Welcome Mulhako wa Karonga, Chitipa
Good people, we are hearing that a new cultural heritage group has just been registered.
The brains behind this cultural drive envisage the unnamed new-born uniting Karonga and Chitipa under the kingship of Paramount Chief Kyungu and deliver a string of festivals celebrating foods, songs, dances, religions and other niceties unique to the hilly northern border strip.
That’s a great idea. Just when you thought we had had enough of cultural associations, some are waking up to assert their cultural pride.
Such is diversity that in a multicultural context like ours, any cultural group taking shape speaks of our cultural multiplicity.
We have seen it with Chewa Heritage Foundation which draws together members of the sprawling tribe to share insights about their way of life, stand against alien customs and celebrate the richness of their heritage when they make the annual pilgrimage to Zambia for Kulamba festival where they fellowship with their cousins from that country and Mozambique.
Up north, there is Mzimba Heritage Association which hosts the yearly Umthetho where Ngoni culture warriors dance, drink and dress uniquely to rejoice in their history, strides and culture at the foot of the picturesque Mount Hora.
Need we talk about Mulhako wa Alhomwe, the gateway to the culture of the Lhomwe people? Since 2008, this willingness to come together and preserve things that unite sons and daughters of the tribe has played a critical role in restoring the endangered endowment that was Lhomwe culture and its greats.
When an idea was mooted to come up with the grouping, it was pleasing how the brains behind it approached people of all tribes to set the stage for the group and highlight arts, culture and influential minds of the Lhomwe Belt, including fallen music legends Allan Namoko and Michael Yekha.
That was culture in action, uniting people of different backgrounds to harness things that bond them. Ever since, we have seen presidents taking part in the famous Mulhako festival, stealing glimpses of the dancers to watch and walking hand in hand with the first lady to the nearest gazebo where gondolosi rubbers and other aphrodisiacs from the hilly setting are displayed for all dying for a rare jolt.
I cannot wait to marvel at the stunners of Chitipa and Karonga, where a simple malipenga dance bears a new name depending on how high you go up the hills of Misuku or how close you get to the shoreline of Lake Malawi.
Forget Kamlepo Kalua’s cliché that a hyena is a hyena regardless of where its hill of residence.
In Karonga, every summer is a special moment to enjoy mesmeric malipenga festivals that move from one village to another, taking friends of the districts a smooth transition from the start of the sweltering season to the very end when rains make dead seed sprout.
Such is the beauty of different cultural unities celebrated wholeheartedly and openly. Humanity is like a bed of roses—the flowers of different colours were not created to be different, but to sparkle with beauty in their diversity.
Lucky Dube sings of different colours, one people. May the cultural groups old and new help unite the country and highlight things that unite us, rather than splitting us.
And let them take a leading role in confronting customs that make this country a harsh or prohibitive place for some sections of our society, especially women, children and other vulnerable groups. n
