Lwiindi day

We visited Monze’s infamous Lwiindi ceremony today – apparently this is a traditional festival which was originally a thanksgiving for the crops and the rain, but has developed to be a rather commercial venture these days which can be attended in one day by over 8,000 people. Still, we were excited to see some of the old customs which are still performed, and even a commercial venture in Zambia is something quite different to what it might be in the UK…

On arriving (again somewhere in the middle of the bush), we discovered that the official opening day isn’t until Tuesday, so we weren’t able to catch any of the ceremony. It was still a rather amazing spectacle though. It seemed that there was a whole village created entirely of straw walls: each little straw booth housed a shop, bar or ‘restaurant’. The whole setup seemed to be a cross between a jumble sale, a market and the food area at a fairground (but with no actual vans to sell the food out of). After having a look round all the produce that was on sale, Oliver took us on a walk about ten minutes further into the bush, into a rather wooded area, where the shrine for the first three Tonga chiefs is located and where every year, on the opening day of the Lwiindi, they will sacrifice a black goat, a black cow and a black chicken to the rainmakers (it used to be all three – I’m not sure if they make do with just one these days). There was a very mystical atmosphere around the shrine – perhaps because there were more trees around than we’ve seen in our whole stay here so far, or perhaps because Oliver kept mentioning the three ancient chiefs buried nearby.

the shrine

Eva, Wilson and myself at the shrine

When we made our way back to the crowds, we stopped for a moment to watch the stage which was sponsored by a mobile phone network provider, who were promoting and entertaining by cajoling members of the crowd to get up onto the stage and partake in dance-offs. For a country whose men complain that a woman is acting outrageously when she wears short clothes, they seem to have incredibly provocative dance moves! Eva and I spent a good half-hour watching the bizarre hip wiggles, trying to figure out how the women move their hips so independently of the rest of their body without dislocating something.

Whilst watching the spectacle, Oliver spotted a vendor nearby selling large slabs of pinky-brown ‘stuff’ (for want of a better word); he went over and paid for a few squares cut off this slab, and brought it back to Eva and myself, urging us to try it. We eyed the stuff rather dubiously, trying to figure out what it was: Oliver assured us it was only made from fruit, and with that in mind I ate a square. It has one of the strangest textures I’ve ever encountered – slightly gelatinous, and almost meaty in flavour. Apparently it’s what you get when you boil this certain fruit down and let it solidify – I couldn’t quite decide whether or not I liked it.

After this, we decided it was high time to go and find ourselves some lunch. Earlier we’d met with Oliver’s uncle (this was probably meant in a very loose sense, seeing as here anyone even vaguely tied to your family becomes a close relative) who was running one of the ‘restaurants’. This establishment consisted of three straw walls with a bin-liner roof for shade, a makeshift barbeque, a few stools for customer seating and a table which served as both a food preparation surface and the ‘bar’ (it had a few spirit bottles on top). For all the humble setup, lunch was very acceptable. We had chips and chicken skewered kebabs washed down by a bottle of Zambian beer.

our lunch restaurant

food!

chilling with our beers

After an afternoon of wandering around in the sun, we eventually became quite tired and so ventured back to the car. We were just in time, however, to catch the arrival of the descendants of the original Tonga tribe, who appeared as if from nowhere with a great clamour of horns, drums and maracas. According to Wilson, the noise was to proclaim their presence, and so they jogged up and down the field a few times just to make sure everyone knew.

the Tongas arriving 

We’re off to Mazabuka tomorrow! Early start to catch the bus, but hopefully greener pastures (in terms of food supply) await. We’ve just been sat torturing ourselves by imagining what we might be eating back in the UK, and reading our guidebooks to discover what awaits in Lusaka and Livingstone.

Thank you for all the lovely messages I’ve received recently from friends and family – it really is wonderful to have a touch of home over here. I hear there’s a bit of a heatwave back in England – even though it’s boiling here, I am a little jealous to be missing England’s rare summer. Anyway, lots of love and enjoy the sun!