the zambian kingdoms series: the ushi people
the ushi — the baushi — a bantu-speaking people found primarily in luapula province of zambia and haut-katanga province of the DRC. total population: approximately 433,000 — 123,000 in zambia, 310,000 in the DRC. considered a sub-group of the bemba, sharing language, luba-lunda origins, and the matrilineal descent system documented across the northern zambian kingdoms. paramount chief: senior chief matanda of mansa district.
the chabuka traditional ceremony of the ushi people is held annually in matanda chiefdom in mansa district. the ceremony re-enacts the first matanda's crossing from congo into zambia in 1328 — walking on the luapula river just as their ancestors did. three groups of participants cross the river in the same sequence as the original migration, wading through its waters nearly seven centuries later. the government of zambia has called for the chabuka crossing point to be declared a historical site.
the story of the ushi and the bemba is intertwined from the very beginning. when bemba founding chiefs chiti and nkole fled the luba kingdom and made their great eastward migration, it was chief mapalo matanda of the bena mukulo — the ushi — who ferried them across the luapula. the ushi were already established on the luapula when the bemba arrived. they were the hosts of the crossing that made the bemba kingdom possible. praised at the chabuka ceremony as peaceful and good people who allowed other tribes to pass through without acts of violence.
the ushi spiritual world contains one of the most distinctive elements of any kingdom the series has yet described. muwe — a founding figure in ushi mythology — discovered makumba, most likely a meteorite, and the ushi recognise makumba as their tribal god. a god from the sky. a stone that fell from the heavens, found, named, and made sacred. though christianity has spread widely among the ushi, makumba remains a considerable figure who reveals himself in the dreams of important people.
the meteorite god of the luapula.
the ushi are lake and river people. their ecology revolves around lake bangweulu — where the chambeshi becomes the luapula, where the black lechwe grazes, where the shoebill stork stands at the papyrus edge. their pre-colonial trade was built on fish surplus, exchanging with peoples whose environments produced what the lakeshore could not.
seven centuries on the luapula. still crossing it every year.
the zambian kingdoms series continues. 🇿🇲