By SARAH MWANZA –
MINSTRY of Tourism and Arts, cultural director Victor Makashi has said traditional ceremonies should be used as an avenue for promoting unity in diversity of the country.
Speaking ahead of the Kuomboka Ceremony scheduled for April 8, Mr Makashi said traditional ceremonies helped in reducing conflict.
“As Zambians we should be proud of our culture and take time in learning different cultures in order to be able to understand each other,” he said.
He explained that Government support traditional ceremonies because they existed to preserve and promote the Zambian culture.
He added that such ceremonies should be used to bring foreign exchange in the country and promote the handcrafts as it was attended by a number of foreigners.
He also said government was using such ceremonies to interact with tourist and market the country to the outside world.
“We have started an inventory of the Nkoya music in Kaoma district in order to promote our cultural heritage,” he said.
He further called on all Zambians to participate in this year’s Kuomboka ceremony as it was the responsibility of every Zambian to understand our culture and pass it on to the younger generation.
Kuomboka Ceremony takes place at the end of the rainy season, when the upper Zambezi river floods the plains of the Western Province.
Every year, the Barotse plains are invaded by the floods at higher levels that creep across to villages and pastures, compelling all inhabitants to move to the plain’s margins, or indeed, in the hilly areas of the forest.
However, the Kuomboka ceremony had not been cerebrated for the past three years due to low water levels as the result of low rainfall.