Nkulu, Ngoy, Nday, Mande, Monga, Numbi,
Mbuyu, Mbuya, Banza, Banze, Mwenze, Mwanza,
Twite, Kabamba, Kabimbi, Kabange, Kabongo,
Kabila, Kalala, Kasala, Kalenga, Kalenge,
Kasongo, Kayembe, Kayamba, Kazadi, Kyungu,
Kyoni, Nkongolo, Mukaya, Mukanya, Mulongo,
Mutonkole,Mwamba, Mwila, Mwilambwe,
Nshimba, Nshimbi, Nyembo, Mpanda, Mpande,
Masengo, Museka, Musenge, or Ngandu. Some of
these names can be found in many countries from
Uganda to South Africa and from Congo to
Zambia and Zimbabwe.
As one of the Protobantu group, the Baluba
shared a profound cultural unity with many other
people across the continent. Kiluba, the language
of the Luba empire, is part of the group of Bantu
languages that is dominant in the whole central
Africa and extends down to South Africa. The
Baluba have a “basic language correspondence”
of more than 60% with neighboring peoples. Not
only are these languages more or less mutually
intelligible, but they are based on similar grammar
and produce a unified logic.
Religious BeliefsThe Luba religion shares a common cosmology
and basic religious tenets with many other types
of African religions. Although the Kiluba lan-
guage does not have a specific word forreligion,
it has an extensive lexicon that describes the
nature of the Supreme Being, the supernatural
world, and various religious activities. The Luba
belief system includes the belief in the existence of
a Universal Creator (Shakapanga), the afterlife,
the communion between the living and the Dead,
and the observance of ethical conduct (Mwikadilo
Muyampe) as a sine qua non condition for being
welcomed in the village of the ancestors after
death.
Among the most important components of
the Luba religion, three important figures, Leza
(Supreme God), Mikishi or Bavidye (various Spirits),
and Bankambo (ancestors), constitute the super-
natural world. In the world of the living, the main
figures are Kitobo or Nsengha (priest), the
Nganga (healer), and the mfwintshi (the witch, the
embodiment of evil and the antithesis of the will
of the ancestors).
Religious activities include prayers (kulomba,
kutota), praise songs and formulas (kutoba),
dances, sacrifices, offerings, libations, and various
rituals, including cleansing or purification and
rites of passage. Among the Baluba, Disao, the cir-
cumcision of men, is mandatory. However,
women do not undergo excision.
Besides prayers and invocations, means of
communication with the divine include the inter-
pretation of dreams and especially the practice
of Lubuko (divination) to consult the will of the
ancestors before any important decision or to
know the causes of misfortune. To find out the
truth about a liar, the Baluba use Mwavi (a poiso-
nous beverage) as a test. The assumption is that it
hurts only the guilty.
Besides various shrines, holy places include
sacred mountains, lakes, rivers, trees, animals,
and snakes (especially Moma, Python). One of the
most sacred places of the Luba empire is Lake
Boya near Kabongo City.
It should be noted, however, that the core of the
Luba religion is the notion of Bumuntu (authentic
or genuine personhood) embodied in the concept
of mucima muyampe(good heart) and Buleme
(dignity, self-respect). Bumuntu stands as the goal
of human existence and the sine qua non condi-
tion for genuine governance and genuine religios-
ity. Thus, religion played a crucial role in defining
the Luba vision of good government and “civi-
lized life.” This notion of nobility of heart is
enshrined in the creation myth of the glorious
phase of Luba empire whenBuluba(Lubahood)
became a label of quality.Genesis Stories
For the Baluba, the Buluba refers to a tradition of
wisdom transmitted from generation to genera-
tion for more than a millennium. Buluba, then,
means the core values of Luba civilization, a uni-
fied worldview, a common set of religious ideas
and ideals defining the essence of ethics, human
dignity, good government, and “sage king.” In its
origin, Buluba meant that kind of “refined behav-
ior” generated by Luba courts and extended to
other kingdoms of the vast empire. It is that dis-
tinctive label of quality, that nobility bestowed by
personal dignified ethical behavior (Buleme), and98 Baluba