KITAPO
Kitapo (alternative spelling Chitapo) is the Bemba name of an ancient water spirit who protects children from the waves and rapids in the Kafue River of Zambia. She is known as a river mermaid who much like the water spirit Mami Wata, rewards the pure-hearted while punishing the un-virtuous, and is therefore equally loved and feared. She is part of a vast pantheon of African/Carribean water creatures that are said to dwell in pools, springs, lakes, mouths of rivers, rapids, and waterfalls.
These spirits are called ngulu by the Bemba, and are still propitiated for blessings of rainfall and abundant harvests by both Christian and non-Christian populations in today's Zambia.
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Merbeings have existed for centuries in all of Africa, and many shrines have been built at the sites of these sacred locations. In the spirit of creating this sanctuary with the guiding hands of my Indigenous Zambian Ancestors, this is my shrine for the water.
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Chakwela Makumbi, which means "pulling the clouds," is a rainmaking ceremony that draws the sky to the ground. At the public staged event, it is Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II who is presented to the public as the one who prays to the Soli ancestors and to a Christian God for rain. October 2005.
During the Chakwela Makumbi ceremony, Nkomeshya demonstrates to her people and visitors how to clear a field with fire, making way for new agricultural growth and new fertility. At times fire is also used as a metaphor for human fertility. October 2004.
The Indigenous Zambian name for "Victoria Falls" in 1860, prior to its renaming by the British missionary, David Livingstone. The name means: "The Smoke That Thunders"
Chakwela Makumbi, which means "pulling the clouds," is a rainmaking ceremony that draws the sky to the ground. At the public staged event, it is Chieftainess Nkomeshya Mukamambo II who is presented to the public as the one who prays to the Soli ancestors and to a Christian God for rain. October 2005.