Lemba people

The Lemba are an African Bantu ethnic group who live in the states of Zimbabwe, South Africa and Malawi in southern Africa. You profess to Judaism, Christianity or Islam. There are signs that they are direct descendants of the Israelites.

Society

The Lemba do not form a socio - political unit, but often live with other groups, such as the Shona, Venda or Pedi. From them they took their language, Tshivenda.

The Lemba the production of merchandise is at the center and are valued for their skill in metal processing. In contrast, cultivation and livestock play only a modest role.

They are traditionally organized endogamous, that is, they married within their own ethnic affiliation.

Israelite descent

The Lemba see themselves as Jews. Their ancestors are said to have left about 2700 years ago Israel. At that time, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel. They have specific religious practices similar to those of Judaism and suggest an origin from the Middle East.

After its founding legend, they have a similar hiking sanctuary of the ark, which is called Ngoma Lugundu ( " drum of the ancestors" ), and they should have done from the " north" in their present home. This box has disappeared only since about 1940.

They do not eat pork, practice circumcision ( circumcision of boys), they slaughter their cattle, the Lemba male wearing a yarmulke and find themselves on their graves Stars of David.

Origin

The Lemba claim that they originally came from a city called Senna which could be in modern Yemen today. There is similarity between the name Senna and the name of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. There are also near Sanaa a place called Senna.

The Muslim population living there have similar last name as they are common in the Lemba. Historically, there was a long time a large Jewish community in Yemen. It is quite possible that the Lemba of Senna came from as merchants to Africa and Jewish descent. Then they were descendants of immigrant Jewish men with African women.

Probably at the end of the 16th century, they have migrated from the coast into the interior.

Genetic Testing

The thesis of Jewish descent was reinforced recently by genetic testing. In the years 1999 and 2000, the English professor Tudor Parfitt led by a DNA analysis of genetic markers.

He compared DNA samples from Bantu (Africa), Yemenis and Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, including the kohanim, the descendants of the Jewish priests. He presented a great similarity between the Y chromosome of the clan of the Lemba Buba of the other descendants of the Kohanim. The Y -chromosome is passed on from father to son, and the more similar it is, the closer is a common paternal ancestor. As Kohanim were only the descendants of Aaron into consideration. The Buba clan is one of the twelve clans of Lemba and is regarded by them as the communities of priests.

The relevant chromosome of Wye Haplogroup J associated and is referred to as modal Cohen haplotype.