ABSTRACT
Among the Luvale and Luchazi the term lihamba, cognate with ihamba, stands for a particular manifestation of a shade. The shade appears to rouse the lihamba from its domicile under the ground for this purpose. An echo of this Luvale usage is found in the ritual of Kayong'u, frequently performed by Ndembu. Kayong'u has two functions. The first is to cure persons who have been afflicted by ancestor spirits with disorders of the chest or lungs. The second is to initiate candidates into the cult of diviners. Ihamba represents an aggressive, usually but not invariably, masculine power which, when socially controlled, works for the benefit of its possessor and the community. The nature of an ihamba is ambiguously conceived by Ndembu. It has some of the qualities of an object of contagious magic, in that it contains the power to kill and 'stab' of the hunter from whom it was taken or from whose corpse it comes.
