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(NYASATIMES) Mutharika to join Zambia President for traditional Chewa fete

Mutharika to join Zambia President for traditional Chewa fete
By Nyasa Times
Published: September 4, 2009

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika will join Zambia President Rupia Bwenzani Banda and Mozambique’s Armando Guebuza at this year’s Kulamba traditional ceremony of the Chewa people of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia in Katete on Saturday.

Accoridng to a report monitored on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC), Mutharika, Banda and Guebuza will officiate at Kulamba traditional ceremony of a large ethnic group, the Chewa people, who are settled across the three countries. ZNBC quoted the statement released Zambia by State House Aide, Dickson Jere.

Malawi authorities also confirmed that Mutharika will grace the annual traditional homage-paying ceremony in Katete District at the headquarters of the Chewa people, situated about 490 kilometres south of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

This will be the second time for Mutharika to attend the Kulamba ceremony. The Malawi leader and Guebuza together with the late Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa graced the same ceremony in 2007.

Kulamba traditional ceremony is meant for Chewa people to pay homage, explain their achievement and problems to their paramount chief, Kalonga Gawa Undi, who is the overseer of his people in the three countries.

Kulamba traditional ceremony displays various Chewa dances, particularly the Nyau dance performed by male youths clad in a mask, feathers on the head, animal skins and sacks on their private parts.

Nyau dance, which is performed as a symbolic process for a young male’s turning into adulthood, is shrouded in secrecy. Nyau dancers emerge from the nearby bush with their attire smeared with mud to disguise themselves.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, CEREMONIES, KULAMBA CEREMONY, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 5:00 PM