124 Petridis, Tree Altars, Spirit-Trees, and "Ghost-Posts" among the Luluwa 
The phrase cipangu cya bukalenga, which means “chiefly fence,” refers to a 
rectangular or square hedge of small spirit-trees of the species called mulemba 
by the Luntu and mululu by the Luluwa. 9 10 11 The construction of this fence-shaped 
tree altar is always accompanied with important offerings and prayers. Like the 
above-mentioned “fertility trees,” mumbu trees dedicated to the female family 
ancestors are often planted simultaneously with the male mulemba or mululu 
(see also note 20). This ritual often takes place when the ancestral spirits afflict a 
chief or his family with disease or infertility (Samain 1923-24; 225; Fourche and 
Morlighem 1937: 360-362)." Cipangu cya bukalenga is also the name of a ritual 
the Luluwa and the Luntu perform in honor of dignitaries. Sometimes, this ritual 
accompanies the actual investiture. Closely related to the cipangu cya bukalenga 
ritual, a cult called bwanga bwa bukalenga reinforces the chieftainship and protects 
the community (Maesen 1982: 52). Among the Luluwa, this cult sometimes 
comprises the use of male statues adorned with weapons and/or different signs of 
status and power, a well-known example of which is preserved in the Berlin 
Museum für Völkerkunde (Fig. 4). 
9 For more data on the kapulwayi, see De Clercq 1911-12: 3; Samain 1923-24: 43-46; Fourche 
and Morlighem 1937: 362-364 and Plate II; Van Caeneghem 1952: 582; Mukenge 1967: 55-59; 
and Faïk-Nzuji 1984: 436 n. 1. However, according to Van Caeneghem ( 1947: 10), the kapulwayi 
does not occur as a spirit-tree among the Luluwa. 
10 For comparative literature on, and illustrations of, such chiefly fences among other Bantu 
speaking peoples, see Womersley 1984: 73-75; MacGaffey 1986: 57 Plate 3; Bastin 1988: 14- 
17; Strother 1993: 161-165 and figs. 8-11, 19-20; and De Boeck 1994: 462-466. Bastin (1982: 
43) informs us that a muyombo tree is planted in the Tshokwe chief’s sanctuary at the beginning 
of the new chief’s reign. This tree serves as the abode of the dynastic ancestral spirits who 
protect the community (see also Wastiau 1998: 131-132 and figs. 2-3, on the Luvale of Zambia; 
and compare with Bourgeois 1985: 2 and Plate II, on the Northern Yaka). According to Rodrigues 
de Areia (1981: 75), the Tshokwe plant a mulemba tree when they present a newborn child to 
the ancestors. 
11 Maesen (1954-55: 29/18) reports that the erection of the cipangu cya bukalenga in the village 
of Kankulu was associated with the establishment of a cyabu. I was told about the same 
relationship between the cipangu cya bukalenga and the cyabu in the village of Tshibombi (July 
12, 1996).