Mukeke Food Bowls

Lozi - Barotse related bowls called mukeke.

 Tribal Map - Western Zambia - Lozi areas indicated in deep purple. 

Barotseland: Luyana was the original tribal name given and language spoken of the Lozi people. Luyana was a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family. Nowadays 'Lozi' is a mixture of many languages including Luyana, Swahili, even English, but Kololo takes center stage. It was the Kololo (Makololo) who in fact named the Luyana people 'Lozi' which meant 'plain', referencing the flood plain where most Luyana lived. The Makololo had migrated from what is today Lesotho, to become the most northerly Sotho (Bechuana) group in the region. The Makololo were a warring lot who conquered the Luyana, then imposed their rule and language for over 30 years. The 'Lozi' revolt in 1864 overthrew the Kololo, but a hybrid language continued to develop.

Some but not all 'Lozi', remain with grain storage containers of traditional Bechwana construction. 

Zambian Mukeke Bowl

This Western Zambia food bowl called a mukeke 'or mukeka' was made to keep food warm, protected from flies and to present a meal in. The lid has a geometric shaped finial which serves as a handle. The shapes are meant to symbolize an important home or kings palace. These motifs have been used for over a century. 

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This bowl was collected at Mbulu, located in a sparsely populated area nearby Sioma Ngwezi National Park in South Western Zambia. The people called themselves Lozi - but did not speak the language spoken by Lozi living at Mongu. 

The bow itself is cracked on either side, both breaks included.☺ As a result the lid does not fit on properly, but this might be rectified by the new owner.

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Hut Shaped Lozi Bowl

This mukeke bowl forms the shape of an African hut, the lid carved as a double-tiered roof finial.

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The rim of the bowl has been nibbled on by a mouse or other small rodent, which often happens once food oil builds up in the wood.

The mukeke food bowl was purchased from a Kololo woman who lived near Sioma at Ngonye Falls. She told us the bowl had been her mother's, born in Mbubakati village. 

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Zoomorphic Lozi Bowl

This large prestige mukeke pot in is in the form of a fowl - either a duck or goose.

The owner Kalipa Manga was also from Mbubakati village. Notice how the bird's long feet allow it to be carried on the head.

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Zoomorphic Barotse bowls usually take the shape of or display as an aquatic creature, such as a fish or bird. The body of the bowl and lid are carved so that one fits neatly over the other.

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Hut or Zoomorphic Shaped Lozi Bowl

The abstract shape surmounting this fine prestigious Barotse bowl may symbolize a king's palace, or a winged bird in flight. The object was early collected and is a symmetric work of art.

The entire double rim or lip has been carved with open chevron patterns - this already a popular motif at the point of contact with Europeans.

How I Crossed Africa - Serpa Pinto - Vol II - Pg 36

Colonial Portuguese Administrator and explorer Major Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, visited the area in 1878. In his book: How I Crossed Africa (1881) he described the making of wooden containers with lids.

Volume 2 page 35 describes people living in the plain identified as Luina. (Luyana who became Lozi - Barotse)  He wrote: The people work in iron, and all their arms and tools are manufactured at home. They use no knives, and one cannot fail to admire their wood-carvings, more especially on considering that they are untouched by a knife, but are the result of what in our eyes would be unmanageable implements. In the Lui they employ but two; the rough work is done by the hatchet and the fine by the assegai. The iron of the latter performs all the wonders; the benches on which they sit, the porringers out of which they eat, the vessels that contain their milk, and all their other wooden articles, are wrought by its means. 

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