ABSTRACT
Kyala (or Lwembe) and the shades create desire in men and women and control conception; when the shades are angry women do not conceive, this is one of the main tenets of pagan Nyakyusa cosmology, and it is combined with a limited knowledge of physiology. The procreation of children is an ultimate value of Nyakyusa society and the accepted end of marriage, but it is regarded as dangerous under certain conditions and is hedged about with taboos. A first confinement, like first menstruation, is the occasion for elaborate ritual, and though at later confinements (as at later menstrual periods) certain taboos must be observed, they are less numerous and less strictly enforced than those connected with the birth of the first child, umwana gwa busungu. The great specific against 'emptiness' is ikipiki medicine, used in the puberty, birth, and death rituals, and even used to protect cattle against a menstruating woman.
