Later qualified as « Royal Bath » this ceremony normally takes place in the beginning of the year – in February – because it corresponds to the European new year festivities . It is celebrated with splendour since nearly three hundred years by the ZanadRanavalona of Anosimanjaka . It is a real cult paid to Ranavalomanjakatsimitoviaminiandriana  their grandmother , nicknamed Nenibe.

 

Ranavalomanjakatsimitoviaminiandriana would be the daughter of the merina king Andriamasinavalona having reigned between 1675 and 1710 and a water sprite (zazavavindrano) native of Iharamy, a village near Ambohimanambola . She lived in Alasora with her father. Later she has chosen to settle in Aminampanga , an islet surrounded by pond that became later Anosimanjaka (the islet that holds the power). Her husband was not well known . She had four girls and five boys whose descendants have scattered everywhere in the region . Her daughters have given birth to famous  princes . Among them  Ramanitrandriantsimitovy , mother of Rasoherina , grandmother of Andrianampoinimerina

 

Each year, in Anosimanjaka , during the first three days of the Alahamady, the cult of Nenibe , an important ritual and religious ceremony attracting thousands of persons, is celebrated with great pomp. The Zanadranavalona regularly bring various offertories : perfume, candies, honey, bananas and submit to to the ritual sacrifice of two « omby volavita » that is to say red dressed zebu with white tasks on paws the day of the Fandroana . After the sacrifice, the meat called « hena manitra » is shared to the assistance ; believers collect the blood in containers, others just wet their forefinger and put some on the forehead . The zebu head is given to the oldest of the Zanadranavalona while the superior part of the hump is deposited in the Tranomanara.

 

There exist three places of cult : the Tranomanara or cold house where are kept the Queen relics . One can request there her blessing.
To the south west, Ambatondrafotsy, a rock that overhangs the well ; once this place served as waterhole to the queen, thus this source would have therapeutic powers .
Finally to the east of the well, on the hill side , Ampamolesana . It is there that the Queen spun silk. An altar is erected there to receive offerings. Before the invocation a fire is lighted and some believers go into trances and communicate directly with the Queen.
An other place deserves also the attention : the Fihasinana ; it is an other well situated at the north entry of Anosimanjaka. The water serves to the bath of oxen during the ceremony.

 

But the cult of Nenibe exists also in the daily life . Everyday except on Tuesday , peoples come to Anosimanjaka to ask the blessing of the Queen. They come there to be purified ; they bring containers to put the water that the officiants have to bless before to be drunk. Invalids come to see the « Mpitaiza » or the deviner.
Some takes a few « tany masina »(sacred earth ) to protect from the evil and slip written requests in a coffin of the Tranomanara.
Veneration or adoration ? Many high-minded people accuse the ZanadRanavalona to be idolaters.
Fundamentally traditionalist, this nobiliary caste is very respectful of the traditions precisely of the « fady » :thus the consumption of garlic, onion, goat and pork meat is forbidden. Carrying caîman leather or firearms is defended.