Container for Ritual Healing (Itinate or Kwandalowa)

The closely related Cham and Mwona and their eastern neighbors the Longuda use pottery in rituals intended to protect against and treat spirit-inflicted maladies, in part by transferring the illness to a pot in which it can be contained. A diviner prescribes a particular kind of vessel and a potter makes it, first bringing the unformed clay into contact with the patient to begin the process of transferring the illness to the raw material. When the pot is ready, the diviner activates it by applying libations. Once the illness is cured, the container is discarded well away from the community. Among the Cham and Mwona these ritual containers are called itinate and are made by men with unique skills and knowledge. Among the Longuda, however, they are called kwandalha and the specialists who make them are women.
With their swollen bulges, jagged scales, scabby patches, and sharp points, these containers give graphic form to the pain and discomfort of disease. While their basic forms are often repeated, their uses may vary. Containers like this one have been said to treat hemorrhoids and related problems as well as chicken pox and other childhood diseases. [See also 2005.279, 2005.280, and 2005.281].