Umtomboko Ceremony and Zambia Safari

Umtomboko Ceremony takes place during the month of July at Mwansabombwe, Zambia’s largest village. The time for the ceremony is drawing close and all are in celebrative mood. Chief Mwata Kazembe the senior chief of the Lunda people will lead the Umtomboka Ceremony. This ceremony is one of Zambia’s well known traditional ceremonies besides the Ku-omboka (February/March) of the Lozi people and Nc’wala (end February) of the Ngoni people.

This year’s ceremony will take place in the last weekend of July 2005. Already there have been and continue to be fund raising activities in order to support the traditional ceremony. Scores of Lunda people are preparing enthusiastically for the ceremony.

What does it signify? The ceremony is an annual celebration to remember the victories of Chief Mwata Kazembe when his great kingdom migrated en masse into Luapula Province of Zambia from the D R Congo in the 19th century. The chief gets dressed in colourful long dress. Blue, white and red colours are prominent. Young dancing girls will be in blue skirts and white blouses. Chief Kazembe dances around the arena followed by the booming sound of a muzzleloader gun.

Before the dance at the main arena the people follow the Chief when he visits sacred places for prayers. Then he pays homage to ancestral spirits at a sacred river. Women bring cooked / braaied (barbequed) meat and chicken to the chief. He throws the food into the water to feed the spirits. Young boys have a field day! They jump into the water to collect the food. The smartest come up with the bounty ...and that’s part of the fun.

The celebrations include drinking locally brewed beer, eating traditional food, traditional dancing, and merry making of all sorts. The ceremony is a crowd puller as it’s one of the more popular traditional ceremonies in the Zambia safari calender. Visitors are welcome to 'join in'.