shimunenga is held on the weekend of the full moon in september or october at maala in namwala district. the founding story: shimunenga was a warrior chief of the ila who led his people and their cattle to the kafue flats after a dispute with his brother moomba — establishing the ila cattle kingdom in its characteristic territory, where the ila have kept their herds for more than seven centuries.

the three-day ceremony.

day one: people gather at the shrine of shimunenga. women perform the kukonkobela dance. traditional songs are sung. the community reassembles from wherever the year has taken them.

day two — the men's day: women dress in masalu and throw sticks symbolising spears at shimunenga's brother moomba, re-enacting the founding dispute. the inkazo and mpango dances are performed. chiefs give speeches. praise songs are performed for the ancestor shimunenga.

day three — the cattle drive: the cattle are brought to nalubwee lubwe on the kafue river. the cattle of the custodian of the shrine are the first to cross. then the chiefs' herds. then the community's cattle — competing to cross, herdsmen driving animals into the river, swimming across the kafue in what is simultaneously practical cattle management, ceremonial performance, and a visual spectacle of extraordinary power.

hundreds of cattle crossing the kafue river under the full moon. the ila watching from both banks. the animals that represent their deepest identity making the crossing shimunenga made more than seven centuries ago.

the ceremony outlasts the cattle drive. but the cattle drive is what the ceremony means.