Vimbuza is a healing dance popular among the Tumbuka people found chiefly in the Eastern Province of Zambia but also Malawi. It is an important manifestation of the ng’oma, a healing tradition found throughout Bantu-speaking Africa. Ng’oma, meaning “drums of affliction”, carries considerable historical depth.
The Vimbuza healing ritual goes back to the mid-nineteenth century, when it developed as a means of overcoming traumatic experiences of oppression, and it further developed as a healing dance under British occupation, although it was forbidden by Christian missionaries. By becoming possessed by Vimbuza spirits, people could express these mental problems in a way that was accepted and understood by the surrounding society.
For the Tumbuka, Vimbuza has artistic value and a therapeutic function that complements other forms of medical treatment. Vimbuza is still practised in rural areas where the Tumbuku live, but it continues to face oppression by Christian churches and modern medicine.
Stamps & Postal Products
1968 New Currency Definitives – 8n Vimbuza Dancer
Postcards
1970 – SAPRA Studio (RZ Series/Type 1) No.50-99
References
- ich.unesco.org
- Joys of Oppression: The Poetry of Urban Vimbuza (PDF) – Moffat Moyo
- Zambia’s Postage Stamps: The Post-Federation Stamp Issues of Northern Rhodesia (1963-1971 – A. R. Drysdall, J. Case