Gatherings in Zambia: rituals of rejoicing

Gatherings in Zambia: rituals of rejoicing. In former days, rituals of rejoicing were important in order to stay in a state of good fortune. These rituals have gradually disappeared and some of them turned into or merged with the Bwalwa, the old beer party.
In this article, we discuss all the rituals of rejoicing still practised or remembered in Chibale.

Cilili

The name of the rituals organised by Kaluwe mediums and hunters is Cilili.¹The word presumably comes from –lila: mourn, cry, lament, produce sounds though the aim of the Cilili is rejoicing.

1. Cilili ca ku cisanda ca nama (Cilili at the game shrine) or Kwilimuna (reactivating): rejoicing ritual held for Kaluwe, the hunting spirit, with the purpose of being granted a continuation of ishuko for the next hunt or series of hunts.

2. Cilili ca kusekelela (Cilili of rejoicing): rejoicing ritual held at the end of a successful hunt or series of hunts. The hunters share meat (head, heart and ears) among those present who give gifts (kutaila) for a share. It is also a kwilimuna ritual but with a larger attendance than the Cilili 1.

In the 1980s and later, these rituals were rarely, and mostly secretively, held due to government regulations against poaching. Hunters and Kaluwe mediums -often hunters themselves- form small hunters’ associations that organise the Cilili. Kaluwe mediums are essential for (a part of) the music and dance. Initiation of a Kaluwe-possessed is done at a Cibombe 3 or at a special Cilili²For a description of such a ritual in a neighbouring area, see Marks (1976:89)..

A Cilili in the 1940s

The professional hunter [mupalu] who has made a successful hunt will dance in the evening. To this end, he preserves the heart, the intestines, and the ears of his prey. He will cook these without salt and eat them with nshima. Only the hunter and his fellow hunters eat this meal, called nyama ya bwanga. The dance that the hunter performs is called ikisengwe [cinsengwe]. Professional dancers called Bayambo join in the dance. These dances, which take place in front of the ifipanda [hunter’s shrine], are the occasion of festivities. The meat eaten by attendees contributes to creating a positive atmosphere. […]

As said earlier, the hunter dances in the village when he has killed a large animal, such as the hippo, the eland, the hartebeest, the zebra, etc. They have carried the animal to the village in large parts. The hunter hangs four civet skins around his waist: one in front, one behind and one on each side. A zebra mane covers his forehead and he holds an eland tail in each hand. The hunter has a very young girl on each side, the breasts hardly formed yet. On his right he places the meat that the villagers will process. On his left are empty baskets and containers. He dances and the girls dance with him.
Those who want meat deposit grain or flour in baskets, or beer or hydromel in containers. Then they pass on the opposite side. Here they receive from the hand of the dancer a piece of meat the value of which varies with the importance of their offering. There the dancer gives them a piece of meat with a value in accordance to the size of their offering.
An account of a Cilili in the Congo part of the Lala region in the 1940s by Lucien Lambo.³Lambo (1945: 331, 337, 338). Original in French, translation by Jan IJzermans.

The old beer party (Bwalwa) as a kwilimuna or kwangala ritual

Gatherings in Zambia: rituals of rejoicing. It is probable that the festive part of the Cilili ca kusekelela evolved into the old beer party, Bwalwa. Or, old beer parties were a kind of cilaila version of the Cilili. Jones and Kombe⁴Jones & Kombe (1952: 1). mention the cilili as a dance performed by daylight and always indoors. Probably they refer to the dancing of the ilimbalakata at the old beer party. This seems another indication that certain hunting rituals (Cilili) turned into beer parties in the first half of the 20th century.[/mfn]
In the old beer party, and certainly in its successor the Sandauni, joy was experienced much more as a personal and social than a spiritual phenomenon. It is possible that the ing’omba that played at important old beer parties in the first part of the previous century played a role in the transition of joy from a spiritual to a social phenomenon. Unfortunately, material to substantiate this is lacking.
A further description of the old beer party can be found in another article.

Cibombe

Gatherings in Zambia: rituals of rejoicing. Three of the rituals organised by Mwami shing’anga are for rejoicing. The other Cibombe are for problem solving, see here.

Cibombe ca kushinkile’ ngoma (Cibombe of opening the drums). A ritual organised on the evening and night of the first and fifth day of the brewing of the beer for the Cibombe ca cisungu and the Cibombe ca kusubula. It is a typical kwilimuna ritual ‘to draw the spirits nearer for the Cibombe ca cisungu’. It mostly does not last all night but stops between midnight and two in the morning. No beer is shared.

Cibombe ca kusekelela (of rejoicing) or kwilimuna (of reactivating). A ritual organised by the shing’anga or by the patients and adepts. It is kwilimuna for the spirits possessing the shing’anga “to reload their power”. It is held once or twice a year per cult group.

Cibombe ca ntongo/munkoyo (of the light sorghum/maize beer) or Cibombe ca kusumina masaka/mataba(of the permitting of sorghum/maize) or Cibombe ca kulya fyamfula (of eating the products of the rain). This ritual has the purpose to have the adepts and patients eat first fruits grown by natural rains (that is: from the field, not from the garden) under controlled conditions. It is held once or twice a year by some of the possession cult groups in Chibale.

Song 152

A Mwami song for the Cibombe ca Ntongo, the first fruit ritual, brought by bamukaNdubeni, 1987.

Text of Song 152 ∵ Eat light beer in the field

Tukalye ntongo ku conde
Tukalye ntongo ku conde kuli ba Maya

Let us eat light sorghum beer in the field
Let us eat light sorghum beer in the field where Maya is

The ritual consumption of beer is called kulya (eating) instead of kunwa (drinking). Conde is a citeme field in the mpanga, a small piece of culture in nature. By reversion it also refers to the dance circle or to a house-like shrine of the shing’anga⁵Also in Doke (1931: 260).. A small piece of nature in culture (the village/the farm). Maya is the name of one of the possessing spirits of the organising shing’anga. So, in the field where Maya is translates here as here in the dance circle where the spirit Maya is present at this moment.