African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 881
See also Diaspora: Santeria in Cuba; Vodou
SPIRIT POSSESSION: KUNDA
HAYLEY S.THOMAS
Since at least 1831, Europeans have reported an association in central African between
lions and the spirits of deceased chiefs. The Portuguese explorer Gamitto, while passing
through the Luangwa River Valley on his way to Kazembe’s palace in Katanga in 1832,
commented on Africans in the valley being able to chase lions away from animals they
had killed and take the meat for themselves. Local Africans explained that this was
possible because the lions were really benevolent chiefs’ spirits. Gamitto also described
seeing similar practices among inhabitants of Monomotapa’s country (Zimbabwe),
including offerings being made to lions.
More difficult to document is a spirit possession cycle called Nfumpas, which enacts
the practical association between chiefs and lions. The Nfumpas spirit-possession cycle of
the Kunda (the term is a Kunda adaptation of mfumu mpashi [chief’s spirit] in
Bemba/Bisa language) in the central Luangwa River Valley may be an example of the
lion-chiefs spirit cult that was practiced over much of central Africa into the midnineteenth
century. The cult presumably has dwindled with the disappearance of lions
from most areas, while it continues in the Luangwa Valley, which still has a large
population of wild animals, including lions.
Some Kunda elders explain that when dangerous lions disturb an area, it is the local
chief who is responsible for stopping them. The chief dispatches local hunters, who kill
the lion or lions and bring the carcass to the chief in a celebration generically called
malaila (calling together), which all the chief’s now-liberated inhabitants might attend.
After the presentation of the lion carcass, the elder relatives of the chief save the most
vital parts of the lion and, when possible, preserve the skin for the chief. The chief may
assume some of the power of the lion through traditional medicines made from the lion.
This process is repeated each time a lion is defeated by a chief.
Upon a chief’s death, the elder relatives of the chief may secretly place certain items
from the lion in the coffin with the chief’s body. The entrails of the chief may be replaced
by preserved lion entrails. The claws may be tied on each finger, the teeth strung round
the chief’s neck, and the tail of a lion is tied to the waist of the chief. When the chief’s
coffin is buried, the chief’s relatives make libations at the gravesite with beer, raw eggs,
and maize flour. A straw is inserted into the ground, and after some time a small grub
may be seen to exit from the grave. This grub goes off into the bush and grows into a lion
(a spirit lion). Spirit lions, who are incarnations of chiefs, are recognizable by their lightcolored
faces and benevolent actions toward peo ple. Wild lions and lions sent by
witchcraft also roam the bush, but they behave with animosity toward people.
Kunda description of the Nfumpas spirit-possession cult explains that these spirit lions
sometimes need people to continue doing “jobs” for them. They are chiefs, after all, who
may want things which they cannot get on their own in the bush. When they need
something they come to certain people in dreams and apparitions and command things of