Likumbi la Mize

So, have you been wondering who that is in my fb picture? Sorry for the dalay, my failthful readers; I’ve been busy in the bush for a while. Let me tell you about Mupala.
The senior chief of the Luvale people holds one of the best ceremonies in the country, so the first weekend of September I hitched over to Zambezi district (google time) to see it. After the Kaonde people, the Luvale are the most dominant in my province of Zambia. No one goes for the speeches or the tujilijili, but for the parade of dancing Makishi spirits. They are the spirits of the Luvale people who rise from the graveyard in different masks and costumes. They’re also found in Chokwe culture and as an honorary Chokwe because of my neighbor’s tribe, I find them fascinating. And still thoroughly terrifying. Can’t you see that in the picture?!
So myself, another PCV and two German volunteers stayed with the very entertaining priest in town, and attended the ceremony in style. We yawned through speeches and ceremonial entrances of sub chiefs, but then the whole group of Makishi arrived in one long line. I lost count of how many – 30 some – many I’d seen in my home village, but many new ones. About 30 dressed and were around the festival all weekend. Such a rich culture! It’s fascinating how they represent all types of positions in society, from hunters to mothers to the smallest butterfly. Essentially they are how these tribes view death as we learned from our priest-host. In the tribe’s tradition, as long as you live an honorable life and contribute to society in some way, you will be remembered after death. We saw the mother, Mwanapwebo, the ox and butterfly, and of course the foreigner, Chindele. It is a relief to know even I will be remembered, even if that mask looks like the devil. The chief Makishi is named Kahepu, and I got my picture with him just before he ceremonially killed the goat. His mask is about twice as big as Mupala, the hunter, how does he manage to hold it up?! I also took a fun video of my favorite Makishi – Butenu, the disciplinarian, almost attack me with his axe.
Only men can dress in masks and fully disguise themselves except for fingers. They somehow alter their voice and it’s terrifying. Many wear bells on their calves for dancing. One traditionally will dance on 2 5m tall poles. Crazy! In the village, these spirits are responsible for teaching boys various things at their coming of age ceremony.
In recent years, too much of culture has been lost so I really like that this part of tradition is still so alive. I’d planned to attend months ahead, but quite unexpectedly ended up attending the Kaonde tribe’s ceremony also last weekend. Much smaller, but I did get to greet the president of Zambia – Rupiah Banda.
So this is just a bit of the experiencing-culture part of life. As always, I’ll answer any questions. By this point of my service, I feel I have experienced alot of aspects of living in this culture and understand more of its subtleties every day. Things like the pervasive idea of Ubuntu bring me alot of joy, but gender inequality and white deference make me want to scream.
Mwende mutende bonse.