June 25: Mozambican Independence Day

Mozambique actually celebrates two independence days.  September 25 commemorates the day in 1964 that Eduardo Mondlane proclaimed the beginning of the armed struggle for independence from Portugal.  June 25 commemorates the day in 1975 when Mozambique was finally declared an independent nation.  

This past Wednesday we celebrated the latter.  For many people in Zobue the day is simply an excuse to drink all day, but the day was also full other activities.  Classes were canceled and everyone gathered in the town square for cultural dances and presentations.  Groups from the primary and secondary schools performed, but to me the most interesting was the dance of the Nyau.

The Nyau (sorry I have no idea how to spell that) are a part of the Chewa culture, a cultural group that exists in Northern Tete province and most of Malawi.  My impression is that it is like a secret society of men from the community who meet in secret to perform certain ceremonies.  They dress up in different costumes and come out during funerals to chase people in the town.  Everyone in the town has to run and hide from them as a form of respect. I’ve been told that the Nyau will beat people who don’t run from them.  And I believe it—they carry machetes, whips, and tree branches.  For those of you at home who are terrified for me, I’ve also been told that they won’t beat me up because I’m not part of the Chewa culture.  I believe them, but when everyone else around me is running, I run too.  Better safe than sorry.

One afternoon there was a funeral near my classroom and there were many Nyau roaming the street.  I was giving a test that day and it kept getting interrupted by people running into my classroom to hide from the Nyau.  Another time I was walking with Seni and Romao and we saw a large Nyau yelling and brandishing his machete on the road ahead of us.  We had to hide behind someone’s house and cut through a few random yards to avoid facing the Nyau.

Every time I’ve seen the Nyau around town I’ve been too scared to take a picture.  I haven’t known if it is allowed and am afraid I will break some cultural taboo.  On Wednesday, they came to do a dance presentation during the Independence Day festivities and luckily we were told photos were allowed.  I got some great video of them dancing as well, but unfortunately can’t upload it until I get some better internet. 

To a lot of people, the Nyau sound very scary.  When I first heard about them I thought, wow, I hope I don’t get placed in a region of Mozambique where they are.  But here I am in Zobue where the Nyau are fairly common.  When we first came to Zobue, I was afraid of them because I didn’t understand them and wasn’t familiar with them.  Now, I am more used to them and see them more as an interesting part of the local culture than as something scary.