Visiting large-scale gatherings

It is practically impossible to stay away from, if not ‘to rush to’ (kubutukila), the Cililo of a relative or a friend, or of someone whose farm is not too far away. Not attending is rude and insulting to the next of kin of the deceased and a possible sign that one is involved in the death. In former days, this also held for not visiting someone’s Ipupo. The Ipupo has changed less than the Cililo and therefore many christians do not visit it.

List 48: Visiting large-scale gatherings with music in the 1980s and in the 2000s.

We see that in the 1980s, except for the Cililo, the large-scale gatherings, however influential they were, were visited on a regular basis by less than half of the population above fourteen years of age. In the 2000s, these visiting frequencies have dropped. The christian cult meetings are visited more often and there is still a strong desire to attend a Cililo, but it is less so than in the 1980s. Sandauni, now with the bars and tarvens as competitors, are visited less frequently but still have an audience while the Ipupo and Cibombe are visited far less often than in the 1980s. This is due to the related threesome: the decline of spirit possession, the better economic situation and the further rise of christianity.