Luba calendar

Calender used by Luba people

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Luba calendar" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

The Luba people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have a twelve-month calendar which is thought to begin in September. Each month is named for natural occurrences and human activity appropriate to that time. [1]

## Months

[edit]

1. Mvul'a Mbedi (September) - "first rains", the beginning of the rainy season
2. Kibitenda (October) - "white ants come out"
3. Kaswa Bitenda (November) - "the little insects that can be seen here and there", brown ants come out of their mounds
4. Tshiswe Munene (December) - "numerous brown ants"
5. Tshiongo Wa Minanga (January) - "month of drought"
6. Luishi (February) - "planting season" (corn)
7. Lumungulu (March) - "planting season"
8. Luabanya Nkasu (April) - "hoe distributor", a weeding month
9. Tshisanga Nkasu (May) - "hoe assembling", the dry season, no planting goes on
10. Kashipu Nkenza (June) - "first cold, dry air, then hot."
11. Tshibungu Mulume (July) - "the cloudy month with a strong cloud"
12. Tshibungu Mukaji (August) - "the cloudy month with a weak cloud"

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Mukenge, Tshilemalema(2002). Culture and customs of the Congo. Greenwood Publishing Group, pp. 144-146, ISBN 0-313-31485-3.