45
Conversations with Nature Spirits
spirits with rapoko [fnger millet], a culturally important small grain collected and offered during
makoto. To the astonishment of many, some of the chiefs came empty-handed, breaking with tradition. Soon after the ceremony, involving over 150 people, the strangers left. No one ever saw them
again or knew their names.
After the meeting, when our traditional leaders consulted the most important spirit medium in
the Southern Africa region, Sekuro Matota, it was revealed that the nature sprits were angry and
needed to be cooled down. He pointed to areas of Chimanimani that had been particularly hardhit, and whose Chiefs had turned their backs on traditional practices and on their chiefy function,
as many see it, to unite their communities – instead reverting to the punitive strategies they have
become some accustomed to. This ran alongside accusations that those same Chiefs were diverting the grains traditionally collected from community members who worked collectively at the
Zunde raMambo (the Chief’s or ‘king’s’ feld) to feed the most vulnerable, and were instead feeding
their own families or supporters, or selling them for personal gain. Each chieftaincy was therefore
instructed to visit sites with strong energy centres, many of which had been long neglected, and to
hold a ceremony involving their entire communities. In appeasing the nature spirits of our damaged landscapes, these events were also called to rebuild the unity and trust that has been eroded
in our community over decades. Some chiefs acted on this, while others did not.
Patterns of cultural introspection and spiritual renewal, seen through an historical lens, as with
the ebb and fow of sociocultural, socio-political and natural crises, have most often followed
intense periods of drought (Maxwell, 1995, 2005). The search for answers can result in moral panics aligned with the loss of cultural traditions – responsibilities for which are commonly laid at the
door of, and felt most keenly by, women (McAllister, 2018). With every wave to re-establish fading
traditions come new attempts to reinvent the past to remake tradition, or reinforce existing power
relations. As with Christian–Traditionalist relationships and practices, the by-now well-worn practice of syncretic blending for broad-based appeal and legitimacy is well established. Herein, the
re-establishment of a tripartite relationship plays out on a political tightrope. If critical of government, growing political opposition can result in rumours that delegitimise a movement’s authenticity and, if too skewed towards traditionalism, can meet with opposition from power-holders in
established churches. As recounted by Mawere and Wilson (1995) of the expansion of the Mbuya
Juliana cult 6 after the devastating 1992 drought, such attempts also run the risk of co-option by the
narrow interests and agendas of traditional leaders to recover eroded political authority through the
reclaiming of ritual practice and tradition.
There is no clear line between traditionalists and Christians. In fact, many of our traditional
leaders, and indeed Chiefs, are also observant Christians, leading to accusations by traditionalists
that they have ‘lost their way’.
What perhaps links both is that they are regularly courted by, and part of, entrenched political
patronage networks that hold these ecologies of violence very much in place. The complex alliances
of convenience formed to variously resist, comply and/or transgress this equilibrium, while vital for
everyday survival, can at once undermine popular support and spiritual authority for the core messages of social–ecological unity.
COMING TOGETHER ON THE LAND TO HEAL THE PAST
In an era of increasing climate disruption, the cyclone is just the latest in a long line of destructive
events – seen through the microcosm of this one community.
We are living with the effects of our past – colonisation was intended to disempower – to disconnect people from their world, and to sow not seeds of harvest, but division. Before, you could be
6 Mbuya Juliana became a cult fgure across Zimbabwe, preaching to vast gatherings about a return to traditional culture,
and environmental values and farming practices. She claimed to have emerged, with her newfound wisdom, from the
grips of a mermaid.
Conversations with Nature Spirits
spirits with rapoko [fnger millet], a culturally important small grain collected and offered during
makoto. To the astonishment of many, some of the chiefs came empty-handed, breaking with tradition. Soon after the ceremony, involving over 150 people, the strangers left. No one ever saw them
again or knew their names.
After the meeting, when our traditional leaders consulted the most important spirit medium in
the Southern Africa region, Sekuro Matota, it was revealed that the nature sprits were angry and
needed to be cooled down. He pointed to areas of Chimanimani that had been particularly hardhit, and whose Chiefs had turned their backs on traditional practices and on their chiefy function,
as many see it, to unite their communities – instead reverting to the punitive strategies they have
become some accustomed to. This ran alongside accusations that those same Chiefs were diverting the grains traditionally collected from community members who worked collectively at the
Zunde raMambo (the Chief’s or ‘king’s’ feld) to feed the most vulnerable, and were instead feeding
their own families or supporters, or selling them for personal gain. Each chieftaincy was therefore
instructed to visit sites with strong energy centres, many of which had been long neglected, and to
hold a ceremony involving their entire communities. In appeasing the nature spirits of our damaged landscapes, these events were also called to rebuild the unity and trust that has been eroded
in our community over decades. Some chiefs acted on this, while others did not.
Patterns of cultural introspection and spiritual renewal, seen through an historical lens, as with
the ebb and fow of sociocultural, socio-political and natural crises, have most often followed
intense periods of drought (Maxwell, 1995, 2005). The search for answers can result in moral panics aligned with the loss of cultural traditions – responsibilities for which are commonly laid at the
door of, and felt most keenly by, women (McAllister, 2018). With every wave to re-establish fading
traditions come new attempts to reinvent the past to remake tradition, or reinforce existing power
relations. As with Christian–Traditionalist relationships and practices, the by-now well-worn practice of syncretic blending for broad-based appeal and legitimacy is well established. Herein, the
re-establishment of a tripartite relationship plays out on a political tightrope. If critical of government, growing political opposition can result in rumours that delegitimise a movement’s authenticity and, if too skewed towards traditionalism, can meet with opposition from power-holders in
established churches. As recounted by Mawere and Wilson (1995) of the expansion of the Mbuya
Juliana cult 6 after the devastating 1992 drought, such attempts also run the risk of co-option by the
narrow interests and agendas of traditional leaders to recover eroded political authority through the
reclaiming of ritual practice and tradition.
There is no clear line between traditionalists and Christians. In fact, many of our traditional
leaders, and indeed Chiefs, are also observant Christians, leading to accusations by traditionalists
that they have ‘lost their way’.
What perhaps links both is that they are regularly courted by, and part of, entrenched political
patronage networks that hold these ecologies of violence very much in place. The complex alliances
of convenience formed to variously resist, comply and/or transgress this equilibrium, while vital for
everyday survival, can at once undermine popular support and spiritual authority for the core messages of social–ecological unity.
COMING TOGETHER ON THE LAND TO HEAL THE PAST
In an era of increasing climate disruption, the cyclone is just the latest in a long line of destructive
events – seen through the microcosm of this one community.
We are living with the effects of our past – colonisation was intended to disempower – to disconnect people from their world, and to sow not seeds of harvest, but division. Before, you could be
6 Mbuya Juliana became a cult fgure across Zimbabwe, preaching to vast gatherings about a return to traditional culture,
and environmental values and farming practices. She claimed to have emerged, with her newfound wisdom, from the
grips of a mermaid.