Driving in a very rural area, we spotted the first Gule Wa Nkulu, a young man hidden behind a mask and with white broad stripes painted all over his body. Excited we stopped, having read about this tradition.
When they are commanded by the spirits of their ancestors, young men dress up in very strange customs, then go to the graveyard to receive further orders of those ancestors. Immediately, we realized this guy was swinging a Panga (machete), which made us feel rather uncomfortable. What if the spirits told him to cut off our ears?
And this is exactly the problem the villagers are faced with Gule Wa Nkulu nowadays. Some of them steal and rape and commit all kinds of crime, insisting the spirits ordered them to do so. Only lately has the police started to come down on these guys and arrests them for the crimes they committed.
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