Nc'wala Ceremony. The First Fruit Festival of the Ngoni of Eastern Zambia.

The film introduces the Ngoni and their Nc'wala festival in Eastern Zambia with an explanatory "narration" of the history.It features leopard skin clad Ngoni warriors carrying shields and knobkerries dancing to honour the Ngoni Paramount Chief Mpezeni. The four-day-festival performed annually pays the Ngoni's homage to the ancestral spirits, commemorate their victories during the Tribal-wars and praise the Lord for giving them fresh crops in the fields. It culminates in the sacrifice of a black bull and the Paramount Chief drinking its blood. The Ngoni themselves narrate and comment on it.Historical material from the reintroduction of the festival in 1980 is followed by footage of the ceremony taken in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 showing ongoing cultural change.