Chewa Tribe: People from Chewa tribe are known as Achewa. The Chewa Tribe is an African culture that has existed since the beginning of the first millennium, A.D. Their local language is called Chichewa, Malawi national language. There are presently over 1.5 million Chewa throughout Malawi and Zambia, however the Chewa are not considered people of Malawi or Zambia; instead they are people from the Nyanja group of Bantu. In Malawi, the Chewa are predominantly concentrated within the central region, surrounding the capital city of Lilongwe. The Chewa believe that living things were created by God. Gule Wamkulu (Big Dances associated with masks), has become a sort of title for secret societies of traditional Chewa religious practices. The Gule Wamkulu ceremonies consist of formally organised dances to admire the remarkable physical abilities of these individuals (called Nyau). If one has the misfortune of passing a Gule on the road, traditional behaviour consists of dropping a few coins for the Gule - never handing them the money directly for fear they will grab you and take you to the cemetery for ritual purposes. Masks worn by the Gule Wamkulu include thousands of different representations - generally each developed hundreds of years ago by unique tribes, and accented with their own individual touch. Today, these masks, with their different origins, are part of what is now the Chewa culture.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 21:02:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015