MakishiOrigin: Zambia (Luvale, Chokwe, Luchazi, and Mbunda communities)
Makishi is a Zambian masquerade tradition connected to mukanda, a boys' initiation cycle in which masked characters help mark the passage from childhood into adult community life.
Masquerade profile
Makishi is performed by Vaka Chiyama Cha Mukwamayi communities, including Luvale, Chokwe, Luchazi, and Mbunda peoples in northwestern and western Zambia. UNESCO places the masquerade at the end of mukanda, an annual initiation ritual for boys. The initiates leave home for an isolated bush camp, where separation from ordinary life marks a symbolic death as children and begins a period of instruction, discipline, testing, and social formation.
Makishi is not one single fixed figure. It is a repertoire of masked characters, each carrying a role in the initiation world. UNESCO names figures such as Chisaluke, associated with power, wealth, and spiritual influence; Mupala, described as lord of the mukanda and a protective spirit; Pwevo, a female character connected with musical accompaniment and ideals of womanhood; and Makishi, a masked ancestral presence returning to assist the boys. Fowler Museum material also stresses the variety of human, animal, hybrid, and abstract mask characters in the wider tradition.
The completion of mukanda is celebrated with a public graduation ceremony. The village gathers for Makishi dance and pantomime-like performance before the graduates re-emerge and are reintegrated as adult men. UNESCO describes mukanda as educational: it transmits practical survival skills, knowledge of nature, sexuality, religious beliefs, and community values. The masquerade is therefore a visible ending to a long hidden process, turning private instruction into public recognition.
Makishi is presented through transformation, ancestral assistance, and the drama of return. The image points to masked presence and initiation, while the story preserves the wider system of characters, teaching, ceremony, and social reintegration. For collectors, the work offers a visual connection to passage, discipline, and community renewal.
Story focus
Research basis