When rain is needed, the Lovedu sacrifice gifts to inform their rain queen of the “crying of her people” and the need for her to protect them. The rain queen then gathers secrets from her “rain potion” medicines, which are stored in rock shelters and prepared in clay pots. The chief ingredient used for rainmaking is the skin of a deceased chief. The rain queen grinds various medicines, empties them into a pot filled with water, and stirs so vigorously that froth appears on top of the pot. Once this happens, the pot will “create” rain. She also mixes medicine into the “rain horns,” and when burnt, the smoke rises into the air and produces clouds. As the only being that can produce clouds, make and withhold rain, and make and withhold hurricanes, her power, authority, and influence are boundless.
In the Lovedu kingdom, the modjadji reigns supreme. Unlike elsewhere in Africa where there is a dual-sex or complementary system (in which male rulers take care of what is important to their male subjects, and female rulers take care of what is important to their female subjects), the Lovedu have exclusively female leadership structures. But this was not always so. Oral tradition suggests that the first rulers of the Lovedu were male. The first of these male rulers was one Makaphimo, who ruled the Lovedu until around 1800. Makaphimo was succeeded by his son Muhale. The Lovedu also had other male rulers, including Peduli, Khiali, and Mugede. The last known male leader was Mugede. During Mugede’s reign, his rainmaking ability was in decline, and in order to rejuvenate these powers, Mugede committed incest with his daughter. This abominable act ushered in a shift in leadership from men to women. In fact, Mugede’s daughter would become the first modjadji of the Lovedu.
Referred to by European observers and surrounding Africans as “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed,” the modjadji was renowned, respected, and feared throughout Southern Africa. Lovedu kinship, politics, economy, and religion were united in the person of the rain queen. The modjadji was the living embodiment of the rain goddess; as such, she was inaccessible and mysterious. No one could claim to have seen the rain queen. This inaccessibility, compounded by the fact that the rain queen was immortal and thus could neither be killed nor die from natural causes, elevated the influence and authority that she had. In fact, the modjadji had to take her own life in ritual suicide—a selfless and powerful act—but not before she chose a successor.
Although the rain queen guaranteed the yearly seasonal cycle and fertility of crops, her emotions were believed to influence rain. If she was dissatisfied, angry, or sad she would not work well and the rain would not come. In 1934 or 1935, during the reign of Modjadji III, the first rains did not come until December. The consequential drought was attributed to her being upset about her daughter’s liaison with a commoner.
There have been six rain queens in recent times: Maselekwane Modjadji I (1800–1854); Masalanabo Modjadji II (1854–95); Khesetoane Modjadji III (1896–1959); Makoma Modjadji IV (1959–80); Mokope Modjadji V (1981–2001); and Makobo Constance Modjadji VI (2003–5).
Maselekwane Modjadji I was feared for her power and famed for her diplomacy and influence. When she assumed office, she turned the chaos of her male predecessor’s reign into peace and prosperity. She was, however, surrounded by restrictions that drove her into seclusion. She used Lovedu women for diplomacy by pacifying intruders in the Lovedu kingdom with beer and girls. She won fame and influence, which drew many foreign ambassadors to her court. Some came with cattle; others, with their daughters or sisters—gifts with which they would show homage or supplicate for rain. Some rain queens from far-away lands came to be strengthened and fitted for their office by the powerful modjadji. Even the Zulu king, Chaka, supplicated the Lovedu rain queen as “rain-maker of all rain-makers.”41 She governed without an official husband but was female husband to as many as forty-two wives, who did for their husband, the rain queen, what ordinary Lovedu women did for theirs, including hoeing her fields, brewing her beer, cooking her food, keeping her in domestic comfort, and trading for her. In 1854 Maselekwane committed ritual suicide.
Masalanabo Modjadji II succeeded her mother. Like her mother, she never married the father of her children but was a female husband who was cared for by her wives. As rain queen she was inaccessible to her people, and seldom appeared in public, further elevating her mystique and influence in society. Like her mother, she committed ritual suicide after having designated the daughter of her sister as her heir.
More than a century later, Makobo Constance would reign as modjadji. She was consecrated sixth rain queen of the Lovedu, on April 16, 2003, after the death of her grandmother. She was twenty-five years old. Her mother had been designated successor but died two days before her grandmother, Modjadji V. The youngest rain queen in the history of the Lovedu, the reluctant modjadji Makobo was the only rain queen who had been formally educated. On the day of her coronation, there was a slight drizzle, which was interpreted as a good omen. Makobo Constance, although respected for her power, abilities, and lineage, was seen as too modern to be a rain queen. Custom, for instance, dictated that rain queens live reclusive lives, hidden in the royal kraal with their wives. Makobo, however, wore jeans and T-shirts, visited dance clubs, watched soap operas, and chatted on her cell phone. She also had a boyfriend, David Mogale, a former municipal manager of the Greater Letaba Municipality. He was rumored to have moved into the Royal Compound, causing great controversy with the Royal Council, because the rain queen was only supposed to have sex with nobles the Royal Council chose. Thus, her lover was banned from the village, and the rain queen’s two children were never recognized by the Council. On June 10, 2005, Makobo was admitted to Polokwane Medi-Clinic. She died two days later at the age of twenty-seven. The official cause of death was chronic meningitis.
For many years after Makobo died, no rain queen was named. Moreover, speculation was rife that because the rain queen’s daughter was fathered by a commoner, the Lovedu were not likely to accept her as the rightful heiress to the rain queen crown. Therefore, there were worries that the 400-year-old powerful rain queen dynasty may have come to an end. These worries, however, abated in 2016, when eleven-year-old Masalanabo, daughter of Makobo, was recognized as Modjadji VII by President Jacob Zuma following the recommendations of South Africa’s Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, also known as the Tolo Commission.42
Spirit Mediums: Human Interpreters of the Spiritual World
In the Nyamwezi areas of East Africa (present-day southern and western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and northwestern Tanzania), women, in the 1800s, had an unusual degree of power, authority, and influence as spirit mediums which provided them with long-term, high-status positions. In the kingdoms of Bunyoro and Buganda (modern Uganda), Buha, Unyamwezi, and Usukuma (northwestern Tanzania), spirit possession societies centered on groups of legendary heroes known as the Cwezi or Imandwa. Cwezi were the early rulers of western Uganda. As the Cwezi kingdom declined, the people began to honor the spirits of their departed kings. In Rwanda and Burundi, the societies were dominated by spirits of their legendary heroes, Ryangombe and Kiranga. These possession societies were inclusive in their gender makeup.
Most Nyamwezi people lived in scattered settlements, spoke closely related Bantu languages, and were patrilineal. Their economic life revolved around combinations of agriculture and cattle raising. With the exception of the Kiga of southwestern Uganda, the Nyamwezi groups had centralized political structures. Bunganda, Bunyoro, Nkore, Rwanda, and Burundi were large relatively unified kingdoms whereas Buhaya, Buha, Unyamwezi, Usukuma, and Usumbwa were small states. All were hierarchical.
Few upper-class women were able to attain considerable wealth and authority. Spirit mediumship societies, therefore, provided women with the greatest avenues for active participation in politics and religious life. Spirit mediumship was a form of possession in which a person serves as intermediary between the spirits and society. Society interprets possession as a sign that a spirit or deity has chosen to inhabit a person for the good of the community. Spirit mediumship acknowledges communication between the supernatural world and the societal group the medium inhabits.
Spirit mediums were consulted either when difficulties arose or as a precautionary measure to ensure health, prosperity, and fertility. The people believed