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Lusata Festival in Chinchimani/Katima Mulilo
Lusata Festival is the annual gathering of the Mafwe people at Chinchimane, the Mafwe traditional authority seat near Katima Mulilo in the Zambezi Region. It centers on the Lusata, the ivory-encrusted royal mace that symbolizes the unity of Mafwe villages along the Zambezi River, drawing chiefs and villagers from across the region and beyond each year.
In the Zambezi Region of Namibia, where the land turns green and river channels thread through papyrus and reed, the Mafwe people gather each year at Chinchimane to honor an object rather than a date on a calendar: the Lusata, a chief's mace wrapped in ivory that has passed between generations of Mafwe royalty.