rites alongside their church faith. Families perform them privately, without the church taking part. As a result, Christian teaching about death does not always reach into what families experience in their grief.

In Chimkwenzule, weddings, initiation ceremonies and funerals require families to invite many people. Since it is hard to know how many will come, many families cook too much. Leftover food goes to waste, leaving household food supplies stretched.

There is also the challenge of language: Chingoni has lost ground to Tumbuka and Chichewa, and efforts are being made to revive it.