The Yao (also called Wayao) are an East African people that reside along Lake Malawi in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
They are a predominantly Muslim group. with a strong sociocultural identity that transcends national boundaries. Rich and influential Yao kingdoms emerged in the region in the fifteenth century, as the people participated in the Arab trade, exchanging slaves and ivory for guns and clothes on the southern African coast. Yao chiefs and merchants controlled large areas, initially through trade and later through warfare.
The Yao live mainly in three countries: Mozambique, Malawi, and Tanzania. They are part of the Bantu-speaking population of East and Central Africa and are believed to have radiated outward from a homeland in the hilly region of northeastern Mozambique. Somewhere in what is now the Niassa Province of Mozambique, to the east of Lake Malawi in the mountainous area between the Lujenda and Luchelingo rivers, there is said to be a hill named Yao (the word is the plural form of a noun meaning "treeless hill"). It is from this region that the Yao, who took their ethnonym from this place of origin, moved in a series of migrations beginning in the eighteenth century to their areas of later settlement. They now live in a broad band stretching from the Shire Highlands in southern Malawi through the hills of Mozambique, to the east of Lake Malawi, and into the southern part of Tanzania, on the southeastern edges of the Great Rift Valley.
The global poulation of Yao is 3,237,500 in 4 countries: (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)
Yao villages tend to be strung out along a road or a path, and nearly all the villages have a mosque. Houses and mosques are usually built of pole and daub and are rectangular in shape. Most houses are thatched, while mosques may have an iron roof and a variety of architectural ornaments. Village mosques are often painted decoratively according to the taste of the builders. Village dwellings tend to be clustered into little groups surrounded by fruit trees—mango, papaya, and banana—with gardens of maize, cassava, rice, or sugarcane farther afield.
Subsistence. Villagers grow grain (maize or rice), vegetables (onions, tomatoes, cassava, and cabbage) and fruits such as mango, papaya, and banana. Very few Yao possess livestock of any sort with the exception of a few goats or chickens.
Many villagers who live near the lake depend on fishing to supplement their diets and incomes. A prerequisite for fishing is access to a dugout canoe, a net, and a lamp, since the favored method of catching the tiny usipa fish is to lure shoals of them to the side of the lake at night. Other fish, including chambo (tilapia) and kampango (catfish), are caught using larger nets, but catches are small and many Muslims refuse to eat catfish because the fact that it has no scales makes it forbidden food.
Those who have gardens and fields close to the lake are able to grow rice as well as maize and cassava, but very few people grow enough of the staple crops to feed themselves for the whole year and have to purchase extra grain.
Commercial Activities. In the colonial era the Yao were favored as soldiers, servants, cooks, and tailors. They are well known throughout southern Africa as tireless travelers in search of work in the mines or in industry or commerce.
Industrial Arts. The Yao who live by the lake are accomplished canoe builders and fishermen. They are skilled at weaving mats used for drying fish, making earthenware pots, and sewing.
Trade. In the precolonial era the Yao were notorious as traders in slaves and ivory. More recently they have tended to deal in cloth, fish, and crops such as cotton, tea, and tobacco.
Division of Labor. The main division of labor is between men and women. Men are generally responsible for fishing, agriculture, and most trading activities; women take care of tasks related to the maintenance and running of the household, such as fetching water and wood, cleaning, and cooking.
Land Tenure. Village headmen have the right to allocate fields and gardens to newcomers. The right to work the land is inherited through the female line.
Kin Groups and Descent. The Yao are matrilineal and are organized around a system of sorority groups known as mbumba. The sorority groups are normally constituted in relation to a man who is often the oldest brother of the sisters.
Marriage. Marriage is generally matrilocal and is transacted without the exchange of significant bride-wealth or a large dowry. Divorce is common and is not difficult to accomplish. The position of husbands is subject to the tensions that are characteristic of many matrilineal societies.
Inheritance. Property and titles usually pass from men to their sisters' sons or in some instances from older to younger brothers.
Social Organization. The central social unit is the village, which is organized around matrilineal kinship and sorority groups.
Political Organization. There is no central authority or institution of kingship in Yao society. For two centuries political organization has been structured around a series of chiefs and subordinate village headmen. In the colonial and postcolonial eras the appointment of chiefs and headmen usually had to be ratified by the central government.
Conflict. In the period of expansion and slave trade there was a great deal of conflict and competition between Yao chiefs and their followers. The powerful slaving chiefs were known to take slaves not only from groups such as the Nyanja but also from weaker Yao groups. The Yao were feared and respected in the region for their courage and skill in warfare, and after being defeated by the British, they were favored as recruits in the colonial forces. In the colonial era conflict was often resolved by the splitting of villages or groups. This practice has become less common as a result of growing population density. A serious challenge to the postcolonial regime in Malawi that occurred shortly after independence in 1964 (the "Cabinet Crisis") was led by a Yao. The armed revolt was crushed by forces loyal to the government backed by British troops.
Religious Beliefs. The Yao are often distinguished from other groups in the region by their conversion to Islam. However, this did not occur until the end of the nineteenth century, and there is still a considerable residue of pre-Islamic beliefs and practices among many Yao. Ancestors continue to be venerated, and the name of the founding ancestress of a lineage is remembered and referred to by a term meaning "the trunk of a tree." There has been a significant influence of Sufism on the practice of Islam among the Yao, and there appears to be a large degree of convergence between traditional Yao and Sufi practices. The Islam of the Yao is regarded as flexible and tolerant of local beliefs and customs.
Religious Practitioners . Yao Muslims have several categories of religious leadership. The most senior leaders are referred to as sheikhs and are often members of a Sufi order. There are also teachers and lower-order Muslim practitioners called mwalimu (from the Swahili word for teacher). There are ritual specialists known as amichila who are appointed by a chief to officiate at initiation rituals for boys.
Ceremonies. The Yao have initiation ceremonies for boys and girls as well as for young women. The initiation for boys includes partial or total circumcision and involves the production of a series of pictograms that are part of a complex system of esoteric knowledge and ritual. The initiations have for many years incorporated elements of Islamic practice and symbolism and were not disapproved of by even very devout Muslims until the emergence of reformist movements toward the end of the twentieth century. Most of the significant Muslim festivals are observed by the Yao, and the performance of dhikr (or sikiri, as the Yao refer to it) is often a feature of ceremonies. This central ritual of Sufi Muslims around the world has become the core of Muslim practice in the region, and it remains the key component of Islamic ritual for many of the Yao. Yao followers of Sufism perform sikiri on occasions such as ziyala· (the founder's anniversary), funerals, weddings, and other festivals. Although the Yao sikiri is usually performed by a group of young men, it does not exclude other Muslims who may be present, except on occasions, such as funerals, where men and women are segregated.
Arts. The most highly developed art form among the Yao is the system of pictograms used in initiations. They are large and intricate designs that are modeled on the ground and outlined with flour so that they make an extraordinary spectacle on a moonlit night.
Medicine. The Yao are famous as healers. Most villagers have a large body of knowledge of local medicinal herbs, and healers travel far and wide to gather potent plants and ingredients. There are practitioners who make use of the Islamic scriptures in various ways for divination or healing.
Death and Afterlife. The Yao believe that they will join their ancestors after death. Many also believe that they will be raised and judged on the last day as prescribed by Islamic doctrine. There seems to be little sense of contradiction between these two notions of the afterlife, which are held simultaneously by most Yao Muslims.
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