THEMES OF THE SYMBOLIC MILAYO

The milayo of the chief's thondo, of vhutuka, the almost obsolete boys' puberty school, and even of sungwi, the girls' school imported from the Northern Sotho, are much concerned with comparisons between familiar objects in the domestic environment and features of the animal world. In the case of thondo and vhutuka, this might be explained by their close association with the world of men, and with the former role of hunting in the Venda economy.

In the milayo of the girls' schools, the same and similar objects from the domestic world are compared with parts of the human body, and in particular with different aspects of the relationship of the sexes. The shoulder blade and elbow are compared with parts of an axe; the eyelashes, the gums, the ribs, the bones, the blood, the flesh, the hand, the heels, the private parts, are compared with parts of the council hut, the public courtyard and the drums. A hut or courtyard, when closed, can refer to both a virgin and a pregnant woman; when open, they refer to intercourse or child-birth. Different arrangements of gate poles refer respectively to an impotent or potent man.

Similarly, animals and features of the natural environment are compared with the world of human beings. The water in a river pool is called a child in the womb, and when it flows out it refers to its birth. Several different similes are used to refer to sexual intercourse and the sexual characteristics of men, menstruating women, and old women.

Just as the same domestic objects may be given different names in different initiation schools, so in milayo of the same school, the same human characteristic may be compared with many different objects, according to the context of the set of milayo. Thus, in the contexts of the milayo of the ngoma drum and the thahu, a baby's fontanelle is respectively either the shaven centre of the drumskin or the centre of the top of the thahu. The penis is an arrow, the horn of a rhinoceros, the path to the council hut, the hinge-pin on its door, or the leg with which a man steps into a river.

Besides serving as passwords, the milayo clearly reinforce some of the lessons of initiation by reiterating certain themes and compelling young people to become more conscious of their bodies and their new roles in society.

I shall not discuss here their symbolism in relation to other aspect of Venda society. But before presenting them, I wish to raise one point which might be investigated further.

Although as I have said, masters of initiation may present the milayo of domba in different sequences, they usually try to follow the pattern of a journey, and may even begin, "Ndo bva nga yo tswukaho " (I went out along the red path). This refers to the redness both of the soil and of menstrual blood. It is not unreasonable to postulate that the milayo were intended to follow in these 'journeys' a logical sequence of events which could be related to the novice's passage through initiation. This was very evident in the milayo of one master of initiation whom I heard on numerous occasions, and who seemed to have the best knowledge in Vendaland. He was fortunate to have been taught by his aged and distinguished father, who had been blind for many years and has since died.

This man always began with the milayo for the beginning of domba, mavhavhe, havha and dadashanga; then he usually moved on to ludodo, and to the river, where he gave some of the milayo of vhusha. Then he took the 'path' to the public meeting-place (khoro), dealt with the drums and the domba fire, and moved into the council hut, where he gave more milayo of vhusha and those for thahu. He often stopped at this point; but if he continued, his sequence varied on each occasions. Other masters followed much the same order, but they tended to omit the beginning of domba and to place ludodo and/or the river milayo after those for the meeting-place and the council hut.

I have suggested that vhusha and domba belonged to the pre-conquest clans of Vendaland, that their function changed when they were 'nationalised' by the present ruling clans, and that a third school, tshikanda, was added as a prelude to domba. I now suggest that vhusha may have originally been part of domba, and that it subsequently became a separate rite when domba was nationalised and its scope expanded. This would be in keeping with the tendency of initiation to develop from local rites associated with the physiological change of individuals, to inter-district schools concerned with the association and subsequent marriage of groups of youths of roughly the same age.

I give here the milayo as they are often presented at domba. Although this is not necessarily the order in which they are first encountered, it is that in which they are most often heard, and is convenient for purposes of analysis. The milayo of vhusha refer chiefly to the council hut, where most of the dancing and instruction take place, and to which right of entry depends on knowing the milayo of the doorway. Similarly, important domba activities are held in the public meeting-place (khoro), and the appropriate milayo of entry must be known. The headings under which the milayo are grouped are often used by the Venda themselves.