Between 1750 and 1800 the Ndembu, led by their chief, Kanongesha, migrated from the Northern Lunda Empire in the Kapanga District of the southern Congo to Zambia. For this reason, the Ndembu are a part of the matrilineal Lunda group.
Diviners occupy an essential position in social and ritual life. They are the ones who are called upon to identify the spiritual agents that are destroying the world of the living. It is their task to indicate the specific ritual performance required to calm down an angry ancestor, drive away a spirit, ease a case of infertility, or reestablish social order. In order to become the diviner, one must have been kwata, or caught, by Kayong’u, the principal spirit for all diviners. Just like in the other systems of shamanism, being caught produces a violent illness characterized by periods of complete disassociation, frequent seizures, and episodes of trembling. If the patient survives the illness, then he has the choice to begin working with a diviner.
Even the most powerful diviners must continually strengthen themselves with special medicines to battle the forces secretly sent to limit their vision and confuse their judgment. An example were this takes place is during an Ihamba where a patient has been bitten by the tooth of a dead hunter, which is usually an instrument used to help the hunter. When the tooth is ignored, it enters a person’s body and travels along the veins, biting and inflicting disease. The ihamba tooth is the tooth of a dead hunter that is wandering about in search of meat and is also the spirit. A spirit afflicts the living until it is treated with respect and fed meat, satisfying its desire. In order to get the medicine, they must mark a tree or plant and look for the Ihamba, which they must not let escape. For this reason, there is a special technique that is involved in cutting the plant. After going through the entire process, the healer can prepare the medicine for the people who need it. To make the treatment, a collection of herbs and plants are mixed together to make a strong substance. Before giving the medicine to the patient, the doctor must drink it first in order to protect himself from the Ihamba that might escape the patient and enter his body.Ancestors play a large part in Ndembu society. Instead of going to heaven or hell, they believe that the akishi, or the spirits of deceased individuals, stay where they were always living and remain a part of the community. If their needs are not met and moral codes are not followed such as breaking promises, creating chaos among the living, and forgetting to mourn the dead, the spirits will inflict illness upon those who challenge them. The expressions of those who are a part of the spirit world are so terrifying that even the slightest glimpse could drive an ordinary person insane. It is common among the Ndembu to think that several cases of severe mental illness where brought about by the gaze of someone from the “other world.”
*The photo depicted in the top right corner depicts a Ndembu Shaman
