The Lovedu’s mythic and historical traditions throw
light upon this structural transformation of the ideal twin
model. A very long time ago, Princess Dzugudini, the daugh-
ter of the king of Monomotapa, bore a son, Muhale, to her
uterine brother. Their mother kept their secret, stole her hus-
band’s rain medicine, and gave it to her daughter, who fled
southward with her young son. With some supporters, they
reached the Lovedu land, where Muhale, who had brought
fire along, founded a kingdom. The incestuous uterine cou-
ple are thus closely associated with the ritual couple formed
by a son (keeper of fire) and mother (supplier of rain medi-
cine). The Swazi have simply combined these two images to
present the queen mother as her son’s twin sister. Succession
in the Lovedu royal house later came into the hands of
women. The first queen was born out of incest between a
king and his daughter. Even though the model for perpetuat-
ing sacred kingship through the union of a brother and his
uterine sister (ideally between twins of the opposite sex) has
shifted agnatically, the Lovedu did not adopt the Venda solu-
tion. Their rain queen reigns alone but reputedly has inter-
course with a brother in order to bear an heiress.
Lovedu traditions have kept alive the incestuous mar-
riage of sacred chiefs in the ancient Karanga civilization. The
king of Monomotapa reigned with Mazarira, his sister and
wife. A later account (Frobenius) states that, in ancient Zim-
babwe, Mazarira was the monarch’s own mother. The heir
apparent lived in incest with a sister who became his princi-
pal wife with the name Mwiza (in Monomotapa, Nabwiza).
When enthroned along with her brother, she lit the new ritu-
al fire for her keeping.
Unlike the Venda one, the Karanga founding myth does
not mention a primordial monarchy of the Sun and Moon
twins. Moon, the first king, emerged from the primeval wa-
ters. For two years he lived chastely with Morning Star, who
brought him fire and bore vegetation before being taken back
by Mwari, the supreme being. Moon received a second wife,
Evening Star, who invited him to have sexual intercourse.
She bore mankind and animals. Moon became “ruler”
(mambo) over a large population. Two years later, Evening
Star left him to go live with Snake, master of the rains. When
Moon tried to take her back, Snake bit him. Moon pined
away. Rain stopped falling. His children strangled him and
buried him with Evening Star who had decided to die with
him. After that the children chose a new king. This myth
perfectly illustrates the cosmological function of sacred king-
ship, here under the sign of the moon. Having lost his power
over nature, the weakened king was condemned to an early
death. The rulers of Monomotapa were killed whenever they
showed the least physical failing, whether sickness or impo-
tence. The following ceremony clearly associated them with
the moon. At the rising of the new moon, the king had to
mock fight invisible enemies in the presence of the realm’s
dignitaries. According to several accounts, the sacred chiefs
of the Karanga and related peoples were eliminated after
reigning either two or four years. In the myth, this period
corresponds to the Venusian cycle. Mwiza represents Venus,
the morning star. Recall that Mwiza was surrounded by
chaste, dry princesses. They greeted the first rising of the
morning star. On the other hand, the second group of humid
princesses, who had intercourse with the snake spirit of the
waters, probably had to do with the evening star.
This cosmological system obviously differs from the
Venda’s, even though the Karanga origins of the Venda king-
dom are beyond doubt. In charge of the rains, Karanga and
Venda kings are related to aquatic snake spirits. In the Venda
myth, both Venusian wives belonged to Python, but only the
daytime one could be with her husband whenever he smoked
(i.e., used fire). The morning/evening star opposition exists
but is concealed. Moreover, the Venda sovereign was not
lunar. The first king was none other than Sun, whom Python
vomited out. Present-day rulers proclaim to be descended
from Raluvhumba, who controls thunderbolts and is sym-
bolized by the eagle. The thunderbird’s role in Karanga royal
cosmogony needs to be better known. Thomas Huffman, an
archaeologist, has suggested that Zimbabwe’s famous stone
birds represent successive rulers in the form of fish eagles. In
old Zimbabwe, this brightly feathered bird was the mediator
between humanity and Mwari, the celestial demiurge and
congener of the Venda Raluvhumba. Recall that the Hung-
we, whose name literally means “fish eagle,” brought fire to
the destitute folk ruled by the aquatic Madzivoa. The com-
plementarity of the eagle and serpent restores the fundamen-
tal opposition between fire and water.
Two diverging traditions relate the origin of fire, the ce-
lestial symbol of sovereignty. The Venda king is apparently
associated with the second. He went ahead of Raluvhumba
when the latter appeared on earth as a big, thundering flame.
The stick that the king uses to stir his porridge is called “the
fire lighter.”
Whereas the Karanga moon kings were killed after they
reigned a short time (or whenever their physical forces failed,
as in Monomotapa), the Venda kings enjoy long lives provid-
ed they do not have children after enthronement. They have
to take a drug that inhibits their sexuality. Comparisons with
central Africa lead to the conclusion that this practice aims
at containing the king’s dangerous, almost sorcerous, magical
power. Among the Pende in Zaire, some sacred chiefs are
forced to refrain from sexual intercourse after taking office.
Lovedu ritual ascribes power over the rains to a secretly inces-
tuous queen who had to commit suicide. It has its place in
the same system of symbolic transformations, which goes
back to a common ideology.
THE RITUAL COMPLEX OF CIRCUMCISION. Neither the Ka-
ranga nor the Shona practice circumcision. However, all ac-
counts agree that this custom and its related initiation are a
time-honored institution among the Sotho and Tswana, who
have passed it on to the Lovedu, Venda, and Tsonga. Girls’
puberty rites usually correspond to male circumcision. Girls
undergo a pretended circumcision that amounts to slightly
cutting the clitoris (Lovedu) or upper leg (Tswana) or toSOUTHERN AFRICAN RELIGIONS: SOUTHERN BANTU RELIGIONS 8665