BY MICHELINA ANDREUCCI
In 1980, following the War of Liberation (c.1965-1979), a group of spirit mediums from Dande, Chinamhora, Chishawasha, Nyika, Guruve, Nharira, Njerere, Zvimba and Mhondoro professed: “Dai vakuru vapangura nyika, nekuti nyika yakagarwamatundu’.
Yet others held: “Dai vakuruvayita bira reNyika se zvaitwa nevakuruwabva Kuhondo pasichigare” – If only our leaders would conduct a national cleansing ceremony following the return of soldiers from battle as was practiced by our elders in the past. In other words, it was paramount for Zimbabwe to have held a National Bira in 1980, to appease those aggrieved wandering spirits who gave their lives for the freedom of their country from colonial bondage.
This traditional cultural rite known as “Doro rekuchenerusa Nyika”, is a beer ceremony to cleanse the nation (of the blood spilt during the war), has been practiced since the 9th century, following several succession and civil wars that occurred during the reigns of the Munhumutapas of Zimbabwe.
Archaeological excavations dating back to archaic times at Great Zimbabwe of pottery shards with beer sediment in the bases of some pots, attest to the practice of brewing beer to mark the various cycles of human progress. It was, and is, an integral component of African agronomical, cultural and ritual ceremonies throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Beer pots reflected in the pre-historic friezes of rock art also testify to the long tradition of beer brewing industry in Zimbabwe. According to Dr. Tony Monda, a cultural expert in Shona culture and post-colonial heritage, the archaeological discovery of pottery shards dating from the Iron Age illustrates that Bushmen drank to be transported into trances and get visions which sometimes resulted in the elongated figures depicted on the walls of the caves.
The rite of beer brewing and offering is an integral part of many indigenous African cultural way of life, including Zimbabwean, from birth to death. Ample amounts of traditional beer are also consumed during a traditional gata – a ceremony held after one’s demise, to ascertain the cause of death, akin to an autopsy.
Small grain varieties such as zviyo, mapfunde/imfe (sweet reed grain), finger millet, rapoko, maize meal upfu, and rukweza (sorghum), are the main ingredients used in the brewing of various traditional beers. The grains mainly chimera, are soaked in water in a clay pot – hari, until they begin to sprout. After draining the grain isspread out to germinate and dry in the sun and subsequently ground into a meal which is mixed with maize meal into a light paste. Cold water for the requisite viscosity is added and brought to the boil stirringcontinuously.
The brew is kept in cool dark place to allow the mixture to ferment for 1-2 days according to taste and potency. The process can be repeated several times until it is accepted, or rejected, by the spirits usually after 10 days.
The brewing of bee ris usually undertaken by woman past child bearing age or young virgin girls not menstruating at the time – “Aasatiayenda kumwedzi” (not gone to the moon), or a spirit medium who abides to the conventions pertaining to the laws that apply to the brewing of spiritual beer.
Traditional beer is consumed as a means of communicating communal solidarity and cohesiveness and as a celebration of the renewal of nature. Human progress is attributed to the annual beer offering, known as “kupiravadzimu/ukuthethelaamadhlozi”, which is a libation for the deceased ancestors.
Despite the proliferation of foreign western colonial religions that have taken root in Zimbabwe, many spirit mediums have continued to voice that Zimbabwe’s socio-economic stability can only be fully realized following the placation of the countless wandering spirits of unknown soldiers and those innumerable innocent villagers and children that died in the crossfire and are buried in mass graves such as those in Chibondo, Chimoyo and Nyadzonya and others that are yet to be exhumed identified and.
Spiritually it can be said:“HatisatitabvakuHondo” – Our nation has not returned from the war. African traditions (Chivanhu), cannot be erased by a white chalk duster from a blackboard; nor deleted from a smartphone or internet system. Indigenous culture is not virtual reality, it is a living tradition.
As a matter of fact, African traditional knowledge and culture has guided the building of many ancient African civilisations from Egypt to MaDzimbahwe; exemplified in the Courts of Munhumutapas that was at one time in our history a world renowned commercial, industrial and cultural megapolis.
According to Dr. Monda: “Cultural restitution is paramount for the renaissance of Africa, particularly in post-colonial Zimbabwe that has yet to come to terms with its decolonisation and self-discovery.As a result, over 40 years following the end of the War of Liberation, our nation is still in a state of spiritual and cultural catalepsy”.
Although traditional African beer when consumed in excess, has brought about its fair share of societal problemssuch as prostitution, delinquency and disrespect in youths and broken homes, especially in urban communities, it is an integral and essential part of African hunhu/ubuntu in traditional customsfor communal gatherings, discussions, planning, providing social cohesion.Its secular role in community co-operation cannot be discounted.
Several indigenous rites necessitate the brewing and offerings of traditional beer as libation for ritual gatherings, from the first beer brewed to thank the ancestors for the birth of a child – Doro re matendera/Doro re kuzvarwakwemwana, and the child naming beer known as “DororeKupazita”; including amongst others, “Doro reHurudza” as harvest thanksgiving, beer to invoke rain known as “Doro remakoto/doro remapfuwhe/ doro reMvura”. Beer is also brewed to receive blessings from ancestors through invocation. Each beer has its specific rite or occasion at which it should be drunk by the community.
Being a patriot of all things Zimbabwe, I found it necessary to write about the role of traditional beer for the appeasement of those who died in the war for the liberation of Zimbabwe.
Often derided as an inferior belief system in public fora, African traditional knowledge has become a major academic discipline in many foreign universities and cultural institutions from Illinois University to University of Washington and Smithsonian Institution in the USA, Oxford University in the UK, to Uppsala University in Sweden, to Beijing University in China, which attests to its importance for the understanding of contemporary times.
It is incumbent therefore, for our leaders to heed the words of our sages if we are to end the state of spiritual catalepsy responsible for the annualrecurring cycles of unpredictable weather, crop pestilence and failures, livestock diseases, mal-and-undernutrition, national unemployment, social dissolution, youth disrespect,corruption and the general socio-economic decline and inertia, (even the COVID-19 pandemic currently afflicting the globe), that has characterised the nation for almost 4 decades, if we are to achieve a middle-income society envisioned for Vision 2030.
Perhaps “Doro re kuchenerusaNyika” is the answer; after all, spirit mediums guided the fighters and brewed the beers that won the war for our independence. We have nothing to lose!
Dr. Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian Researcher and Industrial Designer. She is a published author in her field. For Comments E-mail: linamanucci@gmail.com
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