Lomwe

The Lomwe people live in the northern provinces of Mozambique in a ribbon that stretches westward into Malawi. They are closely related to a [Page 383]cluster of people called the Makhuwa who live to the north. According to their traditions, the Lomwe originated in northern Mozambique and have no further origin myths. Thus, they are not said to have emigrated from the North or the South. However, some scholars believe that they probably came from the Rift Valley regions farther north on the African continent sometime over the past 1,000 years.

Much of the Lomwe culture is dependent on the climate, environment, and animals found in their region. They are peasant farmers, for the most part, who do not have large towns or villages. Their villages tend to be based on the family compound and are related to the harvesting of food. The climate is tropical with hottest temperatures being in November-December and the lowest temperatures being in June-July. The rains come in October and last until March.

Given this type of weather and climate, the Lomwe have come to rely on the consistency of the weather for planting and harvesting, as well as for the construction of houses out of the mud bricks reinforced by grass. Having adapted well to the environment, the rural Lomwe usually cook in kitchens that are outside and not inside the house. They eat corn that can be pounded into powder and served as cakes once it is cooked. They usually season this food with greens and peanuts or chicken. The Lomwe have developed a stable approach to their natural environment through many years of political and social instability.

The Lomwe believe in a Supreme Being who is the creator of all things on the Earth. However, the ancestors and the spirits of the Earth are held to control their ordinary and daily activities. These are spirits that may be influenced by people's actions or inactions. They are not manipulated, as some Western writers have inferred, no more than the Western God is manipulated by humans praying or having worship ceremonies; the deities, spirits, and ancestors are appealed to on the basis of human needs and desires. They must be remembered in daily or annual ceremonies as a form of piety.

For example, children must be obedient to their parents, respectful of the rituals, and diligent in remembering the ancestors to be well thought of within the Lomwe society. All children belong to the matrilineal line because a child belongs to his uncle and his mother's uncle, not to his father or his father's family. In this way, the Lomwe retain the matrilineality that one sees in a majority of African families.