By Susan Mwape
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ne of the beauties of Zambian culture is usually the display of young girl initiates in different parts of the country. The initiate who a commonly known as the Moye. After being confined for a period from one to twelve months (the choice is made by the parents) the moye will come out for the world to see. Most often she will come out with the sounds of drums and ululations by women who expectantly wait for people to give the girl some money before she displays the beautiful different dance she learnt whilst in confinement.
In recent years the number of initiation ceremonies has come down although they are again being popularized, the period of confinement too has been reduced because female children have to go to school so initiation will usually take place during school holidays.
When young ladies come of age in most parts of
The girl being initiated will usually have a waiting girl, the waiting girl is usually a very young who sees to it that the Moye’s needs are met and this is the girl that escorts the Moye to the toilet, when going to the toilet, the girl has to cover herself including her head and has to follow the waiting girl. She only uncovers when she gets there and when she is done with her business she is escorted back to the house by the waiting girl.
The confinement is a school that will teach the girl to prepare for her future life, how to live, the way she is supposed to carry herself and at times how she should live with her husband when she gets married, what society expects of her and the way she should dress. The girl is taught not to make eye contact with adults because this is considered to be rude. She is also taught to always look down throughout the period she is confined as this is a sign of humbleness.
The initiate is also taught how to dance so that she can dance and entertain everyone who would be present at her coming out ceremony.
One the day that she is to be taken out of the house, she is dressed in a new material known as Mulensu, and a bambo skirt known as buyombo on top of the material, with no blouse or bra (a sign of virginity/purity) in place of a top they dress the girl in beads across the chest the beads are known as mipakato, she wear rattles known as nsense and a veil made of beads.
The veil is made for the girl so that it covers her face and so that she is able to dance freely without making eye contact with people, this also helps her not to feel shy.
The girl will come out to her audience politely with humble steps while curtsying at the same time, she takes a step then a curtsy, until she gets to the audience.
When the girls instructor feels its time for the girl to start she will start beating the drums whose different rhythms have different meanings, one rhythm would be for the girl to get start dancing in one way and for her to change her dancing style to a different one or to tell her to stop dancing and wait.
When the girl politly steps up she dances in a rigorous way that they veil will usually fly about and will cover and the girl so that the people will take a peek are the girl. They can usually see her one second and she is covered the next. The girl can what goes on around her and the way the girl displays her moves shows beyond any doubt that she has an undeniable strength around her, as some of the bamboos in her bamboo skirt fly out and some beads on her veil fall out, some of the rattles fall out and the initiator has to keep tying them back.
It is unmistakable that symbolically the way the young initiate is dressed depicts her future life and the burdens she would carry around her feet she has two rattles that obviously tire her, around her waist is the heavy bamboo skirt that she has to be able to blanace and at the same time enjoy the sound it makes, on her face is the mask the beaded veil, that I would say is what her life should be never depicting the true image always true emotions hidden behind the veil…… in that lies the beauty of our Africa culture and how most women willing carry on the way they do in Africa!
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