Ntongo Ceremony

Ntongo Ceremony is a first fruits event in Zambia where each village headman takes a calabash of beer made from the newly harvested sorghum to the chief to whom he owes allegiance. The roots of the ceremony lie in the pre-colonial past, but during the colonial period it was either forbidden or more probably simply lapsed. It was revived in 1986, according to Chief Chizela, at the prompting of UNIP when old customs like Ntongo were revived.

The proceedings are opened with a dance by a well-known local diviner dressed in a leopard skin. Most of the village headmen in attendance wear Western-style suits, usually far from new but carefully preserved for such formal occasions.