Gule Wamkulu

　　Proclamation: 2005

Member State(s): Malawi - Zambia - Mozambique

Region: Africa

Associated themes: Rituals and festive events

　　
Gule Wamkulu is both a secret cult and ritual dance practiced among the Chewa people living in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. It is performed by members of the Nyau brotherhood, which is a sort of a secret society of initiated Chewa men. Within the Chewa's traditional matrilineal society, husbands played a rather marginal role so that the Nyau offered a means to establish some kind of counterweight and solidarity among men of various villages. Nyau members are responsible for the initiation of young men into adulthood, and the performance of the Gule Wamkulu at the end of the initiation procedure to celebrate the young men's integration into adult society.