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19-442: Mwera can refer to several things related to Tanzania: Mwera people , an ethnic and linguistic group Mwera language Mwera, Zanzibar , a village on Unguja Island, Zanzibar Mwera (ward) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Mwera . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

38-661: A Bantu language closely related to Yao . Many speak other languages such as English in Tanzania, Portuguese in Mozambique, and Swahili and Makua in both countries. The Makonde are traditionally a matrilineal society where children and inheritances belong to women, and husbands move into the village of their wives. Their traditional religion is an animistic form of ancestor worship and still continues, although Makonde of Tanzania are nominally Muslim and those of Mozambique are Catholic or Muslim. In Makonde rituals, when

57-776: 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 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,

76-472: A girl becomes a woman, Muidini is the best dancer out of the group of girls undergoing the rituals. The Makonde are best known for their wood carvings, primarily made of blackwood ( Dalbergia melanoxylon , or mpingo), and their observances of puberty rites. Some Makonde people from Mozambique had relocated to Kenya in the 1950s. Early in the 21st century efforts began to obtain Kenyan identity cards to allow

95-535: A warm welcome. After a well-prepared meal on Thursday 13 October 2016, the President ordered the relevant ministry to provide the Makonde with identity cards by December 2016. The Makonde traditionally have carved wooden household objects, figures and masks for ritual use. After the 1930s, Makonde art has become an important part of the contemporary art of Africa . The most internationally acknowledged such artist

114-401: 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

133-618: 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

152-621: Is responsible for important rituals and ceremonies. Both boys and girls go through traditional initiation rites which moulds their cultural identities as men and women. Leisure time is filled with drinking tea and loitering around the shops in the market at the center of the village. It is a time to visit, play games, tell stories and take care of business. Makonde people Majority Islam Minority Ancestor Worship In Mozambique: Majority Christianity The Makonde are an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania , northern Mozambique , and Kenya . The Makonde developed their culture on

171-428: 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

190-573: The Mueda Plateau in Mozambique. At present they live throughout Tanzania and Mozambique, and have a small presence in Kenya . The Makonde population in Tanzania was estimated in 2001 to be 1,140,000, and the 1997 census in Mozambique put the Makonde population in that country at 233,358, for an estimated total of 1,373,358. The ethnic group is roughly divided by the Ruvuma River ; members of

209-966: 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 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,

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228-522: The Makonde to exercise their rights and privileges as Kenyan citizens. In 2016, a group of 300 Makonde people trekked from Kwale to Nairobi. The group was led by Diana Gichengo an inclusions activist and accompanied by other human rights supportive stakeholders. They headed to the State House in Nairobi to persuade the President to push their recognition as Kenyan citizens. President Kenyatta gave them

247-454: 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

266-408: 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

285-576: 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 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,

304-528: The group in Tanzania are referred to as the Makonde, and those in Mozambique as the Maconde . The two groups have developed separate languages over time but share a common origin and culture. The Makonde successfully resisted predation by African, Arab, and European slavers . They did not fall under colonial power until the 1920s. During the 1960s the revolution which drove the Portuguese out of Mozambique

323-494: 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

342-417: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mwera&oldid=933007649 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Mwera people According to their oral traditions , the Mwera people are

361-451: Was launched from the Makonde homeland of the Mueda Plateau . For a time the revolutionary movement FRELIMO derived some of its financial support from the sale of Makonde carvings, and the group became the backbone of the revolutionary movement. The Maconde of Mozambique, due to their role in the resistance to Portuguese colonial rule, remain an influential group in the politics of the country. They speak Makonde , also known as ChiMakonde,

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