Unga people celebrate Musubila Mpemba

—-The Unga people of Lunga district in Senior Chief Nsamba’s area have celebrated the second edition of the Musubila Mpemba traditional ceremony which is held every year on the last Saturday of the month of June.

Hundreds of people, mainly from Samfya, Mansa and nearby chiefdoms in the wetlands of Lake Bangweuru turned up at Nsama Primary School to celebrate Musubila Mpemba which took place yesterday.

And government has hailed the role of traditional and cultural ceremonies in the country and has since reaffirmed its full support to traditional ceremonies in the country.

The newly introduced Musubila Mpemba ceremony of the Unga people of the newly-created Lunga District was first held last year in remembering the wars the Unga people fought with the Bisa and Bemba before they could settle at the Island.

The ceremony has been introduce to also honour and worship the spirits of the ancestors of the Unga people for having guided their people to many successive wars with other tribes who wanted to invade and displace them from the island where they are currently settled.

On the eve of the ceremony, senior chief Nsamba, who is the host, and his fellow traditional leaders spend the night at the shrine at Musubilwa Mpemba river where they worship the spirits before emerging at the ceremony the following day in accompaniment of the Unga warriors armed with bows and arrows as they jeer and sing songs to signify that they are conquerors and owners of the land.

As they enter the main arena, where the ceremony is held, drums are sounded as women and men ululate and sing along with them as they demonstrate how they conquered the Bemba’s three times before they could finally displace them to the main land where they are currently settled.

Clad in white rob and special head gear made of various colours, Chief Nsama anoints his warriors amidst singing to appreciate them for winning the battle, an activity which also signifies the decrescendo
of the ceremony.

Local Government Minister, Emerine Kabanshi, was guest of honour at the ceremony and praised the Unga people and their traditional leadership for organizing and successfully holding the ceremony which attracted
hundreds of people from both the islands and the mainland.

Mrs Kabanshi noted that besides their economic importance, traditional ceremonies are also of great importance in teaching and shaping people’s morals and values that were left by ancestors.

She said the Patriotic Front Government is alive to that fact that traditional ceremonies are uniting factors in chiefdoms, hence the government’s resolve to support them.

The traditional ceremony was attended by 12 chiefs from Lunga District that included Senior Chief Mukoso, Senior Chief Mwewa, Senior Chief Kalima Nkonde, Chief Lunga, Chief Bwalya Mponda and Chief Mulongwe.

Others were Chief Chitembo, Chief Matanda, and Chief Chisamamba, the host, Chief Nsamba and several other sub-chiefs and village headmen from wetlands.