Video: Midsummer New Years: Mwaka Kogwa Celebration in Zanzibar
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
If Dr. Samuel Ferguson, the protagonist of J. Verne's novel "Five weeks in a hot air balloon", upon arrival in Zanzibar, had visited Makundichi for the traditional celebration of Mwaka Kogwa, then the history of his further travels could have been completely different. Mwaka Kogwa - this is an analogue of our New Year, however, in an African manner. During the festivities, which last for four days in August, local residents have time not only to have plenty of fun, but also to “cleanse” of the negativity accumulated during the year in order to start the new year “from scratch”.
It is quite unusual for us that the New Year is celebrated in the summer, but Africans do not see anything surprising in this. For example, in Ethiopia, New Year is celebrated in September. The inhabitants of Makundichi act in the same unconventional way. Their life cycle coincides with natural processes, so local residents actually mark the end of the old growing season and the beginning of a new one. To enter the next year without a load of problems, an unusual competition is organized among the local residents - the fight with large stems of banana trees. This symbolic aggressive action helps to throw out the negative, resolve all misunderstandings, and, of course, determine the strongest men of the tribe.
The lot of women is to support their heroes with singing. In their best outfits, they go out into the fields and sing songs about life and love. After the ritual battle, the inhabitants build a symbolic house out of straw and burn it down. According to local beliefs, this is how they get rid of last year's worries that burn with the straw.
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