This Nalindele mask was collected in a Luchazi village. A Luvale carver traded it outside of its ethnic origin to the 'Chazi'.

 

 

 

 

Nalindele is a variant Pwevo mask - tribally specific to the Luvale / Lwena people. They were almost always light in colour or red and depicted a stylish adult woman - perhaps white. In Makishi Lya Zambia - M. Jordán - pg 172 it says; The name NALINDELE is probably related to the term chindele (pl. vindele), used by the Luvale and other Angolan and Zambian peoples to refer to a white person. This may explain the light 'skin' color and the form of NALINDELE's facial features.

 

Nalindele is no longer made for traditional purposes as viewed above. Fashion changed its appearance from this remarkable zenith, sometime after 1950.  The mask is decorated with three chingelyengelye scarifications on the brow and either cheek, the symbol itself of Angolan - Portuguese origin.

 

 

 

Chicota Kasoma with his Nalindele mask.

 

The owner 'Chicota Kasoma' lived to the east of the Zambezi River in Western Zambia. He was a member of an isolated group of Luchazi, numbering up to twenty villages, clustered along the Nyambi stream. These 'Chazi' had migrated into Western Zambia prior to 1920, from their original location along the Luchazi River in Angola.

 

 

 

 

An offer of cattle was made, which amplified the discussion. At one point Chicota Kasoma revealed that he was the owner and willing to sell. An argument ensued between him and the villagers over his new found need for cattle. Parents pay handsomely for their boys to enter into mukanda and the selling of the mask was no idle matter.