ABSTRACT
Despite a recent marked increase in the literature on African masquerade and initiation, our understanding of those traditions in East Central Africa remains limited. Few reports have been written on those of the Chewa. 1 In this article I hope to offer new insights into Chewa masking traditions as well as the issue of secrecy and its role in delineating gender boundaries. My discussion focuses on rituals practised by men, but for a thorough understanding of these activities one must place them in the wider context of male–female interactions. Thus I conclude with an account of women’s rituals, especially those associated with the girls’ initiation ceremony, which is based on data collected by my wife, Mariko Yoshida.
