In
our presentation of last
week, we discussed
the matter of the
cultural festival that
was held at
Bujora on 8th September,
2021; at which
President Samia Suluhu
Hassan was installed
as ‘HANGAYA’ , or “chief of all
the Chiefs”; and
the festival’s intention
and purpose, of
preserving the cultures , that is to say,
the rich tribal
customs and traditions,
of Tanzania’s different
ethnic groups. We will
continue that discussion in today’s
presentation, by focusing on the
original customs and
traditions of the
people of Ukerewe
District; as a
follow up on
that interesting topic. Ukerewe is
my place of
birth; where, according to
reliable records, I was
born on 9th June,
1935; and where I returned to
live cozily after
my retirement from
the Public Service.
Ukerewe District
profile.
Ukerewe
District is a
collection of some 38
Islands, both (relatively)
large, and other
very tiny ones.,
many of which
are still uninhabited.
The ‘larger’ islands
are:-Ukerewe (494
km sq); Ukara (80 km sq);
Irugwa (13 km sq); Bwiro 10 km sq); Kamasi (5
km sq); and Sizu (4 km sq).The District
has a total
landmass area of
only 640 km
sq. And the last (2012)
population census
shows that the
total number of
people of Ukerewe
(as of that
date) was 345, 147. ;
which means that for a
rural District, it
has an unusually
heavy population density;
which consists of a balanced
mixture of different
small ethnic groups;
including the Wakerebe
themselves (better known
as Wasilanga); who
migrated into Ukerewe
Island from the
Bukoba side of
Lake Victoria; and
became the rulers (abakama) of
Ukerewe.
The
other ‘major’ ethnic
groups who first migrated into
Ukerewe, were from
the Musoma side
of Lake Victoria.
These were the Wajita,
and the Waruri. Some
of the tiny
Islands of Ukerewe
have a very strange cultural
history. There is
one Island
called Kalita; which was reportedly used
as a ‘dumping
ground’ for babies
who were born with
skin disabilities; and
also twins; who were hurriedly
taken to Kalita,
and left
there to die of
hunger.
There
is another such
Island called Chehumbe, which
was used by the Chiefs
of Ukerewe as
their “hair cutting
saloon”; where they
invariably went to
have their regular
haircuts. But
there were others
which had similarly strange cultural prohibitions. There was the Island
of Izinga; where
mourning, as well
as burials of
dead persons, were strictly
prohibited. And there
was the Island
of Kalazu, where dogs were strictly
prohibited.
The kikerebe
language.
Although
the different immigrants
into Ukerewe
Island spoke their
own dialects; for
example, the
Wajita spoke echijita, or
echikwaya; the Waruri
spoke echiruri; etc; the
Kikerebe language
is what was
spoken by the
ruling Abasilanga clans
mentioned above; and therefore
became the dominant
language, especially after
the early foreign
Catholic missionaries who
came to spread “the word of
God” had adopted
it as the
language of that
church for the
purpose of preaching
the Gospel, as
well as the language of instruction,
for all those
seeking to be
baptized.
Thus, the
Prayer books, as well as Hymn
books, were all
translated into Kikerebe. However,
the kikerebe; which thus
became the working
language of all
those who became
Catholics, irrespective of
their ethnic group. However,
It is worth
mentioning that the Kikerebe
language is pretty
difficult in some aspects, especially
in the area
of exchanging greetings. This difficulty
arises because, the
choice of words
which one uses
in greeting people,
strictly depends on a number
of factors; including:-
(i)
the
time of day
when the greeting
takes place, since morning greetings are distinctly different
from the afternoon
greetings;
(ii)
the gender of
the person being greeted;
(iii) the
age of that
person; and
(iv) your personal relationship
with that person.
This
last requirement is
particularly difficult; for
it assumes that
you know the
faces of all
your relatives in the
extended family! This
was further complicated
by relationships that
are created through
marriages; which bring in a
host of ‘new’
relatives, whom you
must also remember,
in order to
greet them correctly.
An
added complication was
that even among
relatives, the form
of greeting differs
significantly between different
categories. Thus, for
example, despite the
difference of gender; brothers-in-law, and
sisters-in-law, are greeted using exactly the
same form of
words.
But
because Kikerebe was both the language of
the ruling class,
as well as
of the Catholic
church in this
District; plus, it was also
the language used
in the Native
courts, which were
presided over by
magistrates appointed by the Chief
himself (who normally
selected his own
blood relatives for such
jobs);
It easily became
the dominant language,
standing prominently above
all the other
ethnic dialects.
The cultural
wonders of Ukara
Island.
In
the matter of
culture, the people
of Ukara present
a totally different
picture. They
are called “Abakara”
in the kikerebe
language; which means “ancient people”.
This name implies
that their date of
arrival there, and
even their places
of origin, were
not known.
Even with
regard to the
language culture, there
is a distinct
difference between these
two Islands. The
people of Ukara
have their own
language, called echilegi, which
is significantly different
from the ekikerebe, which
spoken on the
larger Island, Ukerewe.
And,
as we shall
see a little
later, the people
of Ukara Island
had their own unique tribal
cultures, call them
‘wonders’, because they
really are wonders;
such ass the magic
powers possessed (by
some families), that can
only belong to
the supernatural world!
It
is a fact,
for example, that
there is one
clan (ukoo) in Nyamanga Village,
Ukara; which possesses
the magic formula
for commanding the famous “dancing
stone” (locally known
as Nyabulegeka); to
perform its twists and dances
for visitors. The various folklore stories associated with this strange stone appear to confirm the view that the places of origin of the immigrants into Ukara is unknown; for there are different accounts regarding the formation of this strange stone (estimated to weigh about 5 tons), and stands on another solid, flat , natural rock.
My information regarding this matter, is based on one of these folklore versions; which claims that “there were two brothers, who migrated to Ukara from Southern Sudan, and settled at the present Nyamanga village. And that on one day, one of these brothers suddenly disappeared; and could not be seen again, alive or dead. Eventually, their descendants went to consult a witch doctor who, through complex witchcraft processes, discovered that the lost member of their clan had been turned into that stone. Thus, as proof of his finding, he gave that clan the form of words, which any clan member can use in order to communicate with their lost clan member.; which is still being used to command this “human” rock, “to dance for visitors”
But
there are two other
versions; one of
which relates to
the same story
of two brothers, but
says that they
came from Majita,
on the Musoma
side of Lake
Victoria. And that there had
occurred a serious
fight between them,
and that one
of them had ran by
canoe and landed at that particular spot
in Nyamanga village,
Ukara.
But
his enemy was
following behind him
in hot pursuit;
and he soon
also arrived and
continued the fight,
in which the victim was
killed; and his
dead body is
what miraculously turned
into that stone. The
other version is
that this stone
was the creation of
a witch doctor,
who had cured the
said clan from a
strange, unknown disease
that had defied
all normal treatment.
The clan consulted
a witch doctor,
who offered them
his special treatment,
which required the
clan to prepare
food in the
manner instructed by
the witch doctor, and
for it to eat
that food gathered
together at the
designated spot.
According to this version,
when the eating
ceremony had been
completed, this stone
(which was previously
not there), suddenly
emerged, and started
dancing. That is
when their doctor
told them that
they had been
cleansed and cured
of that strange
disease; and he
generously gave them
that formula of
words which enables
a member
of that clan
to command the stone
to perform the dances.
Other
wonders include that
of another clan, in
Chifule village; which possesses
the “magical knife”, (locally
known as “ Imbanda ya Nyamalulu)”. This unusual knife had
the magic power
to settle community
disputes, instantly.
It is
said that disputes
which arose in
the community, were
amicably settled instantly
by
this extraordinary knife.
When such cases
were brought before
it, each
of the suspects was asked to ‘jump’ over
that knife; and the
“guilty” person would have
his legs temporarily paralyzed,
so that he
would fail to lift them in his
attempt to jump
over that magical
knife.
There
is also another
clan, also in
Nyamanga village, which
is reputed to
have the power to
domesticate Lake
Victoria crocodiles; and to order any of them
to go and
arrest an accused
person, wherever he
may be, and
bring him alive
before his ‘court
of justice’.
And
of yet another
clan, a resident
of Kome village.
This clan reportedly
“owns” a piece of Lake
Victoria, and has
the miraculous power
of preventing water drawn
from
his ‘personal area’ of the
lake (locally known as Kalema
katayo), from boiling. “No
matter for how
long you will
try to boil
it, or whatever
amount of charcoal
or gas you
may use, the
water drawn from
that area will just not
boil” ! These are the cultural
wonders of this
‘little’ Ukara
Island.
Of
tribal
chiefs, and the varied cultures
of the Ukerewe
District people.
This
narrative is
based on what
came to my knowledge
later, as
a result of
my own personal
investigations, and research after
settling in Ukerewe; following
my retirement from
the Public
Service.
Regarding the
Ukerewe/Ukara tribal chiefs (Abakama).
During
the period covered
by this narrative,
Ukerewe District had
two Chiefs: the Chief of
Ukerewe (Omukama Ruhumbika),
who ruled over
a ‘vast’ empire
extending far beyond
the boundaries of
Ukerewe Island, right
up to Bulamba
village in what
is now Bunda
District of Mara
Region; and Omukama
Mataba of Ukara;
who ruled
that tiny Island
kingdom, of a
mere 80 sq km. Thus,
understandably, he
was keenly aware
of the
vulnerability of his
tiny kingdom, and
the possibility of
being ‘swallowed’ by
the ambitious Ruhumbika, who
was indeed harbouring
such plans; for
he had successfully
done so in
respect of other
Chiefs within Ukerewe
Island itself; which
accounts for his
name “Ruhumbika”, a Kikerebe
word that means “a person
who assembles” (property
or other goods). It is for that reason,
that Omukama Mataba
invented the saying
that “omutao gutaitaya mugundi”;
which means “a
gourd cannot draw
water from another gourd”. This was apparently
intended to draw Ruhumbika’s
attention to
the ‘equality of status’ between
them.
However, the
colonial Administration established a
single ‘Native Council’
for the two
kingdoms, under the
name ‘UKEREWE/UKARA’ District
Council. Its meetings
were presided over
by Chief Lukumbuzya
of Ukerewe. This
led to their being boycotted
by Chief Mataba,
presumably in implementation of his philosophy
of “Omutao gutiataya mugundi” .
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