The Sumbwa are Bantu group native to Bukombe District, Geita Region in central Tanzania.
The Sumbwa people are scattered over a wide area in northern Tanzania. According to tradition, they originated in the far western part of the country, and many, many years ago they moved into the north central area of the country, where they conquered the local people and set up their own chiefdom. This area is considered the heart of the Sumbwa lands, although many Sumbwa live quite far from there.
Originally, the Sumbwa were hunters, but now they are mainly farmers. Cotton is their main cash crop, and they grow maize and cassava for food. Bee-keeping for the purpose of gathering honey is also one of their sources of food and income.
Among the Sumbwa people there are Christians, Muslims, and followers of the traditional religion. Many Sumbwa still follow the traditional religion.
Sumbwa is a tribe that has had its own traditions and good practices. One of their traditional dance is mulekule.
The Sumbwa of Tanzania are numbering 527,000 (Peoplegroups.org, 2025)
The language itself is named Sumbwa. However, there are other mother languages in the area, such as Swahili and Nyamwezi. Also, a neighboring language is the Sukuma.
While nearly everyone knows at least basic Swahili, bilingualism testing among the Sumbwa indicates that the educated have a higher level of Swahili ability than those who have not been to school.
The Sumbwa people are “scattered over a wide area. The main center of the Sumbwa people is located in the Bukombe, Runzewe, and Kahama districts of Shinyanga region in northern Tanzania.
“According to tradition, the Sumbwa originated in the far western part of the country, and many, many years ago they moved into the north central area of the country, where they conquered the local people and set up their own chiefdom”. The Sumbwa were originally hunters and gatherers, as most groups in that area. However, since then, they have become primarily farmers dealing with cotton, bee-keeping, and maize and cassava growing.
Main carbohydrate staple(s). The main carbohydrate staple foods for the Sumbwa people are sorghum, millet, maize, rice, sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, chick-peas, gourds, sunflowers, bananas. Furthermore, the Sumbwa also farm cotton for cash crop and bee-keeping (honey) for food and income.
Main protein-lipid sources. Peanuts and chick peas are some of their sources of protein.
The data speaks of division of labor and specifically that man and woman both have different tasks to accomplish, some of which are that men clear the bushes, do all metal and woodwork, sewing and ironing of clothes and so forth; for the women, the tasks include weeding, bringing of firewood for coking and beer-brewing and many more.
In Sumbwa, ownership is conveyed by right of cultivation or by grant by the chief of a field belonging to some person who has migrated out of the land”. (4 p273) Such ownership does not stop even if the land is not being used. The only way for the ownership to lapse is for the owner to hand over his land or if the person is missing, the chief of the tribe can give that land away. Also, “If a man leaves the country his land falls to the chief. Private land belongs not to the individual, but to the family after the first owner”.
The age of marriage is generally accepted to be puberty. “It is a very common rule that a younger child may not marry before an elder”. Furthermore, if any brother/sister tires to marry before an older sibling, the older sibling “will make pretence of being married by cohabitation for one night with some youth”.
It is known that divorce do occur in normal rates. Furthermore, divorce can occur in two ways – either the husband returns his wife to her parents or the wife simply deserts, which is the less common type separation.
When the man asks the girl to marry him and after receiving permission by the girl, the man goes to the father and officially asks him for permission to marry the girl, which is quite similar to our ways. On the other hand, “If the betrothal continues until marriage this is invariably marked by a celebration which involves much ceremony of a religious character. The most essential item of these ceremonial proceedings is usually the conducting home of the bride, and it is to be noted that it is very usual for her to be carried”. Furthermore, according to the source, couples are sometimes betrothed even at birth, but such betrothals are not binding.
Polygamy is the predominant form of marriage among the Sumbwa people. The presence of only one wife is considered to be a state of poverty thus “…many wives mean wealth. They bring strength to the family and by consequence the husband of many wives is respected and esteemed “. Another interesting fact pertaining to marriage is that if a father dies, his sons can marry his widows but the sons cannot marry their own mothers. Furthermore, the sons will also take over the young children of the widow.
There seems to be evidence to support Bride purchase with dowry. Furthermore, the dowry depends upon if the girl is virgin. “…and even in Sumbwa, where it is said that few marriageable girls are virgins, a price of two or three rupees is paid for loss of virginity”. Furthermore, The Dowry is “150 to 1000 hoes according to rank” and it must be paid on, or before marriage. However, if the man cannot pay the dowry or if the parents of the girl do not want to give her away even after the dowry has been paid, the man can abduct the woman (with the woman’s consent).
Regarding the inheritance rules, within the Sumbwa tribe, the inheritance falls to the sons. It is also known, but not a hundred percent proven, is that the oldest son acts as the trustee of the inheritance while the other male siblings are still minors. Unlike other tribes in the area, within the Sumbwa, the inheritance by a son is not regulated by the chief, and no formal permission is needed.
When a man has many women each wife is separated in her own tent and she only shares her household with her own children. Also, if the wife has illegitimate children, the husband may acquire them by paying a trifling sum.
The women do not enjoy sexual freedom as the people committed the adultery with the wife will be prosecuted. However, a wife’s unfaithfulness is closely related to the man’s unfaithfulness as a woman cannot prosecute her husband for adultery. Furthermore, the compensation paid to the husband for his wife’s adultery by the adultery is divided in 3 parts – “the husband receives 100 hoes, the king 50, and the elders 22; possibly these payments should be called fees or fines rather than compensation.
For the Sumbwa, and some of the nearby tribes, ancestor worshiping is the main element in the religious practices.
Furthermore, the spirits only affect their own descendants or their siblings.
Also, offering to the ancestors is made very regularly, and the Sumbwa have simple shrines, made out of wooden stakes that are stuck in the ground – these are used for the ancestral offering. Apart from the ancestral worship, the Sumbwa are also
believed to worship a high god.
The Sumbwa people are very strongly oriented toward RCR and predominantly, ancestral worship, with specific rituals.
The Sumbwa seem to believe in heaven and hell and for each citizen, there is a
separate hell and heaven that they share with their family and ancestral descendants.
The Sumbwa are still communicating only with their own ancestor’s spirits.
The Sumbwa used to worship spirits and to believe that spirits are something of a secret. However, due to recent missionary works, many Sumbwa people are converting to Christianity, or Islam. On that note, “A large percentage of the Sumbwa claim to be affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. It seemed, however, that many of the people are not actively involved. They do not appear to be strong believers; neither do they seem to feel a strong need for change. Most seem like they would be happy to continue as they are now”. Furthermore, according to the source, there also seems to be a high degree of syncretism between the traditional religion of the Sumbwa, and the new religions presented to them by the missionaries.
There are certainly roles that each individual will take within the tribe.
There seem to be a very secretive special ritual (ceremony) performed with the birth of a first-born child. Furthermore, there are total of 10 figures used in this secret ritual
that pertains only to the mother and father of the child and also the grandparents. According to the source, “the element of secrecy plays such an important part in all spiritual activities of the people that a tentative explanation of its reason may be not out of place”.
There seems to be a very secretive ritual for newborn babies performed with the knowledge and participation of only the parents and grandparents of the infant. The ritual involves specific figurines and associated activities with these figurines.
According to an article on the Sumbwa, “The super- natural world is not a uniform conception despite the common principles of belief and even a striking similarity in the procedure of rites. Direct communication with the metaphysical sphere is restricted to ancestors from whom a man may expect immediate beneficial influence on matters of the moment”.
The article goes on to say that each citizen of the Sumbwa
tribe has their own heaven and hell that is shared only with his relative and ancestral descendants. The overall notion is that the Sumbwa put a good amount of emphasis on spirits and communication with the spirits, which can be good and bad depending on the situation.
The Sumbwa people were certainly influenced by the Missionary effect and Christianity and Islam are still the predominant religions.
During certain rituals such as the ceremonies associated with a child’s birth, ash and other materials are mixed to paint certain parts of the mother and father’s bodies and also the baby’s body as well, particularly the head.
“In Sumbwa the chief wears a round shell in the hair,' an armband of lion's sinew, and two copper armrings”.
Although specific data is not present regarding scarification of the Sumbwa, there is data supporting the scarification in the whole Unyamezi region, which the Sumbwa is part of. Also, the tradition of knocking out the two middle lower incisors has been present in the past within the Sumbwa.
The evidence suggests that the Sumbwa are people wearing western-style clothing. Also, the women may wear traditional African clothing called kangas, which are a form of wrap.
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