It includes elaborate masks, full-body costumes, and even stilts. These costumes are made of cloth, feathers, and plant materials, representing ancestral spirits, animals, or moral lessons. The powerful drums, dancing, and chanting help to create this connection between the living and the dead. The impressive agility on stilts help to emphasize supernatural abilities.
The Gule Wamkulu is one example of a tradition that is a part of the Chewa Tribe. Every tribe has their own dances with their own significance and symbolism, many of which have strong connections to their ancestors and the natural world around them, as you might suspect. Every tribe has a slightly different culture and customs that you could spend a lifetime learning.
Tribal ties are very important in Malawi. Everyone, even within the big cities, has a tribe to which they belong. These tribal ties come from where either they or their ancestors are from. It is not some small and trivial item, but a deeply rooted part of someone that ties them to their ancestors and home community. Each has their own subculture, language, and practices. In fact, different tribes will even form different political parties from different regions of the country. Tribal ties seep into every aspect of life. While there are not wars between tribes like there might have been in the past, there still seems to be slight prejudice and subtle tribalism found in politics, employment, and other preferences. For example, one of my tennis students told me that he was purposefully delayed in getting the paperwork necessary to travel to another country for a tennis tournament a few years back because of his last name, which is associated with a specific tribe.
