PWANI PART 4: Mnazi, Korosho Choma na Kucheza

MKWEZI NA MNAZI

In Shirazi, they use the coconut tree (mnazi) for everything. And all of the young men know how to climb the coconut trees. Some of the trees have little foot holes carved all the way up the side, which are easier climb. But they also climb the trees without the foot holes. First they take a long blade of grass and tie it in knots so that it makes a big loop which they then wrap around their two feet. Then they are able to climb all the way up the coconut tree using just their bare hands and feet. Once they climb to the top, they would throw down coconuts for us to drink. It was amazing to watch them climb the trees because they were so fast and because some of the trees they would climb were REALLY tall.

Can you see the man hanging onto the trunk?

The use coconut juice in pretty much everything they cook, including rice and mandazi (friend little donut things). They drink fresh juice from the young coconuts (madafu), that is, the coconuts fresh from the tree. The use the aged coconuts (nazi), the coconuts that have fallen naturally from the tree, to make coconut milk. They have a special stool with a double serrated knife fixed on one end so that they can sit and scrape the pulp from the nazi (which they often crack open by smashing the nazi on a rock). Then, to get the milk out of the coconut, they stuff the shredded coconut into a woven tube and then twist the whole tube so that the coconut milk pours out into a bowl.

The remains of the coconuts are also used. The fibrous shell is used to weave mats and also a kindling for their fires. The hard internal shell of the coconut is used as a bowl, and some men in the village even make them into candles to sell to tourists and in the nearby villages.

They also use the palm leaves from the coconut tree to weave into mats or fences or roofing. They also use the palm leaves as kindling for their fires.

Lastly, they can make a coconut beer straight from the coconut tree. Men climb to the top of the tree and collect a juice that comes out of the top of the tree. Then they let the juice collected ferment over night and it becomes a very potent beer. When my brother took me to see them collect the mnazi, he told me that is was a very bad idea to climb the trees while drunk because you can fall off. I guess that is Shirazi's equivalent of don't drink and drive: usipande unapolewa.

A man collecting Mnazi from the tree to make coconut beer.

After the coconut is cut open with a panga (machete) we would drink the juice straight from the shell.

KOROSHO CHOMA

In addition to all of the coconut trees in Shirazi, there was a fair number of cashew nut trees (korosho). Cashew nuts actually grow on top of a yellow fruit that grows on the tree. One afternoon my silbings showed me how to roast the cashews (Korosho Choma). First we built a fire on coconuts and coconut palms and places a concave pan with many holes in the bottom on top of the coconuts. Then we placed the raw cashews (still in their shell) in the pan and cooked them until they were roasted black. Then we would knock the pan into the dirt and cover the hot cashews in dirt to cool them down. After several rounds of roasting, we collected all of the roasted cashews in a box and took them back to the house. There we took hardened coconut shells to smash open the cashews to collect the roasted nut in the center. By the end of breaking open all the shells my hands were completely black with ash. But, these were by far the most delicious cashews I have ever eaten in my entire life.

Raziki carrying coconut palms to use as kindling for the fire.

Bob stirring the cashew nuts in the pot

Bob, Raziki, and Mwanacombo roasting the cashews

Raziki collected the roasted cashews from the dirt.

Cracking open the cashew shells

the finish product of roasted cashews

KUCHEZA USIKU

One night after dinner my family was resting outside on our mat when we heard a lot of commotion nearby. Soon I heard singing and yelling and my sister, Mwanacombo, asked "unataka kucheza?" (Do you want to play?). When I said yes, she led me out to a yard next to my house, and there were at least 30 children, from 3 years old to 15 years old dancing and singing outside in the sand. From that night on we would always go outside and dance after dinner. We would sing call and response songs and dance in a giant circle. Then we would do dances where we would all pair up, and everynight the older girls would shout "mazungu mmoja tu!", which basically meant, each person only gets to have one white person to dance with. It was amazing how these little 11 year old girls could shake their hips around. We would play until one of the parents would come out and tell all the children to go to sleep.