N'cwala

Yesterday, along with our tour group of nine medical students, we headed east towards Chipata, not for our usual trip to the supermarket and hotel swimming pool (although we managed to fit these in as well), but to the N’cwala Traditional Ceremony.  N’cwala is the annual festival of the Ngoni tribe, warriors who settled in Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, descended from South African Zulus, whose chief drinks the blood of a freshly slaughtered ox to mark the end of the rainy season, and the beginning of the harvest.  Suitably tempted by this take on a harvest festival, we thought it would be a good way to encounter some traditional Zambian culture. 

The party had started before we left Katete, flat-bed trucks full of people standing packed onto the back (very safe!), complete with animal skin head-dresses making lots of noise and slowly making the journey east.  By the time we reached the festival site, there seemed to be thousands of people there, with an array of stalls selling all sorts of things, along with a bouncy castle, giving quite a festival atmosphere (especially as there was a healthy amount of mud – it could have almost been Glastonbury..).  We were ushered into one of the VIP areas with some quite important-looking Zambians, who told us that we were welcome as tourism is very important, and that we were to take lots of photos to share with our friends (see below)… 

There was a lot of dancing by men draped in animal skins, mostly impala, small wild cats, and occasionally leopard skins (the best ones were those that were faux-fur -  well bling!), and bare-chested women (sorry if some of the photos give this entry a bit of a page 3 feel).  Interspersed with the dancing were political speeches, giving of gifts, including fridges and washing machines, all for the king of the Ngonis (who sat draped in a lion skin on a very grand throne).   After all the gifts came the killing of the ox, which seemed to cause quite a lot of excitement, Becca managed to catch the start of it by standing on the back of a truck, but we couldn’t quite see whether the king actually had some blood to drink, he was probably quite well refreshed already by all the coca cola he had been drinking.  We left at that point and headed to Chipata.  On the way home as we passed the after-party seemed to be in full swing in the nearby village, with the bars doing a roaring trade! 

Today has been more sedate, welcoming Charlotte (our new doctor who we know from Liverpool) and sitting in the garden.  We feel well refreshed after our 12-day stretch of work and ready for more fun and games tomorrow! 

 

The traditional meets the modern

The King of the Ngonis

...and his pet lion

Nice use of a feather duster