Kulamba unites Chewas, mesmerises visitors
Every year the Chewa-speaking people drawn from Malawi, Mozambiaque and Zambia congregate at Mkaika in Katete for the Kulamba ceremony. Each year, the event consolidates the unity among the Chewa and mesmerszes visitors. This year was no exception. CHIMWEMWE MWALE reports.
THE air of celebration was blowing two days before the spectacular Kulamba ceremony of the Chewa people in Eastern Province of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique.
Months earlier, men and women had begun preparations of what would unfold into a spectrum of song and dance performances from the three countries at Mkaika, the capital of Paramount Chief Gawa Undi.
Kulamba is an annual thanks-giving ceremony during which the Chewa people pay homage to their chief, Paramount Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi.
During the ceremony, the chief dresses in white garments. After a long meditation he visits the shrine to invoke the spirits of the ancestors before he performs a traditional greeting ceremony to his mother.
He then proceeds to the main arena where thousands of spectators await his majestic entry, surrounded by traditional guards clad in scarlet red garments before taking his throne to greet chiefs from the three countries and watch different traditional dances.
The ceremony is also characterised by subordinate chiefs officially presenting ‘annual reports’ of what has taken place in their respective chiefdoms.
Various villages and chiefdoms are given a platform to perform their songs and dance to entertain the chief and invited guests.
Last weekend’s Kulamba ceremony was colourful, as usual, and attracted thousands of tourists from Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. International tourists were treated to a spectrum of songs and dances highlighted by the UNESCO-enlisted Gule wa Mkulu.
The scenery is awesome, especially for those attending the ceremony for the first time. Each Gule wa Mkulu has a special and unique display.
The displays range from dancing while hanging on a thin string tied to two poles, to performing a tango dance with pythons and other dangerous and harmful snakes.
The Nyau masquerades also mesmerize the crowd with their acrobatic skills while visibly defying the natural laws of gravity at the same time confidently dragging themselves across a suspended thin string tied between two wooden poles.
This year’s Kulamba ceremony was graced by President Banda who confessed his phobia for snakes as one of the snake charmers approached his seat to showcase his rare skill.
President Banda arrived at Mkaika around 09:15 hours to a rousing welcome by singing and ululating women known as Mbumbas.
He was joined by representatives of Malawi Anna Machiko and of Mozambique Alberto Vakina, before he had a closed door meeting with Paramount Chief Gawa Undi before proceeding to the main arena to watch performances.
Mr Banda said culture and creative industries have a great potential to transform into small-scale enterprises that can earn the country foreign exchange.
“In addition to providing a strong framework for anchoring the development process in society, the cultural sector is important for tourism promotion through crafts, music, theater dance and other various cultural products, culture contributes to tourism promotion while creating employment through the sale of cultural products which tourists buy as souvenirs,” he said.
He said Government is working towards building the capacity of artists
and cultural agents by empowering them with the necessary skills to improve the quality and standard of their products.
Mr Banda said Government’s commitment to the promotion of culture has prompted the review of the policy and legislation on culture and the inclusion of a separate chapter on arts and culture in the Sixth Development Plan (SDP).
“My Government’s vision is to establish by 2015 a viable cultural
sector that will contribute to employment and wealth creation in our country. I therefore wish to commend you your royal highness for your personal dedication to the development of culture in your chiefdom,”
he said.
He said traditional ceremonies are important activities in the calendar of the country as various positive traditions are showcased.
Mr Banda said traditional ceremonies also provide an opportunity to exhibit indigenous skills.
“Moreover such ceremonies enable us rekindle the memory of our ancestors and of our culture traditions and heritage which are fast disappearing due to foreign cultural influences. My Government appreciates the role that culture plays in the development process. No meaningful development can take place in a society which lacks a strong cultural background in terms of sound values, norms, behavior and practices among its people,” he said.
Paramount Chief Kalonga Gawa Undi, in a speech read on his behalf by his representative Justine Malewezi, appealed to government to work out initiatives that will attract more investments in the agriculture sector.
He said Eastern Province is a predominantly agriculture
province hence the need to attract investments in the agriculture sector saying this can also result in reduced farming input prices.
Paramount Chief Gawa Undi said the high costs of farming inputs have remained a challenge for most peasant farmers in his area.
He said the late entry by the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) onto the
market could expose peasant farmers to exploitative briefcase business
persons.
“The marketing prices are low and the buying points are few. Farmers still have to wait for long before selling the maize,” Paramount Chief Gawa Undi said.
He said high pump prices for fuel still remains a challenge for subjects in his chiefdom to help grow the economy.
The Paramount Chief also said Government should have provided 90 days rather than 40 days for public submissions to the National Constitutional Conference (NCC).
Mozambique’s Tete Province governor Alberto Vakina said the ceremony is testimony of the unity among the three countries as it depicts common cultural heritage through performances.
Malawi’s representative Anna Machiko said there is need hold culture and traditional values in high esteem as they are key to unity among people.
Speeches done, visitors and hosts alike continued celebrating all happy that another Kalumba ceremony had gone down in history as a resounding success.
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