Purification Beyond Kenya: The Bambwela Purification Process
The application of purification is embedded in traditional systems in other
African communities. In the early 1930’s the North Rhodesia Native
Commissioner, Vernon Brelsford observed a purification ceremony of the
Bambwela ethnic group. The ceremonial purification was called mankunamwa.
The name mankunamwa was given to babies that cut their top teeth before the
bottom; they were believed to carry an evil spirit.37 In many African societies the
living were visited by spiritual beings that may be good or evil and specialists
who combated evil forces and healed.38 A clear understanding of signs and
cosmological order allow for the management of the various spirits.39
The visitation of evil spirits was treated with care because their presence
carried misfortune and death. The appearance of the top teeth first was a sign of
a restless and revengeful ancestral spirit. Therefore, according to the Bambwela,
babies fitting this description threatened the society and, “...it was forbidden by
tribal custom for the child to continue to live.”40 As a result, the mother or the
maternal grandmother of the child was expected to purify the situation by
drowning the child in a nearby river or suffocating the baby in the forest.41 The
case of the Bambwela purification is an example of the seriousness of protecting
the community.
37 Vemon Brelsford, “A Bambwela Purification Rite,” Man 35 (April 1935): 52-53.
38 Interview, Notes describe Kimongo’s occupation as specialist responsible for healing and fighting evil
spirits. V.M.K.Kimongo, Machakos, January 2009.
39 Ikenga-Metuh, “Ritual Dirt and Purification Rites,” 7.
40 Brelsford, “A Bambwela Purification Rite,” 52.
41 Brelsford, “A Bambwela Purification Rite,”52-53.
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