CHAPTER 54
THE BUILDING OF HOUSES LONG AGO
All houses in Busoga were built in the same way but they differed in size and standard of clean-liness. The houses were made of small poles plastered with mud that was so well prepared that it looked like bricks. The walls were finally painted with fine black mud mixed with cow-dung. This was the whitewash of those days. In many cases the walls were filled with paints of letters, people, birds or animals. These paintings were made without proper understanding, the intention was to decorate the houses. But these days, if you are lucky enough to find a house built in this fashion, you would see real Egyptian letters, such as the ones I saw in one Egyptian Mosque known as Absembel, in Cairo, or in one of the tombs of the Egyptian kings (Pharoah). There was much in common with the Egyptians, such as handcraft, customs connected with the burial of rulers, etc.
The houses were round in shape and the roof was built of light poles tied together by means of banana fibres or grass-made ropes called ‘Misasi’, in case of chiefs’ houses. These Misasi ropes made a house look very smart and beautiful. The roof of an ordinary house was covered with grass but that of a chief’s house was covered with papyrus. All houses had as many supporting poles as the weight of the roof necessitated. The distance between poles was one to two yards. Every house had a verandah all round it. Some houses were thatched with grass known as senke, over which was put bweyoyeyo - grass.
The chief’s houses were built by the peasants within his realm. The peasants’ wages included a feast of much meat, food and drink, prepared and served by the wife for whom the house was built. The wife served this feast on the day when the house was completed. The things required for the feast, were a cow, goats and chickens, were supplied by the wife’s parents, as a gesture of good-will to the husband for having erected a house for their daughter. The husband and his wife together discussed and decided on the day when this feast should be held and they invited a number of friends and relatives to attend. On the day when the feast was held, these two people slept together as a matter of custom.
All houses, whether of peasants or chiefs, had no kitchens attached to them. Each house had a special fire-place where the cooking was done, a place for the cattle, goats, chickens, etc. and a sleeping place. Meals were eaten on the verandah or under a tree in the courtyard. After the completion of the major work on a new home, the wife was responsible for decorating it as she wished; the husband was responsible for major repairs.
These houses had no permanent walls built of mud and poles; these were compartments made by means of large sheets of barkcloth or mats. All houses, no matter for whom they were built, were built in the same way or the same plan. There were no regulations governing the building of houses such as applying for permission to erect a house in a particular area. Everybody was free to erect a house anywhere within his kibanja. He was free to go to the bush and collect as many trees as he needed.
In some counties the wife who owned the house built a fence round her house to shut out thieves and other criminals. This fence served many other requirements.
No one else was allowed to sleep in a new house before the owner had slept in it; as soon as the men who thatched the roof came down, the owner rushed in and made a fire in it. The men had their feast in the house and threw some of the food high into the roof. On the day when the house was opened, the wife and her husband slept together. Failure to do this meant that the good blessings were thrown away. The one responsible for the violation of this custom was fined a goat and chicken, which were slaughtered for offerings before the house could be declared free for normal use; on this occasion the wife and her husband slept together.
In building a new house, the wife whose house it is cleans the site and on the day when the digging of the foundation holes starts, the husband has to sleep with that wife. The Basoga call this rite ‘Okusamba ekiwalo’ which is intended to bless the new house.
When building has been completed, while the last touches are being given to the roof, one man would light a fire inside the house and quickly run out. This was believed to prevent the house being smokey in future.
The men who assist in thatching the house ate a meal inside that house on the last day of building. Some of the food is thrown up into the roof. This, it was believed, would prevent mice from coming to the house. On this day the husband had to sleep with the wife owning the house, inside their new house.
If the house happened to be the first house to be built for this particular wife, then she would bring from her parents a goat, chickens, peas and simsim for a feast. The husband would also contribute some chickens or a goat . They would then invite their friends to a feast to open up the new house. On the night of the feast the husband was bound to sleep with the wife in her new house.