DEFENCE Minister Geoffrey Mwamba yesterday led scores of mourners during the burial procession of the late Paramount Chief Chitimukulu of the Bemba people in Northern Province.
Pall bearers would have to carry the late Chief’s coffin for three days before reaching the burial site at Mwalule in Chinsali.
Mr Mwamba speaking on behalf of President Michael Sata at the start of the procession at the palace of the late traditional leader expressed Government’s sadness over the death of the Chief who died in April 2012
Mr Mwamba was accompanied by his wife Chama, Mines, Energy and Water Development Minister, Christopher Yaluma, deputy Ministers for Home Affairs Alfreda Kansembe and for Chiefs and Traditional Affairs, Susan Kawandami.
MMD leader Nevers Mumba and National Restoration Party (NAREP) president Elias Chipimo, were also among the mourners.
“He ruled with impartiality and lobbied Government to bring development to this region and this is some of the development we see here today,” Mr Mwamba said.
He said Government attached importance to traditional culture and leadership of all the people in Zambia.
He said this was because culture and traditional leadership played an important role by providing an opportunity to exhibit indigenous skills and visual arts.
He said Government would continue to develop key economic sectors like health and infrastructure for the benefit of the rural population.
He appealed to mourners to remain united and maintain peace and called on the opposition to play a positive role in providing positive economic solutions.
A representative of the Bemba Traditional Councilors Washanga Mpika who presided over the funeral ceremony thanked Government for the support rendered during the one-year-long period of mourning.
Mr Mpika asked Government to continue supporting the royal family as it still had the task of burying Queen Mother Chanda Mukulu on July 23.
He said the Ukusefya Pang’wena traditional ceremony would remain on hold until the next paramount Chief was installed.
He said the councilors would also appreciate if Government fell in line with its decisions because it was their inheritance.
“Our children are in government so we expect you to listen because before the establishment of central Government traditional leaders already existed,” Mr Mpika said.
The royal pall bearers left mid-morning for the three-day walk to Chinsali to put the 37th Paramount chief to rest.
carry the coffin for three days i cant understand this.
There is no coffin. The Chief’s body is rolled in a cow hide and the pall bearers make what we call “amachila” (like a hammock) for ease of carrying. This has been the tradition for years in memorial. In those days, if the pall bearers met anyone during their journey, that person was to be eliminated because nobody was supposed to see the chief’s remains. I don’t know wheter this practice is still there today.
it is not a normal usual coffin. its small but big enough to accommodate the remains which have been traditionally embalmed for a year. so obviously the remains have significantly shrank by this time.
Questioner, Everything else has remained so except the elimination of anyone!
ebuloshi ubu zoona
hahahahah what more can we say!!!.. you are right
Ku mwenu uko wafuma kufwile kwaliba sana ifi buloshi iwe chi John. You have the mind of a typical African. Go study medicine or Biology at UNZA and see how many skeletons and foetuses you will come across
Kodi kulibe ma Galimoto ku Kasama? I can’t imagine people carrying a coffin for three days. This is slavery of the waste kind. These are some of the cultural practices that we need to discard in this dot com era.
Coffin?? and all you have in mind is a modern coffin, No wa Banda! its a small “casket” of animal skin. After one year traditional embalming, the remains obviously shrink, making them light to carry to the site specifically for chiefs.
but @politicians…
all the small coffin or not,,, carrying for 3days is way too much, its like driving from kasama to cape town in south africa
@Ndobo, hahahaha kasama to cape town. Believe me the pall bearers enjoy carrying the remains. its an honor!
I agree with u. This is tradition of 1750s we have VEHICLES this age!! I hop those pallbearers are wearing animal skins???
It’s how we do it. We like it.
Uli chipumbu sana iwe ci Zulu ci mucime. Waba ukulya ba koswe. Do you know the route which they use to reach Shi Mwalule?
Utunyelele have to use the same route where the first Chitimukulu passed which has no foot path. that is why you people in the East keep your dead chiefs in the motuary freezing and burry them as ice stones.
Proper traditional practice. Its rare these days to following traditional norms these days.
That is the beauty of tradition. It gives a people an identity, and no traditional identity is better than the other one!
so niosauka amfumu chiti achita obabukila munsalu zang’ombe? Koma tiziba kuti abemba alibe ng’ombe koti nsalu azipenza kulommba?
Lomba ambuya imwe , pempo yaga nikamusikana komwe asiya abale achiti, simuninga nibeleko ko nangu 1 night chabe? Imwe a nthu shuwa nimverereni chifundi naine nilabe ko vomwe mulinavo.
What is three days? People walk from Mpika to Lundazi FOR one week and from LUNDAZI WITH BANDLES OF GAME MEAT
Bembas keep it up, this is so rich, no one should ever change this tradition, would love to learn more about our traditions, i appreciate our rich history we should teach it thoroughly in schools, i hope one day in future i can take my offsprings to zed and bombard them with our history.
You are right,why do we keep on teaching european history in schools when we have our own history to learn about.Its very easy in Zambia for someone to narrate Industrialisation in German than narating how Zambia got Independence and the way of life before that.This is why we fail to contribute greatly to the development of our land because we do not know where are coming from but busy copying western life styles which have proved to be more harmful than good.
mbuya mubin rahim, ing’ombe twalikwata. we have kept them ever since we grabbed them from the weak boys of the east. plus ama motoka ni mbwee! hahaha ati 1 night?? awe mbuya twakana, elo futi ulekwata umucinshi kuli ifwe mbuya, we are your elders.
its important. it would be interesting to know (that is if u hav less info) the whole history around traditional embalming of the chief and why, then transporting the remains from chitimukulu to chinsali, whereby the pall bearers do not reach the actual graveyard, transfer of the remains on river from one canoe to another, etc. i could share a lot, i happen to have some literature.
Umubemba, Please share! Maybe you have a URL?
what kind nonsense is this ? What is so rich about this slavery where pipo are subjected to such cruelty,waking 4 three days in bush carrying a corpse or what ever.These are morden days ,vehicles ,helicopers etc. Insisting to keep these traditions is refusing to advance in life.
Bembas are not asking for your bright opinion iwe.its our tradition so leave us alone.
You should be proud of your tradition – we have ofcourse ditched some of the practices. Even the English have kept some of their royal rituals.
These pall bearers smoke ganja/ ibange big time… 3 days looks like 3 minutes to them…..fwaka a Bemba!
OK Bemba’s I want to learn something ambuya’s. What science do u use to do embalming of your chief??? I know it is not the ZAMBEEF one.
Please tell me so that I use it to make exotic biltong.
Umuto we Ilanda, otherwise known as Chick Pea soup.
A crooked tribe taking a long cut? The pall bearers are poachers I think!
Fsek!
Waba kumwenu ukulepa.
@ Pobo, we use hot umuto “gravy” from cow peas
You have left out the technical details. This is, a very secretive operation, at par with the way the Egyptians used to mummify their Pharaohs. Embalming a body involves replacing bodily fluids with formalin. From by secondary school history, the cowpea soup is poured over the body forming layer after layer. Question is, what is the consistency of this cowpea soup? What else is added to the concoction? The Egyptians had a process of removing the innards of the Pharaoh to prevent early onset of decomposition. Do the bemba’s do the same or it all belongs to the secretive world? My guess is that this “soup” has great anti bacterial properties. Now one would have thought having this plant one would investigate its scientific properties and who knows Zambia could be producing a…
@mfumu
Thank you for showing a healthy interest. I want all the answers too. Hopefully Umubemba can help.
Iam a Ngoni Bull looking for a Bemba cow so we can produce the next Mwine Lubemba Chitampankwa Chitimukulu ungatambalika ntwenu pa chambeshi abantu baabuka
@ Mdya Makoko; are bemba’s matrilineal or patrilineal?
Matrilineal.
Bembas are matrilineal….so i can be a father to chitimukulu…
Iwe! Insoselo ububi. Cindika ubufumu. – just kidding with you. 🙂
@ Umubemba, please share more info, it would be nice to know the symbolism and philosophy represented by this sacred and special event. Now for all you fools like Ndobo et al who hate their own culture, and hate their own brothers; these traditions are yours too. Can you not see that this is a Pharoah we are burying..there is depth in being mourned for a year, no European monarch even gets that, which shows how advanced the traditions of Zambia are….and this is our strength, without it that will be our end! Walking for 3 days again is wonderful, and great fitness, and no polution to the environment, clearly all of u critising can’t see yourselves walking that long because your excessive beer drinking ways have prob left you unfit. Lets celebrate our rich culture.
We have a big problem with our minds in Zambia today… some of the comments on here are great barometer to why our progress has been stagnant. We can’t clearly see the ancient roots here. This is a Pharoah we are burying without doubt! Theres nothing wrong with walking 3 days unless you are so unfit from excessive beer drinking ways. Its less poluting to the environment, and the type of coffin chosen is also not polluting to nature, but instead incorporates with nature, demonstrating Bemba high science and refinement. These Zambian traditions are our strength.
Real traditional , i like it. Now; are there no burial sites in kasama? any way; maybe way back HISTORY
Imwe abemba, that is not a tradition.you did this because. Back then, no vehicles existed. Get a closed van and transport your beloved chief’s remains in a dignified way. Who are you saving money for? My uncle Mr Daka has a van you can use. Osanama boza nikusauka kweka kweka uko.you can’t be walking 186km that is insane.
I’m not Bemba, but I salute their traditional process in this regard. Its rich though a little bizarre. The man has suffered enough and needs a real good rest mwe Bantu. No wonder his subjects ntota! How can you continuously keep the remains of a ‘King’ for such a prolonged period of time without invoking the spirit of ‘ntota’ on an entire tribe?
And why didn’t Nkandu Luo attend the ceremony? Is it because of the Sosala saga?