REPUBLIC OF ANGOLA

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
GOVERNMENT PROVINCIAL OF CUANZA NORTE
LYCEUM EIFFEL OF CAZENGO Nº30

WORK OF ENGLISH
LUNDA-TCHOKWE

TEAM:B
CLASS:12ª
GROUP:04
COURSE:SFB
TEACHER:MANUEL VENTURA
INTEGRANT OF GROUP
ANALBERTINO MIGURL DE ALMEIDA........619
ARILDO COUTINHO AGOSTINO VENTUR..620
MARCELINA DE JESUS PEDRODA COSTA......

NDALATANDO,JANUARY OF 2024
 INTRODUCTION
The Chokwe people are of
the Bantu ethnic group and
live in the northeast of
Angola, in an extensive
location that reaches the
Congo and part of Zambia.
Typical foods are based on
cassava, some local plants
such as gimboa and fish.
 Description
 LUNDA NORTE CAPITAL:
 Dundo
 AREA: 103,000 km2
 POPULATION: 270,000
 MUNICIPALITIES: 9 – Tchitato, Cambulo, Chitato, Cuilo, Caungula, Cuango,
Lubalo, Capenda Camulemba, Xá Muteba;
 CLlMA: humid tropical
 MAIN PRODUCTS: agricultural – rice, cassava, corn; minerals – diamonds;
Others – Livestock
 Demographics and language
Estimated to be about 1.3 million,[1] their language is usually referred to as Chokwe
(or Kichokwe, Tshokwe), a Bantu language in the Benue-Congo branch of Niger-
Congo family of languages.

Many also speak the official languages of their countries: English in Zambia, French
in Democratic Republic of Congo,

Demographics and language

and Portuguese (as first or second language) in Angola.

The Chokwe have many neighbors that consist of the Lunda, Pende, Mbangani, and
Kete to the North; Minungu, Lwena, Luchazi, Mbwela, and Mbundato the East; Holo,
Mbundu, Imbangala, Songo, and Ovimbundu to the West; and the Kwanyama to the
South. Many of these ethnic groups have historical links to the Chokwe as well as
sharing many traditions and speaking similar languages
 Religion
The traditional religious beliefs of the Chokwe center around ancestor spirits
worship

The Chokwe build ancestral shrines where they place sculptures, objects, and
artifacts. These objects that are placed within the ancestral shrines are meant to
contain or represent the spirits as well as serve as a point of contact between the
living and the spiritual forces. These shrines, called kachipango, the Chokwe

will invoke, or call, their ancestral spirits

 Society and culture
 Villages consist of company compounds with square huts or circular grass-
houses with a central space that serves as the meeting place for the villagers.
 When it comes to village courts, most Chokwe territories have at least three
types of legal organizations: the village courts, the chiefs' courts, and the
district courts. Village courts consist of chiefly male elders that oversee cases
involving
 land ownership, family quarrels, theft, and disputes in which witchcraft is
suspected.
 The Chokwe are traditionally a matrilineal society, but where the woman
moves to live with her husband's family after wedding. Polygyny has been a
historic practice usually limited to the chief or a wealthy family
The Chokwe are traditionally a matrilineal society, but where the woman moves to live
with her husband's family after wedding. Polygyny has been a historic practice
usually limited to the chief or a wealthy family.

Since the Chokwe farm, areas around the village are cleared at the beginning of the
dry season where they will grow corn, cassava, and millet. Along with sweet potatoes,
pumpkins, tomatoes, okra, and in certain areas, rice, beans, and peanuts. They also
raise cattle, goats, pigs, and chickens, however, they only eat these animals on
special occasions, such as wedding feasts.
 According to the tradition of the Tshokwe, the one
who puts on the mask loses his human qualities
and incorporates the spirit. This people also
developed a refined and powerful art of cutting,
especially through the sculpture of statues,
sceptres, thrones, musical instruments, among
others.
 Main cults and cultural ceremonies

Mahamba
Ukule
Mucanda
 Mahamba
 As for mahamba (plural of hamba), it deals with the cult of tutelary spirits
(ancestral or nature spirits) who are represented by statuettes, trees, pieces of
termite mounds and masks. To ensure daily protection or appease a spirit,
offerings, sacrifices, and prayers are held. If a hamba is angry, it can cause
diseases or losses in the offender, such as infertility in women and bad luck in
hunting by men.
 Ukule
 It consists of a female initiation ritual, it takes place at the first
menstruation (ukule) of the adolescent. This ceremony consists of several
stages during which the young woman (kafundeji) learns belly dancing
(appreciated by the Tshokwe and which anticipates sexual intercourse),
receives instructions on mating, is painted with pubic tattoos (mikonda)
for erotic purposes and, together with her future fiancé, performs various
rituals that culminate in the consummation of the marriage of the two
young men.
 Mucanda
 It takes place during puberty, it is a male initiation ritual during which
children are circumcised. Mucanda designates the field surrounded
with round huts, in which the initiates, tundandji (plural of
kandandji), live away from their families for a period of one to two
years. The initiative for a mucanda ritual is taken by the village chief.
The kalelwa mask marks the beginning and end of the ritual and
strictly prohibits women from approaching the mucanda.
 Mucanda
 During the retreat, the initiates learn the procedures of the worship
ceremonies, make masks for the rituals and exercise different types of
dance, which will be performed in front of the community in order to
show their talent as dancers.
 Ritual Masks
The Chokwe have many masks surrounding rituals. There are three categories of ritual
masks that the Chokwe distinguish between; the cikungu or makishi wa mwanangana
mask, which represents the chief's ancestors and is only brought out on special
occasions, the makishi a ku mukanda, this mask plays a role in the mukanda initiation,
and

the makishi a kuhangana, which is a dance mask and is primarily kept and performed
by the owners
There are three major types of masks:
the first type, called Cikungu or mukishi wa mwanangana, corresponds to the sacred
sacrificial mask and represents the ancestors of the tribal chief;
the second type is called mukishi a ku mukanda and is equivalent to the masks of the
mucanda, such as Cikunza and Kalelwa, which, after the ritual, are burned; finally,
the third type, designated mukishi a kuhangana, corresponds to the dance masks - the best
known and the most frequent in museums and private collections - with the Cihongo (for men)
and Pwo (for women) masks being the main models.