following is an example of a cleansing ceremony recorded by Dundas.74 In the first step, the unclean person gathers the necessary ingredients: the skin, dung, and stomach contents of a hyrax, the skin and blood of a monkey, the shell and blood of a snail, certain herbs, the tail of a lizard, the skin of a gazelle, the blood of a female sheep, rainwater taken from a hollow tree in the forest, fresh water drawn from a spring in the early morning, two black sugarcane stalks, and fresh mbege. Then the specialist arrives, along with other members of the clan and family. The specialist digs a hollow in which to mix the ingredients and then makes two gateways of sugar cane. As the people gathered pass through the gateways, the specialist dips his gnu tail into the mixture, brushes the people, and says while facing Kibo, “The evil and uncleanness become gentile as these that you will not be tormented again.” He then sprinkles the liquid over their heads to imitate rain. The specialist repeats this the next four days, in both the morning and evening. Following the last performance, everyone gathers the remaining liquid and casts it into a river while saying, “The evil and sin and uncleanness which comes from us go with this river. The water of this river carry it to the plain.”75
This purification ceremony illustrates the significance of water in these types of rituals. The unclean person gathers two distinctly pure forms of water, one from the forest (the home of the spirits) and another from a spring in the early morning. The water serves as the base of a medicine used first to anoint the person and his or her family, second to simulate rainfall (which implies the bringing of new life), and third to carry the evil from the vihamba to the plains. Water therefore assumes several functions: it cleanses the individual of evil, it brings that person life or rebirth, and it extracts evil to its rightful domain, the plains. The properties of water inherent in ceremonies such as purification appear in various adages, further demonstrating the significance of spiritual knowledge of water in daily life. One of these is mringa uwore mbaka voo, “water brings no harm.” The adage implies that if a destructive event such as a flood occurs, it is the product of either intervention by a malevolent spirit or desire by Ruwa to purify the landscape. As a gift from Ruwa, water itself can bring only good unless it is tampered with.
The management of water also figured centrally in education and initiation practices. These were social rituals that defined people in relation to those around them, conferring upon them social status and community membership. Through its placement in these rites, water marked various stages of transition for individuals as they progressed to adulthood. Its cleansing and curative properties contributed to the rebirth of the person at various stages in life. In his 1940 study of childhood on Kilimanjaro, Otto Raum defined education as “the relationship between members of successive generations.”76 In the era before mission schools, children received education by listening to and learning from their elders, following elders’ instructions and examples. These interactions took place in many different contexts (within the home, at the home of an elder or specialist, on the grounds of the kihamba, in the forests, etc.) and could involve one-on-one instruction, group instruction, or hands-on training in everything from speaking and cooking to religion and farming.77
As a vital resource, water was a prominent theme in childhood education. From an early age, children learned the nature and significance of the water sources around them from their parents and elders. They were taught to respect the physical sources as well as the spiritual forces that gave them vitality and continuity with their ancestors. As children entered adolescence, they learned the processes associated with procurement and distribution. Girls learned from their mothers how to collect water, from where, and when, while boys learned how to irrigate, as well as the responsibilities of canal construction and maintenance. The adolescents also came to understand much about the world around them, politically and socially, through the concept of water. These lessons together created adults who would continue this physical and social system well after the death of their elders.
The lessons taught to children about the importance of water began at an early age. As soon as they could walk, they heard stories, fables, and tales designed to instill proper behavior and respect. Leoni Motesha, from Mkuu Rombo, recalled such a fable from her childhood involving a wolf and a goat:
The two were the best of friends, until the goat had two children. Then the wolf began to use every trick possible to eat one of them. Near their homes was a small pool that most animals used for taking water. One day the wolf went to Mr. Lion, the chairman of the animals, and told him that the goat children were spoiling the water by swimming in it. The lion decided to charge the wolf with standing guard over the water. One evening the two goat children came to the pool to take some water. The wolf ran to them, caught one, and ate him. The other child went home and told her mother that the wolf had eaten her brother. The mother goat went to the lion and told him to arrest the wolf because he had killed one of her children. The lion responded by saying that it was her punishment because her children had spoiled the water. The mother goat returned home, crying all the way, and from that day the goat and the wolf became enemies.78
Stories such as these drew on the power of negative reinforcement. By showing the misfortune of one family caused by children swimming in a water source, this story intends to frighten small children away from unacceptable conduct. Wilhelm Maunga, also from Mkuu, recalled a similar story that also involved animals:
There once was a pool for all the animals. That is, except for the hare, because he refused to give his labor when they constructed it. The hare always came and took water and then spoiled the rest by swimming in it. The wild animals chose the monkey to guard the water. The hare used a trick and took a bottle of honey and asked the monkey to let him have some water in exchange for some honey. The monkey agreed, so the hare gave him honey. The monkey tasted it and said, “It is very sweet, give me another one.” The hare told him that he would if he could tie the monkey’s legs together. The monkey agreed, and the hare tied his legs. But the hare didn’t give him any honey. Instead he filled his pot and spoiled the water. The next morning the other animals came to the pool. They were very annoyed to find the monkey’s legs all tied up and the water spoiled. The animals punished the monkey and never let him guard the pool again.79
This story draws on imagery similar to that of the first, but its moral is different. The antagonist is the hare, who commits a number of transgressions: not participating in the construction of the pool, stealing water, and fouling the watercourse. Yet the monkey, who is susceptible to the trickery of the hare, is blamed. The moral is that children should strive to be like neither. In other words, they should keep the waters clean while being vigilant and smart in protecting water from the actions of others. Fables and stories of these sort were common across the mountain. In Kilema, for example, a common fable threatened children by telling them that if they urinated in a watercourse, their mothers would be swept away with the waters to the plains, never to be seen or heard from again.80
As children grew older, they became more interested in water management because of its association with adulthood. Young boys mimicked the work of elders, using sticks to create small channels to drain water from puddles. Raum noted the following example of boys creating their own miniature mifongo:
One sees boys come out after a heavy shower and look for a pool. Squatting down at its edge they begin to challenge one another: “Who can make a canal that would drain the pool?” Every boy begins to dig a canal. The unskillful is laughed at and called a woman. If all are equally successful, they shout with glee: “Who isn’t a man?”81
Children gained more responsibilities with water as they approached adolescence. Girls learned from their mothers the skill of procuring water for the household. This required teaching about the sources available at various times of year and about how to choose the best water for a given purpose. As girls took over responsibility for collecting water for the home, they freed up their mothers to perform other labor such as tending crops and brewing. Boys began to learn more about the importance of the canals. Elders taught young boys that the canals were part of their heritage left by their ancestors. In his book on Chagga education, R. Sambuli Mosha noted
