: Zambia - Information related to Intangible Cultural Heritage
Other sources of information 
Within UNESCO:
World Heritage in this country
- Date of deposit of instrument: 10-05-2006
- UNESCO Regional Officer for Intangible Heritage: Yoshida, Reiko
Following information is provided for easy reference, but has no official status. For comments or to update information, please contact the regional officer concerned via ich@unesco.org.
Since November 2008, the Representative List contains 90 elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Proclamation 2005: "The Gule Wamkulu"
©Malawi National Commission for UNESCO
Multinational ICH element: Malawi - Mozambique - Zambia
Gule Wamkulu was a secret cult, involving a ritual dance practiced among the Chewa in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. It was performed by members of the Nyau brotherhood, a secret society of initiated men.Within the Chewa’s traditional matrilineal society, where married men played a rather marginal role, the Nyau offered a means to establish a counterweight and solidarity among men of various villages. Nyau members still are responsible for the initiation of young men into adulthood, and for the performance of the Gule Wamkulu at the end of the initiation procedure, celebrating the young men’s integration into adult society.
Gule Wamkulu is performed in the season following the July harvest, but it can also be seen at weddings, funerals, and the installation or the death of a chief. On these occasions, the Nyau dancers wear costumes and masks made of wood and straw, representing a great variety of characters, such as wild animals, spirits of the dead, slave traders as well as more recent figures such as the honda or the helicopter. Each of these figures plays a particular, often evil, character expressing a form of misbehavior, teaching the audience moral and social values. These figures perform dances with extraordinary energy, entertaining and scaring the audience as representatives of the world of the spirits and the dead.
Gule Wamkulu dates back to the great Chewa Empire of the seventeenth century. Despite the efforts of Christian missionaries to ban this practice, it managed to survive under British colonial rule by adopting some aspects of Christianity. As a consequence, Chewa men tend to be members of a Christian church as well as a Nyau society. However, Gule Wamkulu performances are gradually losing their original function and meaning by being reduced to entertainment for tourists and for political purpose.
Proclamation 2005: "The Makishi Masquerade"
©Zambia National Commission for UNESCO
The Makishi masquerade is performed at the end of the mukanda, an annual initiation ritual for boys between the ages of eight and twelve. This ritual is celebrated by the Vaka Chiyama Cha Mukwamayi communities, which include the Luvale, Chokwe, Luchazi and Mbunda peoples, who live in the northwestern and western provinces of Zambia.
Usually at the beginning of the dry season, the young boys leave their homes and live for one to three months in an isolated bush camp. This separation from the outside world marks their symbolic death as children. The mukanda involves the circumcision of the initiates, tests of courage and lessons on their future role as men and husbands. Each initiate is assigned a specific masked character, which remains with him throughout the entire process. The Chisaluke represents a powerful and wealthy man with spiritual influence; the Mupala is the “lord” of the mukanda and protective spirit with supernatural abilities; Pwevo is a female character representing the ideal woman and is responsible for the musical accompaniment of the rituals and dances. The Makishi is another masked character, representing the spirit of a deceased ancestor who returns to the world of the living to assist the boys. The completion of the mukanda is celebrated with a graduation ceremony. The entire village attends the Makishi dance and pantomime- like performance until the graduates re-emerge from the camp to reintegrate with their communities as adult men.
The mukanda has an educational function of transmitting practical survival-skills as well as knowledge about nature, sexuality, religious beliefs and the social values of the community. In former times, it took place over a period of several months and represented the raison d’être of the Makishi masquerade. Today, it is often reduced to one month in order to adapt to the school calendar. This adjustment together with the increasing demand for makishi dancers at social gatherings and party rallies, might affect the ritual’s original character.
