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Most visitors to Zanzibar know the island through its beaches and Stone Town. Mwaka Kogwa belongs to another part of its life: the rural south-east, where a community marks the turn of the year with rituals handed down for generations. It is one of the most distinctive events on the island, and it is a community occasion, not a performance laid on for visitors. This page explains what the festival is, where it happens and how to go as a respectful guest. For the island's wider story, Stone Town's history gives the trading background.
The story
Accounts vary in detail; what follows is what most of them describe.
Who the Shirazi are. The festival belongs to the Shirazi community of Zanzibar, whose tradition is linked to the Persian (Shiraz) world and to the older Persian new year. The link is traced differently in different accounts, so this page presents the tradition as the community's own rather than settling its history.
The date. Mwaka Kogwa follows the Shirazi (Nairuz) calendar, so it is not a fixed day on the Gregorian calendar. It is usually held in late July, with the main events around 23 July. Build a spare day into your plans, and check the date for your year with a local guide or the tourism office.
The banana-stalk contest. The best-known part of the festival is a contest in which men fight with banana stalks (makoa). Two brothers from the south of Makunduchi fight two from the north, with no referee, and the fight settles the past year's disagreements openly. Then the field fills: one account puts up to a thousand men into the centre, and the fight becomes a mass fight. Earlier versions used sticks; the authorities stopped them after the fighting became bloody, and players now use banana stalks (another account dates the change to after the revolution). A fighter who gives up raises both hands. Women sing through the fields, with the men answering with teasing lines.
The burning hut and the smoke. A local mganga, a traditional healer often called a witch doctor, builds a grass hut in the middle of the field. At the end of the proceedings the hut is burned, and the direction of its smoke is read as a forecast for the village's fortunes in the coming year. The fire is then put out, and the music and feasting begin.
What the festival is for. The name is often given as roughly "the year to be clean", though another translation is "washing of the year". Either way, the disputes of the old year are settled before the new one starts. The festival is held across Zanzibar, but it is most elaborate at Makunduchi. These are the community's own reasons, and visitors are guests of that purpose, not its audience.
Key facts
What: the Shirazi new-year festival of Zanzibar. Where: Makunduchi, on the island's south-east coast. When: usually late July, around 23 July, lasting about four days. Rituals: a banana-stalk contest, a burning hut and a reading of its smoke, then feasting and music. Visiting: a village community event; go with a guide, get permission before photographing and dress modestly.
How to experience it
Go with a guide. Makunduchi is about one to one and a half hours' drive from Stone Town, depending on traffic and on whether you travel by taxi or local minibus. Plan the day with a local guide or driver, and arrange your return before you set off. The day is usually said to begin with everyone gathering at the sports field and to end with music and dancing. A guide can introduce you to the village and explain what you are watching.
Plan the base. If you are staying on the island's south-east side, the day is far easier from there than from the north. Base yourself in Jambiani or near Makunduchi and drive the shorter distance, rather than setting out from Nungwi or Kendwa before dawn.
Dress and behaviour. Cover your shoulders and knees, as the dress code guide explains. Keep your behaviour quiet and respectful, stand where you are shown, and do not walk into the contest area or the fire ring unless you are invited. Stay out of the middle of the fighting; the field is not a place to watch from up close.
Photographs. Get permission before you photograph anyone, and accept a refusal. Photographs of the fire and the crowd from a distance are usually fine; close pictures of individuals need their agreement. Zanzibar for photographers sets out the wider etiquette.
Food and gifts. The day is usually shared with the village over a communal meal. Accept food if it is offered, and let your guide advise before you bring any gift.
Date and access. A visit depends on the date for your year and on the village calendar. A travel designer can check the date with you and whether a visit can be arranged for your dates.
Right for you if you will be in Zanzibar in late July, are comfortable with crowds, physical fighting and a long hot day out in the sun, and will go with a guide. Choose another page if you need a fixed date outside July, or if you are travelling with small children, since the crowds and the fighting are not suited to them. The activity calendar lists what runs at other times of year, and Sauti za Busara covers a music festival of a different kind.
Why it matters to how we travel
Mwaka Kogwa is a reminder that the island has living traditions that do not exist for the benefit of visitors. At the edge of the field, the crowd sets the pace of the day long before the fire is lit. A visit is designed as an invitation arranged through a local guide, not as entertainment to be bought. For the wider idea of culture as a shared life, how Zanzibar's spice trade shaped the island sets out the long history of exchange that the Shirazi tradition belongs to.
Journeys to consider
- Shores of Zanzibar — the island itinerary, with space for a rural day trip. See the Shores of Zanzibar journey
- Stone Town, the east coast and Mnemba — ten nights — the longer version, with room to plan around a village festival. See the ten-night island journey
