By Jemimah Chungu
Traditional ceremonies have capturing fashion aside the meanings and histories linked them. One of a kind fashion heart-full traditional ceremony is the N’cwala ceremony. N’cwala is an annual traditional ceremony in February since 1980 by the Ngoni tribe of Eastern province in Mtenguleni village of Chipata, Zambia.
N’cwala is an event meant to pay homage to the chief of the Ngoni, chief Mpezeni and to their ancestral spirits, for fresh fruits and food and to commemorate their victories during their tribal wars when they migrated from the current day, KwaZulu-Natal of South Africa (home of the renowned Shaka Zulu). There are similar traditional ceremonies from migrated tribes from KwaZulu natal in Eswatini, Malawi and others.
The fashion
The Ngoni people as well as the guests and tourists of the event all garb a history oriented fashion of rich material made from real animals mostly wild cats. This culture or trend has never changed since the forever. The animal skin material is worn from head raps, shoulder scarfs, while leaving the strong African chests exposed by both the men and women and finished off with shorts skirts. The N’cwala ceremony fashion is accessorized with animal skin anklets, beaded ornaments, shields and royal staff. It has also spiced up by traditional makeup.
What makes this fashion even more interesting is that it is the original ‘animal print fashion’. The animal print fashion like the cheater prints is one seen in all fashion corners across the globe such as by fashion bloggers, internet stores, traditional ceremonies, movies, fashion shows, banquets, festivals, pageants, and others as well as day to day fashion attiring.
Animal printed fashion is not uncommonly seen by a lot of famous fashion icons and has been modernized to many kinds of color and accessories such as phone covers, eye wear, nighties, shoes, bags, purses, jewelry and so on. Yet the Ngoni people have this fashion in their originality and culture and it is richly paraded at the N’cwala ceremony alongside the dances and other rich cultured practices every year.
The Ngoni’s N’cwala ceremony fashion is one seen by other groups of people in southern Africa like some parts of Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Malawi and most popularly the Zulu people of South Africa by historical the shaka.
