drums, the petit, seconde, and maman, which are
accompanied by the ogan, or a piece of iron that
is beaten during the rhythm.
Tiffany D. PogueSeealsoVodou in Benin
Further Readings
Deren, M. (1983/2004).Divine Horsemen:The Living
Gods of Haiti. Kingston, NY: McPherson.
Dunham, K. (1983).Dances of Haiti. Los Angeles:
UCLA Center for Afro-American Studies.
Fleurant, G. (1987).The Ethnomusicology of Yanvalou:
A Study of the Rada Rite of Haiti. Unpublished
doctoral dissertation, Tufts University, Medford, MA.
YAO
The Yao are a major African people in the south-
eastern part of the continent. Their population
spans southern Malawi, portions of Mozambique,
and parts of Tanzania and Zambia. According to
their oral traditions, the Yao are descended from
people who left an area around a mountain that
was called Yao, located east of Lake Malawi, in
the 9th century because of famine and moved
westward to the shores of Lake Malawi. By 2008,
there were nearly 3 million Yao living in southern
Africa.
The Yao’s philosophy and culture have become
intertwined with the extremely bountiful area in
which they live. Lake Malawi is in the Great Rift
Valley, and in some places it is one of the deepest
lakes in Africa. The lake is the third largest lake in
the continent and has more species of fish than
any inland body of water anywhere in the world.
More than 500 types of fish live in Lake Malawi.
Given the fact that the Shire River flows from the
lake and joins the mighty Zambezi River, the Yao
people are often said to be the heartbeat of Africa.
The magnificent landscape surrounding the lake
creates rich proverbs, poetry, and rituals.
Although the Yao are mainly farmers, many are
also fishermen, and some are callednegociantes,
that is, traveling salespersons, by the Mozambicans.
This is because historically the Yao also traveled to
the Indian Ocean coast to negotiate with Chinese,
Indian, Portuguese, and Arab traders.
Years of interaction with the outside world
have influenced the culture of the Yao to some
extent, yet they retain the core values of their
ancestors. For example, although many Yao are
now Muslims, the Yao tradition tends to be matri-
lineal as opposed to patrilineal. Thus, a group of
sisters and their families may live with an elder
brother or uncle and consider him their leader.
Loyalty to the matrilineal family is greater in these
cases than any loyalty to the “nuclear” family. It
follows, therefore, that marriage would also be
matrilocal, that is, a husband must live in the
wife’s town. This means that the husbands are
considered strangers until their children grow to
maturity and the people accept them as a part of
the new family. Of course, due to the practice of
Islam, many of the Yao men have more than one
wife. This obviously makes life quite complex.
A leader serves over the matrilineal group.
Sometimes a leader might exercise power over
many matrilineages. Of course, someone who exer-
cises authority over a number of leaders is a king.
The king is the traditional authority over a limited
area identified with the matrilineages he serves.
The Yao celebrate two important holidays. The
first is called Unyago, which involves children
ages 7 to 12, where the boys are circumcised, and
the boys and girls are taught by gender what it
means to be Yao. During the entire ceremony,
where people are dressed up to enjoy themselves,
the initiated children are not to smile. Their family
members may sing, dance, laugh, and enjoy drinks
and food, but the initiated must remain in control
of their wants and desires. Although the initiated
children remain unsmiling and somber, other
children and adults bring them money and gifts.
A second important celebration among the Yao
is called theSialaand relates to the birthday of
Mohammed. According to the oral historians, this
holiday came into existence during the Arab Slave
Trade in Mozambique and Malawi and gained its
greatest adherents during the 19th century. As
negociantes, the Yao had traded with the Arabs in
ivory, gunpowder, tobacco, and even human
beings. When there was a backlash against these
practices by Yao traditionalists and some
Christians, the Yao elite who had profited from
the trade with the Arabs converted to Islam in an734 Yao