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61-478: The postal code for Mbagala Ward is 15114 . The ward is divided into the following neighborhoods ( Mitaa ): Like every other ward in the country, the ward has local government offices based on the population served. The Mbagala Ward administration building houses a court as per the Ward Tribunal Act of 1988, including other vital departments for the administration of the ward. The ward has

122-944: A Bantu ethnic group native to the central eastern coast of Tanzania , particularly Dar es Salaam Region and Pwani Region . They are the largest ethnic group in and around Dar es Salaam , the former capital of Tanzania and the 7th largest city in Africa. Estimated to be about 0.7 million people, over 98% of them are Muslims , more specifically the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam. Zaramo people are considered influential in Tanzania popular culture, with musical genres like Sengeli originating from their community in Kinondoni District. Their culture and history have been shaped by their dwelling in both urban and rural landscapes. The original Zaramo language, sometimes called Kizaramo ,

183-729: A hodiernal tense . The Mwera people have had a Traditional Religion that existed through the 19th century. With the arrival of the German colonial rule of Tanzania, the German Christian missionaries introduced Christianity among the Mwera, and gained converts. However, after the World War I, the British colonial rule of Tanzania began, which expelled all German missionaries. The Mwera missions were abandoned, Islamic missionaries filled

244-472: A liwali . The British first established a Township Authority made up of selected Europeans and Asians before experimenting with a number of "native administrations." The town was made into a separate district and divided into six wards, one under each elder. Finally, in 1941, the Township Authority received a native affairs sub-committee and its first African members. These measures included making

305-411: A Zaramo headman the chief of the entire township, establishing a council of six elders, each of whom represented a grouping of tribes from one direction, and making the town a separate district. Population increase altered Dar es Salaam's entire character. Many Zaramo settlements, particularly Buguruni, were subsumed by the shanty cities the immigrants established. Magomeni had a population density that

366-458: A girl's female power and her fertility. A girl has a reproductive cycle within society-one that starts with her first menses, continues to her initiation, marriage, birth of her children, and finally ends with the puberty of her grandchildren, at which point her reproductive cycle is over. The girl novice, also called mwali, is secluded in her mother's house for anywhere between two weeks and one year. Earlier documentation states that this process in

427-928: A higher importance being placed upon sufficient grave marking. Traditional Zaramo grave figures have a variety of names: mwana hiti (no longer in contemporary use,) nguzo za makaburi (translated to "grave posts,") mashahidi wa makaburi (translated to "grave witness.") These figures are considered witnesses or representation of the deceased. Mwana hiti grave figures are separate from mwana hiti initiation figures, and were mainly used for headmen or chief graves. Sometimes grave markers are created as marionette-like, wooden puppets called motto wa bandia to become mnemonic honorary devices. Staffs, aside from their use as walking supports, are used as ritual aids, titular symbols, and representations of power. Specific staffs are usual signifiers of chiefs, diviners, and linguists. Literally translated to "small stick," kifimbo staffs are small staffs used mainly for military authority. It

488-475: A large number of homes. However, it is noteworthy that neither Shomvi nor Zaramo had much real estate because Dar es Salaam's explosive growth from humble beginnings had engulfed both native groups. Nobody took Shomvi and Zaramo seriously when they both occasionally asserted that they "owned" the town. Shomvi were primarily fishermen, while Zaramo, who came from a less developed educational region, were "very submerged"—a characteristic that set Dar es Salaam apart from

549-664: A result of Zaramo's disregard. Resources for resistance were offered by indigenous religious organizations like the Kubandwa Cult and the Uwuxala Society. Long-established populations were not always opposed to Christianity, though. Only eleven of the 150–200 waalimu in Uzaramo were reported to be able to interpret the Koran rather than merely recite it in 1912, when it was claimed that students at Koran schools learned

610-547: Is Bantu , belonging to the Niger-Congo family of languages. However, in contemporary Tanzania, only a few speak it, and most speak Swahili language as their first language, as it is the trading language of the East African coast and the national language of Tanzania. Kizaramo is still used in many Zaramo rituals, such as the mwali rites, though they often appear alongside Swahili translations. By oral tradition,

671-441: Is a physically strenuous task, which is the main reason a woman may retire from the practice. Good clay is the most essential part of Zaramo pottery, with many potters choosing to mix several types of clay to achieve maximum durability through the firing process. A pottery wheel is not used; instead, "pinch pot" techniques (generally for smaller vessels) and coiling methods (generally for larger vessels) are used. After being formed,

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732-434: Is continued into death, in which the spirits of the dead, mizimu , only bring misfortune upon the living. Illness, death, infertility, and poor agriculture can all be attributed to the spitefulness of mizimu. Tambiko are funeral rites where the family clean the grave and offer food and drink to each other and the deceased. Sometimes a temporary hut is built around the grave to act as a shrine. After Tanzanian independence in

793-663: Is directly correlated to that of chiefs in Tanzania. By the early-mid-20th century, much of Zaramo pottery consisted of internal creations and imports from Europe, Japan, and India. Most of Zaramo pottery consists of ceramic water jars and earthenware cooking pots and dishes. Pottery is generally made for kitchen-use, thus resulting in two main types/uses: vessels for liquid (narrow-rimmed) and vessels for cooking and serving food (open and curved rims.) Cooking dishes may range from 5-12 inches in diameter and 2-3 inches in height, usually topped with an open, flared rim. General cooking pots are called chungu, while dishes made specifically for

854-444: Is either held in the hand or tucked between the upper arm and the torso. Kifimbo hold no functional use, and are considered purely symbolic. Traditional kome staffs are tall staffs made from blackwood ( mpingo ) and are carved to possess animal and human (women) decoration. Mwana hiti were common top decorations before Tanzanian independence. Kome staffs are typically associated with chief power, and so their decreased presence

915-488: Is important to Zaramo agriculture because it can grow with very little rain. For Zaramo people who live on the coast, fishing is also popular for both personal consumption and trade. Some Zaramo may also choose to brew beer, make charcoal, or dig for copal for a living. Those with specialized professions, mafundi , or as healers and diviners, mganga , rarely work those positions full time, often working agriculturally to supplement. The independence of Tanganyika in 1961 and

976-401: Is impossible to raise cattle. They get most of their meat from hunting and fishing. Cashew nuts are the main cash crop but marketing charcoal is good income too for those living within 20 kilometers of coastal cities. The Mwera are a matrilineal society in which marriage requires the husband to move to the wife's premises. The children are named after the mother's brother, the maternal uncle who

1037-618: Is notable, and is called a Luliimba . This device is notable because its design and construction features are strikingly similar to Saron found in Southeast Asia and South Asia, suggesting a possible historic cultural exchange between the coastal southern Africa and the coastal southeast Asia. It is unclear if the exchange was from Africa to Asia, or vice versa. The Mwera area is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Tanzania with only ten people per square kilometer. Rainfall

1098-456: Is present) or white beads as jewelry. Mwali hiti are meant to spark a "nurturing consciousness" within the mwali to instill a desire to have children. They also act as the main socializing for the mwali during her seclusion, measuring her skills as a future mother and teaching her the responsibilities of womanhood (i.e. taking care of oneself and children.) Mwali must treat the mwana hiti as her child, bathing it, oiling it, dressing

1159-425: Is seen as a job that complements the agricultural and domestic responsibilities assigned to women. Apart from most of Africa, Zaramo women do not sell their pottery in markets, instead operating on an order/commission system. While any women may choose to practice pottery, many women are taught by older relatives when they are mwali , a time when girls are secluded in the home and normally learn domestic skills. Pottery

1220-473: Is simpler to map out Islam's political stance by the 1950s. Not only was it growing almost as quickly as Christianity, but Muslims also appeared to be adhering to their religion more rigidly than before. However, a lot of cultural resistance endured. Few Zaramo Muslims frequented mosques, and their female rituals remained largely non-Islamic. Urban Islam was occasionally quite superficial, notably in Dar es Salaam. Even

1281-440: Is termed as nhulu or "growth." The initiation process takes place during the dry season and about once every three years. Each novice, mwali, have a designated instructor, mhunga, who guides the youth through the circumcision process, teaches Zaramo sex lore and practice. Once the mwali are circumcised, they are brought to an initiation hut, kumbi, where they are taught, and then are not permitted to bathe for two weeks. Once

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1342-402: Is then carried to a mkole tree where is circumcised as well by an operator, or mnhunga. She is then returned to her family and she is celebrated with an mbwelo dance. Mwana Hiti figures may also be referred to as mwana nya kiti, mwana nya nhiti, or mwana mkongo. These names stem from mwana, meaning "child," and nya kiti and nya nhiti meaning "wood" and "chair." Mkongo refers to

1403-428: Is very light and the rivers flowing through their homeland dry up during the dry season forcing people to depend on waterholes for their normal supply of water. "Mwera" is a word which means "those living in the mainland" far from the coast. Generally Mwera are known to be very peaceful. They live in small oval-shaped huts with grass thatched roofs. Building a Mwera house is a family project. The men cut poles for framing

1464-610: The Belgian Congo branch and the son of slave parents, was one of the committee members. He also had a significant home. Two notable leaders were from the Zaramo: Ramadhani Ali, the first vice-president and a trader, and Ali Saidi, a building inspector who served as the association's treasurer during the 1930s. Both later served as leaders of the Wazaramo Union, with Ramadhani Ali serving as King of

1525-678: The Ruvuma River between Tanzania and Mozambique . According to their oral traditions , the Mwera people are a Bantu people who originated around Lake Albert in north Uganda . They migrated south in the late medieval era, and reached Lake Malawi (Nyasa). There they settled into two communities: the Mwera near Nyasa, and the coastal Mwera, who settled between the Lake and the Indian Ocean coast. The word "Mwera" literally means "inland dwellers" (far from coast). Those Mwera who live on

1586-463: The mwali are allowed to bathe again, their mothers in the village hold a village dance, mbiga. After eight more days the mwali return to the village and their instructors burn the kumbi and anything else related to the initiation. The mwali are now men of society and celebrate with mlao, a dance of emergence. Female initiation begins with a girl's first menses. The rituals associated with female initiation are performed to protect and enrich

1647-570: The mwana hiti can also double as a tambiko , or "sacrifice," as a means to create stronger ties with the spiritual world. Men are the carvers of mwana hiti , many creating reputations for their highly sought after figures. Mwana hiti are only commissioned, and there cannot be more than one figure commissioned by a family at a time. Carvers also cannot create mwali hiti if a family already possesses one. The carver creates mwana hiti out of one piece of wood (or gourd) that he picks out, though any decorations for hair or jewelry must be provided by

1708-453: The mwana hiti vary, the average being around 10 centimeters. They can be projections of a child, a woman with a child, or an mwali. Mwana hiti are cylindrical figures with depictions of a head and torso of relatively equal size and usually no arms, legs or genitalia. Breasts and a navel are often present as well as hair. Facial features are simple and abstract, occasionally not being present. These figures may be decorated with metal (if hair

1769-601: The 1960s, an increasing number of Zaramo people have requested to be buried in their home villages on private land or on church grounds. The influence of Islam and the increase of urbanization and literacy have been marked as responsible for the decline in traditional Zaramo figure grave posts. The majority of contemporary grave markers are slab markers with written sentiments and notifiers. Decreasing land availability in Dar Es Salaam has led to an increase in unmarked grave sites holding multiple bodies, which has resulted in

1830-496: The 19th century. Conversion to Islam among the coastal Zaramo people began in the 19th century. These historic events, states Stockreiter, have influenced the politics and inter-ethnic relations in 20th-century Tanzania. Initiation rituals are required for the youth of the Zaramo people to become full-fledged members of adult society. Theses rituals generally happen around puberty and the female's first menses. The male ceremony

1891-550: The Kaguru, Kwere, Kutu, Kami, Sagara, Luguru, Ngulu and Vidunda peoples. The majority of the peoples of Tanganyika were patrilineal , but there are signs that many of them were once matrilineal . Some of these matrilineal peoples, like the Zaramo, Luguru, Mwera, and Makonde , were able to survive in the south-east where tsetse may have prevented men from acquiring cattle to pass on to their sons. The Zaramo society has been historically victimized by slave raids and slave trading by

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1952-573: The Koran in Arabic without grasping its meaning. Magic and literacy frequently intertwined. It was customary to read the entire Koran aloud to honor ancestors or to purify a community. A passage from the Koran served as a standard amulet, and ink diluted in water served as a standard medication. A Zaramo Muslim immigrant worker named Abdulrahman Saidi Mboga is credited with introducing superior rice varieties and irrigation methods to South Pare . It

2013-511: The Marini and one of the most prominent Africans in Dar es Salaam. These men had completely different interests and unifying principles than Watts or Matola did. The organisation was split throughout the 1930s between proponents of a territorial alliance of educated men and supporters of harmony between the various social classes in the city. Africans in the town were governed by the Germans via

2074-509: The Mwera culture were known for their use of the lip plate , in which the upper lip was pierced in girlhood and gradually enlarged over time to hold various sizes of solid plugs. In this way they shared similarities with the neighboring Makonde people . The Mwera people, like the Makonde people who share the Rovuma valley, have a historic musical tradition. Their seven metal key lamellophone

2135-408: The Mwera have adopted subsistence farming. A growing number of Mwera have also migrated to cities and work as wage laborers. Storytelling and riddles are important facets of the Mwera culture. They have rites of passage, such as Likomanga for boys, and Chikwembo for girls, which marks their entry into adulthood followed by a quick marriage shortly after the initiation. Historically, women of

2196-618: The Shomvi could not meet his demands, they offered for him and his family to live with them on the coast, where they would receive an annual tribute instead. The war and its results were said to be the founding of the Zaramo. Undoubtedly after the Maji Maji rebellion, it was a period of significant Islamic expansion. Before 1914, the Ngindo , Zaramo, and Zigua peoples in the coastal hinterland had been heavily influenced by Islam. Since then,

2257-499: The Swahili-Arab traders of Zanzibar . To resist this persecution, they developed stockade-fortified villages. Many ran away from the coast, and would return during the daytime to farm and fish. Zanzibar Arabs, state William Worger, Nancy Clark and Edward Alpers, however pursued their slave raiding into the mainland, where they would seize pagan Zaramo adults and children, gag them so they would not cry out, and then sell them to

2318-688: The Zanzibar Archipelago in 1963 and their subsequent formation of the United Republic of Tanzania led to a significant shift in Tanzanian culture, as well as the Zaramo culture. In 1963, 132 chiefs and headmen were removed from their political positions as government executives. The decreased status of chiefs and headmen has led to the dwindling of their numbers and traditions associated with them. Zaramo people hold their dead with high respect and reverence. They believe that life

2379-487: The Zaramo are said to be descendants of the Shomvi people under the lead of the warrior-hero, Pazi in the early 19th century. The Shomvi, a mercantile clan living in what is present-day Dar Es Salaam were attacked by an offshoot group of Kamba people from Kenya . The Shomvi sought help from the warrior, Pazi, who lived in the hinterlands. When Pazi defeated the Kamba, he asked for salt, cloth, and other luxuries in return. When

2440-480: The act of frying are called kaango or kikaango (depending on size), with smaller bowls being referred to as bakuli. Chetezo or Kitezo are shallow dishes made to be placed on shrine pedestals to hold incense offerings. Mtungi are large pots, sometimes reaching 2 feet high, that are made particularly to hold water for bathing and drinking; a household generally has two of these vessels, one for each use. Sometimes mtungi are replaced with buckets or oil drums,

2501-515: The coast are called "Wamwera" by other Mwera people. They are known to be peaceful people, whose migration and population distribution has been historically affected by violence and seizure inflicted on them. In 2001, the Mwera population was estimated to number 469,000. They speak the Mwera language , also called Kimwera , Mwela or Chimwera . This is a Bantu language that is part of the Niger-Congo family of languages. The Mwera language contains

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2562-554: The coastal area's major religion. By 1913, Muslims were up half of the Zaramo population. Both from the coast and up north from the Rufiji, where Zaramo tracked the boys' jando initiation ceremony that contributed significantly to the spread of Islam, proselytizing had taken place. Zaramo started performing Islamic circumcision. Islam in the coastal region and its hinterland typically made it difficult for missions to be effective. The Benedictines relocated their operations inland as

2623-658: The district. As the city developed over time, the ward became a cosmopolitan ward with a population of 52,582 as of 2012. The ward is home to these educational institutions: The ward is home to the following health institutions: This Dar es Salaam Region location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Zaramo people Dar es Salaam Region ( Temeke District , Ilala District , Ubungo District , Kinondoni District , Kigamboni District ) Pwani Region The Zaramo people , also referred to as Dzalamo or Saramo ( Wazaramo , in Swahili ), are

2684-683: The encounter between the African people, Arab-Swahili trader intermediaries and the European powers, but it broadly coopted the older slave-driven, social stratification model. According to Elke Stockreiter – a professor of History specializing on Africa, the slaves seized from Zaramo people and other ethnic groups such as Yao, Makonde and Nyamwezi peoples from the mainland and brought to the coastal Tanzania region and Zanzibar sought social inclusion and attempted to reduce their treatment as inferiors by their slave owners by adopting and adapting to Islam in

2745-567: The family. The Zaramo people have borrowed from the general Swahili and the once-occupying Arab culture in terms of dress such as wearing a skull cap, Islamic festivals and Muslim observances, but they continue some of their pre-Islam traditions such as matrilineal kinship, while a few pursue the Kolelo fertility cult and the worship of their ancient deity Mulungu . The traditional practice of Mganga or medicine man, along with Muslim clerics offering services as divine healers, remains popular among

2806-472: The following administration offices: In the local government system of Tanzania, the ward is the smallest democratic unit. Each ward comprises a committee of eight elected council members, including a chairperson, one salaried officer (with no voting rights), and an executive officer. One-third of seats are reserved for women councilors. The ward serves as the Zaramo people 's ancestral home, along with much of

2867-511: The gap particularly in the coastal regions, gained Muslim converts and introduced polygyny among the Mwera people. Most contemporary Mwera adhere to Sunni Islam with small minorities practicing Christianity or their traditional religion. The Mwera do not keep cattle or domestic animals, as their traditional region has been infested with Tsetse flies. They have hunted and fished instead. They live in clusters of oval huts made from wooden poles, grass thatch and local mud. In contemporary society,

2928-412: The government, urging instead a paramount chief to guide the Zaramo toward progress. Urban ethnicity was not just a means of survival, but also a productive effort to forge groups that could work well together in colonial society. The term, "Zaramo," in scholarly studies also reflects a macro-ethnic group. The larger Zaramo group consists of Zaramo proper, but includes a number of related peoples such as

2989-411: The hair (of which the mwali wears the same style,) and feeding it. If she fails to complete these motherly tasks she may be denied fertility in the future. Fertility is prized in Zaramo culture as children are seen as economic and cultural goals for prosperity and legacy. If a woman encounters fertility after her initiation is over, she may choose to repeat seclusion and mwana hiti rites. This means

3050-494: The house, the women gather grass for thatching the roof and the young boys dig clay used to fill in the mud walls. Tradition dictates that certain tree species cannot be used for building houses. It seems the reason for this ban is the belief that an evil spirit would haunt such a house. The apparent benefit of the prohibition is protecting those selected trees from extinction. The Mwera are mainly subsistence farmers with beautiful fields of maize and peanuts. Due to tsetse flies it

3111-469: The impoverished Zaramo communities. The Zaramo people are settled farmers who also keep livestock and fish. They also are migrant workers to Tanzania's capital city and tourist sites, considering business, or biashara, their job. They live in pangone or shanty clusters of villages. They produce staple foods such as rice, millet, maize, sorghum, and cassava, as well as cash crops such as coconuts, legumes, cashews, pineapples, oranges, and bananas. Cassava

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3172-540: The manufactured alternatives being more durable, though they keep the water less cool. Mtungi tend to have more fragile necks prone to cracking and chipping. There is not much distinction between pottery for everyday use and pottery for rituals, such as ceremonial mwali bathing, healing rituals, and grave offerings. Everyday pottery may be used, though many ceremonies require the vessel to be new. The majority of potters in Zaramo culture are women, who are called fundi wa kufinyanga or "masters of making pottery." Pottery

3233-560: The mkongo tree, of which many mwana hiti are carved from. All of these names refer to the mwana hiti as a "child of wood." Mwana hiti may be represented in other forms besides figures such as walking sticks, staff, stool, musical instruments, and grave posts among others. Mwana hiti don't belong to individuals, but to families, and they are passed down generations, sometimes up to 40 or 50 years. Mwana hiti are usually made of wood, however some Zaramo traditions say they should be made of gourds as gourds are symbols of fertility. Sizes of

3294-643: The ostensibly Muslim Ngindo rarely performed Islamic marriage. During the British period, the founding members of the African Association included representatives from the three most influential African communities in Dar es Salaam in the 1920s: the Manyema , and Zaramo. Effendi Plantan, the former head of the ex-askari community, had raised its secretary, Kleist Sykes. Mzee Sudi, the Manyema leader for

3355-445: The other capitals of East Africa. The trible associations of the 1950s were heavily focused on rural improvement in addition to urban welfare. The Wazaramo Union was the best illustration. The Zaramo did not require an association to bury or care for them because he lived so near to the town. However, the Wazaramo Union was home to about 3,500 of the 6,500 tribal union members who were enrolled in Dar es Salaam in 1955. Its main priority

3416-481: The past could have taken up to five years. The mwali's paternal aunt is usually assigned as her shangazi , or the one who takes over the mwali's teachings and ceremonies. The initiate is taught domestic responsibilities such as housekeeping, childcare, sexual and moral behavior, and mature interaction in society. During seclusion, the mwali is not allowed to speak, work, or go outside, to symbolize her death and put emphasis on her re-emergence as symbolic birth. She

3477-660: The pottery are left to dry out for two to seven days before being fired, not in a kiln, but a wood fire. The vessels are placed on top of a fire, and more wood and plant material are placed on top of the vessels. Firing lasts two to three hours. If the pottery is to be colored, they are colored directly after firing. Mwera people The Mwera people are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group . They are native to Ruangwa and Nachingwea Districts in Lindi Region . However they have also settled in northern Mtwara Region and eastern Ruvuma Region of Tanzania , as well as along

3538-612: The region has primarily become Islamic, with the exception of Maasai, some of Bonde (whom had a long history of missions), and to a lesser extent, Matumbi . The last barrier to the Islamization of the Digo in the north was eliminated by the destruction of Lutheran artifacts. When missionary work began in the south after many Mwera and Makua stopped practicing Christianity, polygynous marriages and other barriers made it difficult for many converts to return, which led to Islam becoming

3599-512: The traders. Sometimes during famines, such as in the 19th-century rule of Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar , desperate Zaramo people pawned and sold each other to survive. The Zaramo society's history has long been influenced by the coastal encounter between the Arab-Persian and African populations typical of East Africa, since the 8th century. During the colonial era, the influence came from

3660-459: Was more than double that of Nyamwezi, although many Zaramo lived in Buguruni in the far west, which blended into the surrounding landscape. According to a survey conducted in 1956, the majority of homes were constructed using small business owners' or artists' money. It also revealed that several ethnic groups, like the Manyema, Yao, and Makonde who were among the town's first settlers, possessed

3721-561: Was to promote rural Uzaramo. The objective of the Zaaramo Union according to its secretary, was to construct the "UNITY, BESTIR LIFT UP", of the Wazaramo and their country in the essential matters. To this end, it purchased and operated two lorries to transport people and agricultural produce between towns and rural areas, established nine branches in the tribal area, and campaigned against "the old out-of-date Wakilis" recognized by

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