CHOKWE BASKETS: Cultural Continuity in Exile

American Visions, Dec, 1998 by Sonia Silva

Sakutemba walked down a path between two arid fields. Ndonji shook his head in disapproval, clearly thinking that Sakutemba's thin, drained and shabby figure did not fit the portrait of a man distinguished by the opportunities associated with basket divination. Ndonji said that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who benefit from the situation in which they find themselves, and those who just waste them; those who always prosper, and those who always decline. The same holds for diviners. A divination basket brings happiness and wealth to its owner, but diviners are not necessarily wealthy. Some are men of wealth and importance; others will always be poor. Why? Because the wealthy know how to use their wealth wisely, buying cattle, marrying several women, and expanding their villages, whereas the poor waste their gains on alcohol and lovers.

October 4, 1996

Sakutemba arrived at Pezo's in the late morning. He found us absorbed in her work. To begin the basket, Pezo had selected a bundle of thick roots, which she had prepared with a knife by peeling off the brown skin and smoothing the exposed surface. Pezo used an ax blade to taper one end of the thick root on a log. When the end became flexible, she tied it into a knot, or lihunda. People say that complications in life are like a coiled basket, for both grow out of a small detail. As the proverb goes, "kaputuka mbango kuvangila lihunda,"--"a coiled basket always begins with a knot."

Pezo began coiling the basket's bottom. When it had reached a width of about three inches, she began weaving the sides. One inch from the bottom, she started weaving over her last row at a sharp diagonal. The result was a thick ridge resembling the top of some thatch roofs. This ridge strengthens the basket and prevents the divining pieces from flying out with the upward shaking of the basket during divination sessions.

Several minutes later, Ndonji's classificatory mother wistfully reminisced about tasty caterpillars and osamwina, a dried game meat that is eaten in Angola as a relish or sauce to accompany the thick grain porridge that constitutes the staple food. This initiated a lively conversation, as the Angolan refugees complained about matamba, the cassava-leaf relish commonly eaten in Chavuma, which is served daily to remind them of their dislocation and poverty.

At the mention of matamba, Pezo rolled her eyes and pointedly ordered Sakutemba to steal his divination basket by the end of the month, probably hoping to be able to use his payment to buy tastier relishes. Sakutemba was also expected to pay her occasional visits and give her small additional gifts in recognition for her work. He should never forget the woman who created his working tool, for the spirit of a dead diviner alone would not make him a diviner. As for the particulars of their current transaction, on a day to be arranged, before sunrise, he should come to steal the basket. Most importantly, he should leave a payment of 10,000 kwachas on her doorway, where he would find the basket.