Gatherings in Zambia: gourd shrine ritual

Gatherings in Zambia: gourd shrine ritual. The Bwalwa bwa nkombo (Beer of the gourd shrine), also called Bwalwa bwa mipashi (Beer of the ancestral spirits), is a small-scale ritual within the old local cults at the erection of a gourd shrine. It is mostly asked for by an ancestral spirit (mupashi) in a dream: ‘Nkofwaya nkombo’ or ‘Nkofwayo bwalwa’ – ‘I want a gourd shrine/beer’. If the one who has the dream does not comply with this request and thereafter suffers small and family misfortune, eventually the Bwalwa bwa nkombo will be organised. If the misfortune is larger, an Ipupo may be organised.

I dreamt of my grandmother visiting me and asking for some beer. I dismissed it as ‘just a dream’. Two times after that the beer I brewed went sour. And in the morning of the mixing day of the third beer, again I dreamt of my grandmother coming, saying: “I come to your dreams but you don’t listen. Also this beer will be sour. Now make some beer for me but not from your own maize or millet but that from your mother and your mother’s sister. And, don’t go into the kitchen to check the beer”. So, my husband had to check the beer and it was sour.
Then I brewed beer with millet from my mother and mother’s sister for the sweet and the sour parts. This beer, not so much, was very strong. I put up a tree branch and a gourd as my grandmother had instructed me and I did kupupa with some of the beer there. Other people came and put money on a tray at the threshold of the room. The next commercial beer I brewed was very strong!
BanaMunsele personal communication, 1987.

Erection of the gourd shrine

Gatherings in Zambia: gourd shrine ritual. At this ritual a shrine is made: a special type of gourd (mungu) with a handle is cut and put on a tree branch ending in three twig stumps (mulenga wa nkombo), thus making a tripod in which the gourd can rest. The handle of the gourd is usually adorned with beads (bulungu). In the gourd some of the beer brewed for the occasion is poured and some mealie meal is sprinkled. On top of this is placed a plate with mealie meal.

Photo 99 A gourd

A gourd (nkombo) used as a sign that there is mild, sweet beer (munkoyo) on this farm. A similar type of gourd is used as a gourd shrine. Then, it is kept under the eaves of the roof.

Gatherings in Zambia: gourd shrine ritual. No publicity is given to the ritual. Visitors are family members, ritual friends (bali) and neighbours. They put money on the plate as an offering (kutaila) ‘to help in the ritual’. During this, the family members and the ritual friends can say things like ‘Today we do kupupa, you cibanda, stay in the mpanga’ (Lelo twapupa, we cibanda, kalale mu mpanga). The money goes to the organiser who may distribute it further. After some drinking, the singing and dancing starts, more or less like on a normal, small beer party. After the Bwalwa bwa nkombo the gourd shrine is put under the roof edge of the house and can be used for other kupupa occasions.

Gatherings in Zambia: gourd shrine ritual. A song referring to the preparing of the gourd shrine for Amoni Nunda, as remembered by Mika Mwape Chungwa, 1986.

Text of Song 6 Let Amoni drink from the gourd

Yo, nakusembe nkombo ya muundula
Kabanwemo ba Amoni, mundabakungalausha

I will cut and prepare a gourd for all
Let Amoni drink from it, so that he will stop troubling me

IJzermans, Jan J. (2024) Amalimba. Music and related dance, text & ritual in one African region. https://amalimba.org/gatherings-in-zambia-gourd-shrine-ritual/

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