Trip to Zambia for the Likumbi Lya Mize Festival
Exploratory trip to Zambia where we will attend the Likumbi Lya Mize ceremony declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. A cultural expedition to attend an impressive traditional masquerade that marks the end of the Mukanda initiation rite for a group of young people aged 8-12 years old.
Likumbi Lya Mize Ceremony
Likumbi Lya Mize is a ceremony of the Luvale people of northern Zambia in which Makishi masks are displayed. The Makishi masks are very special and artistic, which is what makes this Luvale ceremony so interesting.
The Makishi Masquerade
The Makishi masquerade marks the end of the mukanda, an annual rite of passage for children aged eight to twelve. This rite is celebrated by the Vaka Chiyama Cha Mukwamayi communities, to which the Luvale, Chokwe, Luchazi and Mbunda peoples, living in the north-western and western provinces of Zambia, belong.
Usually at the beginning of the dry season, children leave their homes to spend a period of one to three months in an isolated jungle camp. This separation from the outside world marks their symbolic death as children. The mukanda includes circumcision of the initiates, giving tests of courage, and lessons on their future role as men and husbands. Each initiate is assigned a particular masked character, who accompanies them throughout the initiatory process.
Kafue National Park
Kafue is Zambia’s oldest and largest national park. The park was proclaimed in 1950, making it one of the most important natural heritage sites in the world. Kafue is also one of the last great expanses of the iconic Zambezi ecoregion and home to elephants, large predators, the highest diversity of antelope species in Africa and 515 bird species.
