Shikaumpa
Shikaumpa is the deified warrior-ancestor and tutelary divinity of the Ila community of Baambwe, near Namwala. Tradition places him in the sixteenth century as a mighty fighter whose war-name, Shikaumpa, is glossed 'the one who burns and sets fire to homes and property', and who also bore the name Mukobela for his ferocity and his skill at parrying weapons, a name still carried by the chieftaincy at Baambwe. He asked his people to keep his memory by a yearly gathering, and the Shikaumpa ceremony is duly held each October, paired in the Ila calendar with the Shimunenga ceremony of Maala; both centre on the ceremonial parade of the cattle-herds that are the measure of Ila wealth. Among the ranked spirits of the Ila, Sikaumpa of Baambwe stands with Simunenga and Malumbe as one of the community divinities beneath the arch-shade Bulongo and the high god Leza.
Domains
- war
- ancestral guardianship
- cattle
Powers
- guards the community of Baambwe
Epithets
- Mukobela — the one able to parry or block weapons, the formidable fighterNamwala Cultural and Traditional Trust, documentation of Shikaumpa; the name survives as the chieftaincy title Mukobela at Baambwe (secondary)
Sources
- Shikaumpa was a sixteenth-century warrior of the Ila of Baambwe, whose war-name means 'the one who burns homes and property'; he also bore the name Mukobela for his fighting spirit and his skill at blocking weapons.: Namwala Cultural and Traditional Trust, documentation of the Ba-Ila and the Shikaumpa ceremony (secondary)
- Before he died he asked to be remembered by an annual ceremony; the Shikaumpa ceremony is accordingly held each year at Baambwe near Namwala, where the Mukobela chieftaincy resides, with a public display of the family cattle-herds.: Reports of the Shikaumpa traditional ceremony, Baambwe, Namwala District, Southern Province, Zambia (secondary)
- In the Ila spiritual hierarchy Sikaumpa at Baambwe is named among the tutelary divinities of local communities, ranked below the archmuzimu Bulongo and Leza the Creator.: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Ila' (people of Zambia) (secondary)