Chibale Zambia: religion kupupa
Chibale Zambia: religion kupupa. Kupupa is the ritual acknowledgement of a specific spirit or a part of the spirit world. It is crucial in all local and spirit possession cults. The link between kupupa and music is profound.
Characteristics
Kupupa takes place at shrines of various forms, fixed or temporary. It occurs before and/or after the appropriation of something from the mpanga and in times of trouble.
Kupupa can comprise invocations and the offering of a cultivated and prepared product (mainly beer and mealie meal). It can consist of following a certain lifestyle. It can involve the singing of songs. Kupupa can be cursory, or it can be connected to a large ritual. It can be performed on behalf of an individual, a family, a village, a clan, a group of non-relatives, or a chiefdom.
Ishuko and ishamo
The purpose of all kupupa is to be granted ishuko and to prevent or resolve ishamo. Ishuko is the state in which one is able to obtain things from the mpanga1People who do not regard ishuko as the result of a good relationship with the spirit world, often use the word in the sense of ‘good luck’ or ‘chance’.. And, ishamo is the opposite state. Mpanga lyankana: the mpanga refuses me.
The following three terms are used to describe the types of kupupa.
Kwilimuna (recharge, reactivate, open): rejoicing about the work of the mpanga, with the purpose of being granted a continuation of ishuko and of preventing ishamo, in general or for a specific future occasion.
Kulila (mourn): mourning, with the purpose of preventing and, sometimes, resolving ishamo.
Kucitila (make, repair): actions with the purpose of resolving ishamo.
When problems arise or one needs success for a difficult task, the kupupa will be more intense and may be more formal in nature or performed on a larger scale. In case of major ishamo, one often consults a shing’anga who will advise how to perform the kucitila.
Healers on kupupa
Illness comes from the mpanga. It is an intrusion of the mpanga into the village because of a weak spot there. Kupupa is the new wood on the fire of warding off intrusion from the mpanga. You always have to plead with the mpanga. The ancestral and chiefly spirits (mupashi) are the mano of the mpanga. The nature spirits (cibanda) are the mutima of the mpanga.2See the article about Wisdom and heart.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.
There is no path between ishamo and ishuko. Any state that is not ishamo is ishuko. When nothing bad happens, it is ishuko.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.
Ishuko and ishamo come from the mpanga. Ishuko is not obtained, it is granted. Ishamo has to be resolved by going to those who know. Then the one who has wronged you, man or spirit, is brought into contact with you, and kupupa can be performed.
BanaNshimbi ∵ personal communication, 1987.
To sing teaching songs is to pay respect to the ancestral spirits. So, it is kupupa. Singing a song to seek peace is also small kupupa.
BanaNshimbi ∵ personal communication, 1987.3Teaching songs: nyimbo sha mafunde; small kupupa: kepupo.
Shrines
Chibale Zambia: religion kupupa. In the village, kupupa can be performed by following life rules, by singing, and by offering mealie meal or beer. The latter can be done on any tray or in a special gourd, nkombo, kept in the house, see Gourd shrine ritual. In the past, each village kept three shrines: one for Mulenga, one for Mushili and one for another major spirit, which could vary from village to village. Of these, only the mpata shrines kept by chief Chibale have remained (though now as part of the chiefly cult; see under Ipupo lya fikankomba with pictures).
Shrines are also kept at the places where the corpse of each chief Chibale lay rotting or, after 1925, where he died (see the cishala of Mwape Mondwa). Since chief Chibale regularly changes villages, these shrines are located in the mpanga. Other shrines in the mpanga can serve the commemoration of historical events.
Photo collage 8 ∵ Cishala ca mafumo4The collage is made up of Photo 188, Photo 189 and Photo 190.
Photo collage 8 ∵ Cishala ca mafumoAt Mafumo, the cishala ca mafumo, ‘remains of the spears’ shrine, is kept to commemorate a battle with the Chikunda in the 19th century. It contains a spearhead and a bow stand.5Possibly Brelsford (1940:36) refers to this place. “Another [bow] stand is well known amongst the Lala, and seems to be under the care of Chief Chiwale, one of the most important of Lala chiefs. It is placed upright in the ground a few miles from his present village. There is no covering over it and it always remains in its present position, even when the Chief’s village is moved. There seems to be no ritual connected with it, although it is said that if it ever falls to the ground it is an omen of disaster, mupamba.
Several more stands are said to be buried on a hill in the Lala area on the Muchinga escarpment, close to a site where there was once a battle between the Ngoni and the Lala.” It can be used for kupupa in times of crisis.
Music and kupupa
Chibale Zambia: religion kupupa. Singing is one of the primary forms kupupa can take.
Kwilimuna and kulila can consist solely of singing, but they can also occur without singing6In the 1980s, for instance, there were people who performed individual kupupa before eating new crops. They took some of the first harvested cobs to a large tree and then said, for example: “Oh you people who helped me with these things and you who move about, just assist me. I do not need to mention your names, since I do not know you.” One could perform similar kupupa before sowing. In former days, this type of kupupa took place at the shrines (masala masala) that each village had. Compare Doke (1927: 526) for the Lamba region.. Kucitila can involve singing, but it requires additional activities to be effective.
Proverb 1807Also in Munday (1961: 29).
Lwimbo lumo talwipaye nama
One song doesn’t kill game
Not everything is straightforward or easy to achieve. For hunting, more extensive kupupa is needed than, for instance, to prevent small misfortune.
For a fuller explanation, see proverb 180 in the book Mu Zambia Amano Mambulwa.
See also kupupa at small gatherings.
There is a relation between the main division of the Chibale song repertoire and these three forms of kupupa.
Singing can only be kupupa if it is done correctly.
Footnotes
- 1People who do not regard ishuko as the result of a good relationship with the spirit world, often use the word in the sense of ‘good luck’ or ‘chance’.
- 2See the article about Wisdom and heart.
- 3Teaching songs: nyimbo sha mafunde; small kupupa: kepupo.
- 4The collage is made up of Photo 188, Photo 189 and Photo 190.
- 5Possibly Brelsford (1940:36) refers to this place. “Another [bow] stand is well known amongst the Lala, and seems to be under the care of Chief Chiwale, one of the most important of Lala chiefs. It is placed upright in the ground a few miles from his present village. There is no covering over it and it always remains in its present position, even when the Chief’s village is moved. There seems to be no ritual connected with it, although it is said that if it ever falls to the ground it is an omen of disaster, mupamba.
Several more stands are said to be buried on a hill in the Lala area on the Muchinga escarpment, close to a site where there was once a battle between the Ngoni and the Lala.” - 6In the 1980s, for instance, there were people who performed individual kupupa before eating new crops. They took some of the first harvested cobs to a large tree and then said, for example: “Oh you people who helped me with these things and you who move about, just assist me. I do not need to mention your names, since I do not know you.” One could perform similar kupupa before sowing. In former days, this type of kupupa took place at the shrines (masala masala) that each village had. Compare Doke (1927: 526) for the Lamba region.
- 7Also in Munday (1961: 29).