David getting the fire started in the small
kiln – investments are already loaded.
Should take today and overnight to burn out and then a pouring later on
tomorrow.
Informants here: Muhinda Jofet and Marahi
Kihuka (15,000/-)
David and l went to visit the muramura graves
near his and his brother’s home village.
This place was called Kinyangoye.
The older grave also had a tree planted inside the muramura circle
called a Enkegha tree which had grown big. This tree was rare and was not
planted there but seemed to arrive from nowhere. Not much was known about the two graves, except
the man buried in the large grave was Kihuka Bagheni, who was an uncle to
David’s father on his mother’s side.
There was traditionally no inscription about who and when the person was
born or died. The second smaller
muramura grave was the grandson to Kihuka Bagheni, whose name was Simon
Baluku. The cement grave to the side of
these was Mwenkehule Baluku, the son of Simon Baluku, and the grave is only 15
years old and yet is not in too good a shape.
The 'Musambya' tree, which is found near the graves, seeds itself all over
the place on the wind.
Opposite was a clan meeting place with
benches.
The Storyteller
Name: Daniel Baluku Dinji
Place: Ruoni, Ibanda
Interpreter: Owerangi Enock
To be a storyteller you have to be 50 years or
above and who has met all the people who have told him about all the stories
from the past. This is mainly from
parents and grandparents and his father was a clan leader and anyone could
approach him for stories.
Daniel Baluku Dinji was a mountain guide for
the Ruwenzori mountains but now he does a bit of farming and telling stories to
earn a living – he appeared on crutches.
Asked which were his favourite stories as a
child he said his parents told him about the gods who lived in the
mountains. The spirits were Nyabibuya
(who controlled women) and Isebebuya (who controlled men). The men and women make sacrifices for both
spirits. Special sheep, black and brown, are used as sacrifices to the gods,
depending on the needs of the spirits eg. for hunting and if they wanted rain
after a drought. The clan leader would
do the sacrifices but it could also be the chief, if the clan leader was not available. Chicken, eggs, sugar cane and some matoke
were also used in the sacrifices, & often roasted these things when calling for the spirits. These dishes (which would vary) would be left
in the shrines. The shrines were special
houses. Palm leaves and banana leaves would be put into the shrines like a carpet, which would form a ‘plate’ to put the food on. There would be two shrines opposite each
other on a pathway, one for the males and one for females, not big enough for
humans to get into, as these were for the spirits alone.
Kitasamba is highly respected as he takes care
of the whole mountain and the others were lesser gods. The whole pantheon
consists of Nyabibuya (associated with females, giving birth and helps
fertility), Isebebuya (associated with males, fertility, importance, and
madness) and Kalisha (associated with wild animals, hunting and controls
them). Kalisha had a farm of wild
animals, but as well as assisting with hunting, she could take care of the
animals too. Sacrifices could be made using animals and therefore killing animals would be condoned. Kalisha could take on the image of a sheep,
and birds and therefore could trick you, and so you might have to make a small sacrifice, otherwise you might
get lost in the mountain. The spirit
would whistle and confuse you, so the mountain guides were told to ignore it
and go straight ahead, otherwise the spirit would make you loose control and
focus. Even the hunter’s dog could loose
it’s way and aim. Often Kalisha would be in the form of the blue monkey or
colobus and she can also be seen around large groups of buffalo for instance, as when asked for evidence of this he said he had seen her as a smoke plumb in the middle of them.
There are separate spirits for the lakes and
rivers and general spirits, which are everywhere too. The ‘Octopus’ is not a spirit, it is a snake
and is considered by David to be a bad totem which needs regular sacrifice to
stay in control. As it is associated
with water it is often linked with rain, as well as rivers and he said his
grandfather (witch doctor), who was a rainmaker, had it as one of his
totems. It can be a reason for drowning
too. It normally changes into a snake or
fish. The healer can make someone poor
or rich if he/she brings a sacrifice – he is told to bring a ‘snake’ otherwise
someone within the family may die.
Families could have a relationship with the ‘octopus’ but would have to
take a large sheep (black) to the river as a sacrifice to make sure they
maintained some peace. These sacrifices
would have to take place twice a year.
Often though you would have to make more regular sacrifices of young
sheep depending on the problem within the family. If the ‘octopus’ gets too tiresome a party of
men, who are clan leaders, have to go out to kill it, over a period of three
days and people have to stay indoors whilst this is done, as these men must not
be seen. Then, if successful, the proof that this had been achieved would be a red sky in the morning, according to David.
When collecting water in water pots you can fetch the octopus by
mistake, so you would have to do the sacrifices to live in peace.
David said there was another bad spirit of the
snake that like the ‘octopus’ had to be readily appeased and is often
acknowledged in the ‘gift giving’ as dowry on marriage. There is also a family spirit that is relied
upon within the family.
Regarding other animals and stories associated
with them the storyteller tells us that the zebra thinks of itself as the king of the jungle, as
it is special to other animals, as the other animals watch it and surround it;
whereas the leopard at the time of creation, because it is considered to be a
dangerous animal, was separated and therefore solitary. The spots mean anger. The lion is tough so
other animals hate it and that is why it is on its own too.
Death rituals: If you die in a village, there is a drum in
every home that is played to alert the public and then people go there to pay their respects. The relatives make a fire on the verander and plan how the person would be buried. Usually they
would be buried in clothes or bark cloth.
Then they would look for trees that had a branch that you could dig a
grave with. Before you dug the grave
uncles and aunts would gather. The
nephew would be responsible for digging the grave and other people would follow
after this. If it was an old person then old people in the village would have
to take him from the house to the grave, likewise if a young person then the
younger members of the community would be called upon to do it.
For males the process before burial would last
a week and on the 7th.day they would hold a party/funeral and decide
who will take over the family. Drums and
flutes would be playing. The person to
inherit could be a brother of the deceased or clan member within the family, or
could look for the oldest son of the dead person. He may have had five wives in which case he
could now control all their families and have more children with the younger
wives, whilst treating the older wives as surrogate mothers. Spears are inherited too and are used for
hunting and usually given to the oldest son. The oldest son is the one to enter the house first where the body is lying and only then can the other younger brothers and the
rest of the family enter the house too.
The muramura plant is placed in a circular
formation around the grave, which is the job of the nephew, and indicates where
the grave is. The family then used to
move to another village, often after burning the house down. Sometimes they would not bury a person near
the house because they did not like the young ones to know about death and it
was considered bad to see the body. In
those days they could have a clan burial grounds, which were sacred burial
grounds, but they do not have these anymore.
However the dead person needs to be considered part of the family still, so he is not buried
away from the family house now, otherwise the dead person’s spirit may come
back to haunt them.
Daniel Baluku Dinji tells us that a healer and
witch doctor are different although now they are often the same.
Witch doctors - He says use bad
spirits often to kill people and witchcraft is used as a business but often
they say they are healers! Witch doctors
just want money. He said before mobile
phones a witch doctor, through the powers of the spirits or clan leaders, could 'assist' with enemies, for example, if someone hates someone else they
could make a bad spirit fly between you and this other person which would be very effective.
Healers – are people who use good spirits and take
care of people. He often calls upon
Nyabibuya (the god of fertility) for good luck, as in the case of a 30 year old
female who is not married they can consult him as to why this might be, as it
was believed you might have something wrong with you. They use local herbs as well as the spirits.
Interview with Witch doctor 2
Name: Baluku Nudu
Place: Muhambo Village
He lived up this very steep hill and David and
l managed to go up to a good height before continuing on foot into the hills –
the road up was very scary as the edge was falling away, the road was lumpy
with rocks and only enough room for the landrover tyres! He is the father of Musa, the security guard at the foundry.
His stool was very small although similar
shape to the other stools l had seen. He
had a hippo tusk dangling on a piece of string from the ceiling of the first
room in the hut where l sat which was to ward off bad spirits that may come to him. He sat in the doorway to the other room,
which seemed to be empty but I was told he had other things in, which caught bad
spirits, but I was not privy to enter this room.
He said that Christianity had not effected the
numbers of people coming to him, and that some of them were Christians anyway.
Some people come to him for mental health problems
and epileptic fits are quite common. If people move at night (bad spirits) they
can get affected for which he has a leaf (‘Eringa’) for the ‘octopus’.
His job is as a witch doctor but he also farms
which gives him a means of survival. His
clients are both male and female of all ages.
Even if someone has done something really bad,
like murdered someone, he would still have to help them – a bit like Catholic
confession maybe. There are physical and
spiritual spirits. The charms he has can
protect the client against the evil spirits but cannot protect him against
other men, who may want revenge perhaps.
Nzebe and Muhima are prophets who he calls upon, that can tell you what is
wrong with you.
The sacrifices he makes are usually brown
chickens, although he can use different colours depending on what is wrong with
you. His twice a year sacrifices for
himself are brown chickens. He uses a
black one for the ‘octopus’, which is associated with valleys, and a white one
for evil spirits from the mountain.
He thinks witch doctors will never die
out. He will leave ‘his bag’ to choose
who will be the son to be the next witch doctor, it cannot be him that chooses. He did not know he would be the one chosen
but the bag chose him and being the eldest son he also inherited his father’s
spears – these would be different sizes for different game.
His ritual objects were fascinating which he
pulled out of two pots and a box and a small shopping basket. The pots had gourds and horns in them, the
box had loads of objects in them, mainly animal parts (monitor lizard feet,
piece of leopard skin, vertebrae and his headdress had three animal skins
attached to it), some unreadable script, knotted fabric and shells and even
pangolin scales. The horns were special
and as with the other witch doctor he held a group of them in his hands to
shake backwards and forwards as he would chant.
The big one had an animal throat stuffed in the top (pangolin) and two
tubes sticking out of it, one to call the spirits into his head and the other
to call up the demons of the sick person.
He starts with the former calling the spirits. The pots were used to put the herbs in.
His headdress is made up of a leopard conch
shell, monitor lizard, Kasimba, and Akanyamulholhota (two flattened furry
animals).
The pangolin scales he cooks up with water, if
you have the shakes (epileptic fits) and administers it as a drink.
The piece of leopard skins he uses to cure
measles because of the spots.
The monitor lizard feet he uses to cure diarrhoea
by cutting a small piece of it and tying it to your hand.
The shell is for curing sleeping sickness and
the client would drink out of it.
The metal hoe was very old and rusty and goes
back beyond his grandfather’s generation…..so maybe ancestral.
He then showed me what he did with his clients
to heal them. He wears the headdress for
this but still appears to don his suit, shirt and shoes. He would take them outside, to his ‘herb
garden’ shaking the gourd on his exit from the hut to indicate to others that
he was on the move and people should stay away.
Then he plants the horn smaller or larger into the selected plant or plunge
it into the earth by it and then picks some of the plant to give to the
client. Sometimes he picks up a rock or
stone by the plant and holds it too. The
prickly pear is for chest infections.
