The Chaga People

The Chaga/Chagga/Wachagga are Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and Tanzania's third largest ethnic group. They traditionally live on the southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru and near Moshi.

While the Chaga are Bantu speakers, their language is related to Kamba, Taita and Pokomo of Kenya.

LANGUAGE

They speak Kichagga, which has various dialects spoken in different regions (language areas are identified along the lines of the former chiefdoms), which are mutually intelligible.

Almost all Chagga people also speak Kiswahili, the national language in Tanzania. It is the language of instruction in primary schools and is also used in the workplace.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Traditionally the Wachagga were ruled by mangis (chiefs). They belonged to different clan groups, and the area was divided into independent chiefdoms. Examples of clan group names include Moshi, Swai, Marealle, Lvimo, and Mrema. They followed patrilineal rules of descent and inheritance.

Chiefs were known to wage wars against each other and, at times to form alliances in their struggle for power. Thus, the number of chiefdoms declined over the years.

By 1968, there existed only 17 chiefdoms, namely Machame, Kibosho, Mamba, Mwika, Kibongoto, Uru, Usseri, Kirua Vunjo, Mkuu, Marangu, Mashati, Arusha Chini, Masama, Kahe, Old Moshi, Kilema, and Keni-Mriti-Mwengwe. The chiefdoms were further divided into subunits called mitaa.

However, after independence, Nyerere's socialism and integration policies diminished the rule of Chiefs, and later the system of chiefdoms was abolished in Tanzania.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

They primarily practise agriculture because of the fertile soils of Mount Kilimanjaro and its favourable climate. They have created a highly productive intensive cropping system in conjunction with agroforestry practices that involve integrating several multi-purpose trees and bushes with food crops, cash crops, and livestock on the same unit of land.

Every traditional Chagga home has a large home garden where they grow a wide variety of crops such as coffee, bananas and other fruits such as oranges, lemons, avocados as well as sugar cane, flowers, vegetables and some traditional herbs.

TRADITIONAL HOUSE

The traditional WaChagga house, known as msonga, was cone-shaped and made of local treated wooden frames and dry banana leaves. Because these houses tended to be large, they were built with the assistance of other villagers. Family members and livestock lived together in the house.

By the end of the nineteenth century, Swahili houses were introduced, initially constructed by chiefs. These houses were rectangular, with walls made of wattle (interwoven sticks), mud, and thatched roofs.

TRADITIONAL CHAGA BREW

They make mbege, a banana beer drink fermented from ripe bananas and sprouted millet powder.

It is traditionally brewed by hand by women, utilizing a long process that takes up to four to five days to ferment and then strained.

Those producers who make a superior mbege are well known, and their product can be in high demand.

While the WaChagga enjoy mass-produced beer and stronger spirits, mbege is still popularly consumed and is ubiquitous at important festivities such as weddings, births, rites of passage, and even after funerals.

RELIGION AND OTHER PRACTICES

The traditional faith was based around a belief in a god called Ruwa. He was a tolerant deity who, though neither the creator of the universe nor of man, set man free from some unspecified incarceration.

Ruwa had little to do with humanity, so the Chagga instead worshipped their ancestors, whom they believed could influence events on Earth.

In the Chagga religion, when one is wronged, it is not the sinner but the person who is sinned against who was purified so that the negative force does not remain with him or her.

This purification would be performed by the local medicine man, with the victim bringing along the necessary items for performing the cleansing. These included the skin, dung and stomach contents of a hyrax, the shell and blood of a snail, the rainwater from a hollow tree and a large quantity of banana beer for the medicine man.

All of this would then be put into a hole in the ground lined with banana leaves and with a gate or archway built above, which the victim would then have to pass through. This done, the victim would be painted by the medicine man using the mixture in the hole. This entire ceremony would be performed twice daily over four days.

MEDICINE

They also practised preventative medicine, and not just in matters of health. If a prominent man in the village were, for some reason, worried about his safety, the medicine man would order him to lie with his favourite wife in a pit dug in the ground. With man and wife still inside, the hole would then be lined with poles and covered with banana leaves. They would remain there until evening while the man's friends above would cook food.

Medicine men also performed the vital role of removing curses. Curses took many forms; a cheated-on wife, for example, might curse her husband by turning her back on him, bowing four times and praying for his death.

The most feared curse, however, was that of the deathbed curse issued by somebody shortly before they expired. These were widely held to be the most difficult to reverse, for to have any hope of removing it, the medicine man would require the victim to get hold of a piece of the curser's corpse.

Witchcraft (wusari) also played a major part. Rainmakers and Rain-preventers were important members of society, and dreams were infallible oracles of the future.

RITES OF PASSAGE

In the past, both young men and young women were circumcised. However, female circumcision is now discouraged.

Before male youth were allowed to marry, the Ngasi (male initiation) ceremony took place. A young man went to live in the forest and would receive instructions on manhood, went hunting, and endured various ordeals. The Shija (female initiation) ceremony was performed after the young women were circumcised. All initiated young women were instructed in Chagga rituals, sexuality, procreation, and menstruation.

A rite called Kisusa was carried out when a child was about twelve years old. This rite was performed to curb unruliness in a child. An elder woman and already initiated youths sang songs about good morals and talked to the initiates about good behaviour. It was followed by the sacrifice of a goat and, one month later, a purification ceremony.

MARRIAGE

After the Ngasi(initiation), boys were free to marry. The parents mostly arranged marriage, though the boys and girls involved were allowed to voice their opinions. For the boy to stand a chance with his potential suitor, he had to woo her.

The Chaggas' courtship process involved a lot of gift-giving, though the gifts followed a strict set of rules. The first gift from the man to the woman was always a necklace.

The Chagga male would be well rewarded for his generosity, and in return, the girl would dance naked all day with bells attached to her legs by her mother. Over the following days, other gifts were exchanged until the time came when the girl, having visited all her relatives, would be shut away for three months. The girl would do no work during this time, but instead, she would be given fattening food and kept in a cage.

At the end of this period, a dowry would be paid, the marriage ceremony performed, and the bride would be carried on the back of the Mkara (the best man) to her new husband's house.

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