Note 193 — Chapter II · TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH AND ON RELATED OCCASIONS

E. Casalis, Les Bassoutos, Paris, 1859, p. 275. The king of the Matabele was obliged to abstain from food and drink on the new moon following the beginning of the Matabele year. The late ruler, Lobengula, compromised this self-denying ordinance by drinking beer only out of a bottle. During the new-moon day “he was supposed to have communication with the spirits of his ancestors, and he abstained altogether from business” (L. Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa, London, 1900, p. 156).