“Hale!” “Halele!”
In the Mnambani forest, on Grande Comore, there is a still pool that people call Msiru wa Mnambani. A hurried walker would see only a pond beneath the trees. But the elders know that beneath it lies a city of djinns, with its houses, its squares and its chief.
Anyone who wants to approach it must be accompanied by a fundi, one of those men who know how to speak with the invisible world. The fundi greets the inhabitants, performs the ritual of hospitality and introduces the visitors, just as one would on entering an unfamiliar village.
Above all, no one touches the water. Whoever dips a hand into it without permission disturbs the inhabitants of the place, and it is said that the reckless have been struck by fever, bad luck or madness.
You enter the home of the djinns as you enter the home of humans: by greeting them and respecting their rules.
What we know about it
Msiru wa Mnambani is one of the many ziara, sacred places linked to spirits, found in the archipelago. People come here to ask for protection, healing or good fortune, on the margins of official Islam, which often condemns these practices. These places show the vitality of ancient beliefs, intertwined with the Muslim religion.
Further reading
- Voices of the archipelago Mohamed Ahmed-Chamanga (textes recueillis et traduits par), Rois, femmes et djinns : contes de l'île d'Anjouan, 1988. Centre de recherche Océan Indien (Paris).
- Voices of the archipelago Salim Hatubou, Contes et légendes des Comores ou Genèse d'un pays bantu, 2004. reissued as Aux origines du monde : contes et légendes des Comores, Flies France, 2015.