Seven-days: Zambezi’s most loved traditional beer

If you happen to see people dancing the Sipelu traditional dance joyfully, be sure that cinkontini is being consumed.

This is how local historian Raphael Mbala describes the popular traditional drink that brings elders together in the Zambezi region.

Among those who have been around the drink since time immemorial, this traditional brew has earned the name cinkontini, known for quenching the thirst of elders after long meetings under the trees.

In this part of rural Zambezi, buchwala (traditional brew) is a must to complete traditional ceremonies, especially while performing a specific dance.

“If there is a meeting at the traditional headquarters, at the end of it, cinkontini must be consumed while enjoying the Sipelu dance,” Mbala tells The Namibian.

The beverage is known as ‘seven days’ in English. It earned its English name because it takes exactly seven days to prepare.

The potent brew has been enjoyed for decades, passed down through generations since the 1830s, Mbala says.

A DRINK FOR EVERY OCCASION

Seven days can be enjoyed any time of day during a regular week, not just on special occasions.

“All you need to make this seven-day traditional brew is sorghum, maize, sugar, water and a 200-litre drum to prepare it in,” Mbala says.

The ingredients, which brewers mainly source from their crop fields, may seem simple, but the entire process is somewhat complicated.

Mbala says to start the brew, soak the sorghum in water overnight, then drain the water the next day.

“On the third day, you need to wash the soaked sorghum and dry it. The next day you need to stamp the sorghum and mix it with the maize, then add plenty of water. You leave that mixture overnight and start cooking it in the drums the next morning,” he explains.

According to Mbala, the brewing process takes an entire day, and then the next morning they add ordinary maize to the fermented sorghum again and leave it.

“On the seventh day the beer is ready to be consumed,” he says.

Mbala says cinkontini is mostly consumed over the weekends, although it can be prepared for any day.

He reveals that locals have developed a more potent beer called sipesu, which means ‘multiplying’ in the local Subia language, made from the same seven-day traditional brew.

He says people would buy a jar of seven days, add an equal amount of warm water and sugar, and make sipesu.

“Sipesu is very strong; one little cup can make you very drunk. The locals make it if they want to get more drunk. Meanwhile, others sell the sipesu they made from the cinkontini at a much higher price,” he says.

Mbala says, like other traditional beers, cinkontini is threatened by modern alcoholic beverages, as young people during traditional occasions often prefer to consume modern drinks.

“They feel they get more drunk when they consume modern beers as opposed to cinkontini or feel like if they drink it, it’s a low-class drink,” he adds.

‘THE CINKONTINI WHISPERER’

At Kangongo village in the Sibbinda constituency, Emmanuel Munwela (83) has been brewing cinkontini since the 1960s. He says it has become part of his DNA.

Munwela is known as the ‘cinkontini whisperer’ by villagers near and far, because whenever they need a drum, they go to him.

He caters for all the occasions, such as renaming rituals, land inheritance rituals, annual traditional festivals and weddings.

“I always have my ingredients ready as orders come at any time. I make my cinkontini with either sorghum or mahangu, which I harvest from my crop fields. However, I ran out due to the high demand. Therefore, at times, I source the ingredients from other villagers,” he says.

Munwela’s cinkontini cups go for N$2 each, and he easily makes about N$1 000 from one drum. As an experienced vendor, he often receives multiple orders simultaneously.

“I make more money now compared to the olden days. A drum can finish just in four hours or so. People really enjoy a freshly brewed sikontini,” he says.

For the past five years Sibeso Muzimbwa, a sikontini brewer at Kongola village, has been strictly serving it on Saturdays, and without fail, she makes N$3 200 monthly.

Muzimba says each Saturday during the early hours, she wakes up to beat the drums, alerting her customers that the sikontini is ready.

She says while it takes seven days to make, it finishes in mere hours – that’s how much people love it.

“I wake up at 04h00 to beat the drums loudly to signal that the cinkontini is ready and go back to bed. Around 07h00 my first customer comes and wakes me up, and business kicks off. At 14h00 my drums are empty, and I walk away with N$800 per day,” she says.

Kongola villager Glen Shebo says just 2 litres of cinkontini are enough to get him drunk, and if he dares to drink more, it’s lights out for him.

He states that cinkontini is a healthy and affordable beverage; however, it is very strong.

“Every time I drink cinkontini, I make sure I enjoy every drop of it because I know I have to wait another seven days to get it. If you have something on your chest, you just go buy it and go to your friend’s house to unwind,” he says.

Shebo says customarily, when you drink cinkontini, you need to drink it from one cup with everyone that is present.

“It tastes much better when everyone is drinking from one cup. It also fosters sharing, as traditionally you don’t deny someone alcohol. However, the risk of drinking from one cup is that one could be poisoned and wouldn’t know how. However, we still prefer it that way,” he adds.

Shebo says cinkontini has the potential to be sold in shops if investors come on board and collaborate with local brewers.

“We surely will buy it. The brewers will even make more money, as it will now be sold in the shops in town as opposed to only being available in the rural areas,” he says.

Munwela’s grandson, Collins Mutwamezi, says cinkontini is always the star of their family gatherings, as they share stories with each other while sipping it.

“Everyone, young and old, is happy after drinking cinkontini. It’s even the most opportune time for elders who like to share stories from the olden days to tell us how things were done,” he says.

Mutwamezi says he is already learning how to make cinkontini and will surely continue his grandfather’s trade of being a brewer.

“My grandfather is teaching me, and soon I will also be an expert like him,” he says.

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