CHAPTER 69
FUNERAL CHARACTERISTICS IN BUSOGA
The passing away of an important man:—
a. When an important chief falls ill and his condition is serious, only a very few people are allowed near to where he is lying such as the chief wife and two or three senior people and a waiter, or the patient’s doctor.
When it is seen that he is nearing death, enquiries are made about his property. They collect the property and keep it privately without anyone else observing them.
b. When the chief dies, his death is kept secret at first so that the people who know may hide most of the valuable property, such as wives, cattle, ivory, hoes, slaves, etc. The other people suspect that death is at hand because his possessions are being hidden. Two or three days later, before sunrise, a nephew of the deceased is instructed to beat a drum which notifies people that the chief has died. At this time the women or wives of the dead chief mourn deeply, while the whole country, or everyone in the deceased’s country o’ver which he has been reigning mourns him. Then the princes (children of the dead chief) or his brothers hurry to look for the deceased’s property in order to take it for themselves, and whatever they find, they take, whether it is a wife, a cow, Ivory or a slave, without waiting to be offered these things by the supervisors of the funeral. The reason is that formerly children of a deceased chief were not given any of his property, as it was passed on to his heir. However, if a son had his mother in a separate house where she had hidden some of the property, it was kept by the mother for the son and no one could touch it.
People mourned by rolling themselves on the ground sorrowfully. Senior wives and senior people, as well as other people mourned the body by falling on it. People tied banana fibres around their heads, necks and waists; the women tied banana leaves around their waists with unfolded or broad banana fibres.
Men and women walked with their head bowed and their arms across their chests. When a chief died, all work stopped and even personal journeys were postponed. If a person was found to be going on a journey instead of staying to mourn, he would be turned back but if he resisted, he would sometimes be beaten severely or even killed, and whatever he was found with would be snatched. This snatching was not an order from anyone; anybody could go and wait at the roadside for travellers and if a traveller carried something which a person wanted, he could snatch it from the traveller.
It was customary not to cook any kind of food but if a person wanted to, he could do this in secret, far away where he could not be seen and found out. If, however, he was seen, his property was confiscated.
When a big chief died, if there should be any other deaths about the same time, no burials could be carried out until the big chief had been buried.
This caused much inconvenience to people, because the lapse of many days before the chief’s burial caused the other corpses to rot and smell dreadfully.
Cocks were not allowed to stay in a village in the time between the chief’s death and his burial, the intention being that no cocks should crow while their head cock (the chief) remained unburied. People were not allowed to shave the hair from their heads during the time that elapsed between the chief’s death and the ceremony of finalising the funeral rites. The dead body of a senior chief remained upon the thighs of the senior wives for seven days or more.
These wives were gathered in the house where the body lay so that they could hold it on their thighs or legs, while all the nephews of he deceased assembled to supervise the wives, not permitting them to eat or drink anything until the funeral was over.
THE BURIAL PLACE FOR A BIG CHIEF
The house of the most senior wife or the first— married wife was the one chosen to bury the chief in. When the nephews of the deceased and the senior men have proved the house, the nephews put on completely new barkclothes, which they tie around their waists with a plantain fibre to secure the clothes. Then they take hoes and go to the selected spot, wherein they start to dig the grave. According to custom, the nephews dig first, then they are assisted by others. The depth of the grave is measured and agreed upon by the nephews and senior men, as many things are also buried with the chief.
The grave is dug in such a way that the head of the corpse should face the direction from which the clan originated, either north, south, east or west. Usually the ruling clan, or the clan reputed to have most of the rulers of Busoga, faces its graves to the north—west as they are alleged to have originated from Bunyoro. During the digging of the grave the corpse remains in the house under supervisionthe watch of the nephews. The grave is dug very deep by all the men, chiefs or local men, who are the only ones allowed to be there. All women stay near the house where the body lies. This applies to all cases of dead Basoga.
The grave is dug to 30 feet or more and takes seven days to dig — i.e. seven days from the day of death. Then the diggers in form the nephews and important people that the grave is deep enough. During the time that the grave is being dug the important people at the funeral are busy finding out who will be the heir among his children or among his: brothers when there is no child, so that when the grave is ready, the heir has been selected. The grave itself is dug in the sha:pe of a rectangle, the length and width being decided by the nephews but the length should not exceed 20 feet and the width should not exceed 10 feet.
WASHING THE DEAD BODY
The whole body of the deceased is washed by his wives with fresh watery plantain fibres and water brought by the nephews. Before the washing actually begins, some new bark cloth is tied in the doorway. The washing is followed by the anointment of the body with butter, after which it is wrapped and dressed. A big necklace of his office (chief) (‘Ekivuma’) usually made out of wild banana seeds is tied around the neck — this is only done for a big chief, not for anyone else. Big chiefs of Bugabula used to have a piece of fresh skin from the cow presented for the funeral placed on their foreheads when they died. Then the body would be wrapped in new bark cloth with the inner part on top while the outer part faced inside, next to the body. Before the wrapping of the corpse, other donations such as anklets, armlets,beads and bangles were put on it accordingly. When the dressing was complete, the corpse was ready for burial; then it was carried by the nephews and some other people to the house in which the grave had been prepared and was placed inside the grave on many bark cloths which had been laid in it before. Then the body was left in the grave, uncovered by earth.
INSTALLATION OF THE HEIR
On the same day that the corpse is put into the grave and left uncovered, a very big bull is chosen from the dead chief’s herd of cattle and tied to the entrance of the house in which the body is lying in the grave. Then all the princes (sons of the deceased chief), including the heir, are collected and brought, while all the big (senior) people, nephews, nieces and others supporting the elected heir gather around him holding sticks in their hands, while some of them hold him. The reason for this is that when the other princes see that the heir has been chosen, they become envious and also bring their supporters to fight the heir; if they succeed in killing him, another prince is made the heir.
Then the heir is brought to the entrance where the bull is tied and handed a very old symbolic spear of the family or clan. He holds this while an old man utters many words when offering the presents to the dead chief, at the same time praying for him, for the heir and for the others. The old man addresses the body thus — ‘You, the dead person, better stay three days in the grave and then come back to destroy those who have killed you so that they also have to taste the soil they caused you to eat for nothing whereas you did nothing to cause danger to them’. When the old man had finished saying all this, an old or senior nephew presents the cow (bull) to the dead uncle, speaking in the same way as the old man did and offering some other presents which were contributed to the funeral also praying. When the nephew had ceased speaking, the heir would take up the spear in is right hand, after being presented with it by the nehew nd spear the bull in the chest as stronly as he could. The senior nephew removed the spear fom the bull’s flesh and handed it to the trustee of the heir who would also spear the bull.
When that was done, the other animals (cows and goats) which had been contributed to the funeral by other people would be brought and killed by the nephews through strangulation. Then the bull which was speared was skinned and the liver removed. This liver was cut and a small piece roasted on a fire and placed on a small wooden bowl. The bowl was placed in the grave at the feet of the corpse by one of the people, who also stayed in the grave until the nephew poured the first soil into the grave; then the men inside would take the soil and tie it in a plantain fibre and hide it. He kept this soil for two or three days after which he returned it at night, when they performed the burning of ‘Akasanja’, and spread it over the grave. This was done so that the spirit of the deceased should not be buried with the human body.
When the nephew had finished pouring in the first soil and the man inside climbed out, the other people started filling in the grave with earth. The corpse had been laid in the grave on its right hand, whereas others place their corpses on the left hand, varying according to the customs of the clans. The heir does not attend or take part in the burial — his only part is the spearing of the bull, which signifies that he has introduced himself as the heir of the deceased, so there is no need for him to be present at the burial. He is escorted by one of the nephews who, with the assistance of others, bring the widow to the heir. Later, on the same day, they bring other widows, as many as they can find, to the heir.
That day of the burial, an enclosure would be built with dry banana leaves for the heir who was guarded against envious brothers who may want to murder him. When the heir was installed, the chief traditional drum of the clan was beaten vigorously while the heir was applauded. Severe mourning followed the installation and it could be heard a long distance away. Some mourners made attempts to jump into the grave so that they could be buried with the chief but they would be taken out forcibly by other people.
When the grave had been covered with earth, all people slept in huts which they built themselves around the deceased chief’s house in which the grave was, but the nephews, nieces and old women slept that night in the house with the grave the young widows had already been given to the heir and other widows had been taken by the deceased’s other sons or his brother. The heir must be the real son of the deceased or his real brother, and a trustee of the heir is selected from the old people with close relationship to the deceased. This trustee also spears the bull when the heir does and is also given one or more wives from the widows. A place must be given to him straightaway in the house of the heir and he is regarded as the second heir. One of the daughters of the deceased is also appointed as the third and last heir of her father and is given a share appropriate to her from the property.
Every adult who comes to the funeral, whether he be an in-law or simply an acquaintance, brings a barkcloth, some of which are given to the nephews and nieces while some are reserved. Until such time known as ‘the time for refining the funeral’, when these barkcloths are put into the grave in addition to those already there.
At the funeral of a big chief, the burning of ‘Akasanja’ was not performed as it used to be done to the rest; instead there would be beer known as ‘beer for Akasanja’ which was drunk after it had been prepared and became ready. Then everyone returns home and is not allowed to shave his hair until the ceremonial day of finalising the funeral rites (‘Okwaabya Olumbe’). Until that day, however, people are permitted to carry out their work. If anyone was found to have shaved his hair before the ceremonial day, even if it was a very small child, all property in their home was taken away from the owners and sometimes the whole home was taken away.
THE FUNERAL RITES CEREMONIAL DAY FOR DECEASED BIG CHIEFS
There was no specific time for this ceremony to take place but it was left to the discretion of the senior people, the nephews and the heir to select a day on which to perform this ceremony. When they had chosen and approved the day the nephews, nieces and the heir went into a banana garden, the heir first, to cut down a beer banana, after which the nephews and nieces cut enough beer bananas to bury in the pit. Then a proclamation followed, informing people everywhere that the Funeral Rites Ceremony would take place on a certain day. Then everyone, chiefs, princes, princesses and in—laws and friends cut down bananas for brewing his beer; they made their beer and prepared the cattle, goats and hens which were to be taken to the funeral on the Ceremonial Day.
Two or three days before the ceremonial day all people had to come to the place where the person was buried and where the ceremony was to take place, and build huts there. They built as many huts as possible equalling or exceeding the number of those which they erected on the burial day.
The day before the ceremony all sorts of rejoicing and drumming started. All the deceased’s drums would be beaten (known as mourning) for their deceased owner. The night before the ceremony, when the beer was supposed to be ready, the nephews and nieces went to the grave and took off some soil which they put on leaves of two strychnia plants (‘Oluwaanyi’ or ‘Oluwano’). They poured some beer and malwa on to the leaves and soil and took them into a fetish hut which had been built in the deceased’s compound for his spirit. In that hut a beer pot and a malwa pot, both full, were put as a presentation to the deceased’s spirit.
At day-break on the actual day the people mourn deeply, as they did on the funeral day. The nephews and nieces start removing the earth from the grave until the corpse is reached and place the reserved bark cloths in addition to those which have just been contributed by other people inside. (this is no longer being done to—day).
At about 8 a.m those who are godly possessed (‘Balubaale’ or ‘Basweezi’) come and dance, beating their drums. Then the old man and senior nephew go to the fetish hut, taking with them all the presents which have been collected, and offer them to the dead man’s spirit. They pray that this spirit may never attack the heir or his other children, and they also pray to the spirit and other spirits requesting them to defend the heir. After that the live presents are slaughtered in th fetish hut or huts, depending upon the number of that family who have died before. At the time of sacrificing the presents, the grave has been completely covered firmly with soil.
After skinning the animals, the nephews and nieces take a thigh for themselves from each slaughtered animal. Much cattle is killed at the funeral rites ceremony of a deceased high chief. Then all the people can shave their heads and bathe or wash — the senior wives and princesses used to remain unwashed during that time. Also at this time all the banana fibres which were used to tie around the heads and necks, as well as the banana leaves which had been used to tie at the waist, are disposed of. Everything is handed over to the heir’s supervision and his headquarters shown to him.
The celebrations take ten days after which the husbands of the deceased’s daughters bring presents, normally cows and goats, so that they may take their wives back from the funeral.
The day after the ceremonial day the daughters remove the soil which had previously been put in the leaves of two strychnia trees and pour it inside the fetish hut this means that the spirit is left to live in its hut permanently. If the hut wears out or- falls down they build another to replace it.
When everyone has gone home, the heir takes everything that he has inherited including the widows whom he has married after they had been given to him, whether they want to or not; usually they do not refuse.
When a lower chief or prince became ill, he would be looked after privately by his wives, relatives and his men who were close to him. When it was seen that he was dying, his property was hidden from his brothers who would want to take everything for themse1ves at his death.
When he died, no one in his. area would be allowed to do any sort of work or to cook food. No travellers passed through his area and if they did, their possessions were taken from them and they were also beaten.
As soon as he died his people mourned deeply, falling on his body and kissing it. If there were any young widows they were hidden as well as his cattle, goats, hoes, slaves, etc. so that his brothers could not take them away.
REPORTING TO A HIGHER CHIEF OF THE DEATH
A senior person who attended the dead body would report to the higher chief the death, and would take a gift, usually a hoe. Then the higher chief would appoint his representative and send him to attend the burial, taking with him a cow as a donation from the chief. If the dead person should be a prince, the representative was given the princely drum to take with him, and it had to be beaten at the funeral before the burial took place; after drumming it, the burial followed immediately. The burial did not take place before this drum was brought and beaten, except in certain circumstances, when each clan acted according to its own taboos and characteristics.
SELECTION OF THE BURIAL PLACE
This was selected according to its historical importance, and was usually one of the deceased’s houses which was occupied by his senior wife whom he had married first.
CELEBRATION OF A SOMEWHAT LOWER CHIEF’S FUNERAL RITES CEREMONY
This was carried out in a way similar to that of a senior chief except that there were not so many donations, such as cattle and goats, at the ceremony of a low chief. In the same respect, after the ceremony, the heir was at liberty to rule his people directly without a trustee, even if that heir was still a child.
AN OLD RESPECTABLE HOUSEHOLDER WITH A LARGE FAMILY
When such a person died, his body was kissed and people were not forbidden to travel, although cooking food on that day was not allowed until after the burial. His friends, relatives and children who were not present were informed by messenger as soon as possible. When all the senior people had come, they would immediately discuss a suitable place in which to bury him. The place chosen was either inside his house, sometimes in his plantain garden or just in the courtyard of his home.
DIGGINGS OF THE GRAVE
A four-sided rectangular pit had to be dug facing the side from which his clan was believed to have originated. It measured about 10 feet long and about 6 feet wide, the depth being according to their requirement. The first person to dig had to be the nephew, and the rest of the peope followed.
WASHING THE CORPSE
It was bathed first with a pot of water fetched from a well by a nephew on his bare head. Then it was washed with beaten and watery fresh plantain fibres or tissues. It was washed by the deceased’s wives or, in their absence, by a woman or man related to him. After washing, it was wrapped in barkcloth and could be buried on the same day, according to the clan’s burial customs.
INSTALLATION OF THE HEIR
The heir was sometimes installed at the time of burial and a goat had to be transfixed by him. Sometimes he was installed after the seniors had carefully selected someone worthy of becoming the heir.
In order to perform the burning of ‘Akasanja’, the nephews took a cock, a beer banana and withered banana leaves to a junction where they burned the leaves and on the fire roasted the cock which they had killed on the spot. It was eaten there and never taken home.
The ‘Nabairakuta’ beer (Kasanja beer) was prepared in the same way as for chiefs i.e. the nephews and nieces cut down beer bananas which they bury in a beer pit. It takes five days for the beer to be ready.
The daughters of the deceased stayed longer than anybody, from the day of death until the final ceremonial day, before they returned to their homes. The celebrating of the funeral rites day was the same as that for a deceased chief, except that condoling donations were few in this kind of funeral and the grave would not be uncovered for the addition of more bark cloths, as in the case of a big chief. The grave was simply resurfaced and put in order, and beer, as well as malwa beer and the blood of the transfixed goat or cock poured on top of the grave.
A YOUNG HOUSE- AND FAMILY-HOLDER
Everything was performed exactly the same as in the case of the old householder, such as the washing and kissing of his body, the place in which the grave is situated and its digging, burial and the burning of ‘Akasanja’, as well as the beer preparation. The installation of the heir was also similar to the former, except that he was not installed on the same burial day but on the same Funeral Rites Ceremonial Day, with the same procedure. It was also on this ceremonial day that the heir would be offered the widow or widows, who shaved their heads on this day. When he died leaving no wife or child behind, after his burial a broom would be brought and the grave swept while curses were uttered, such as ‘Go for good, never come back again on earth because you have left no child of yours behind, therefore you are ill-bred’. This also applied to an old householder who left no child.
This, however, is not being done to—day although it means that his name could not be given to another person as he had not produced children who could bear his name.
If the deceased was an unmarried old man with a child, this child was made the heir but was given no wife as his father had left no widow; all other available proerty left was given to him.
AN OLD WOMAN
If she was married, her husband mourned considerably and kissed his dead wife, as also did her children if she had any, and her relatives. If her husband had other wives, they came to care for her corpse.
REPORTING HER DEATH
When she died, messages were sent to her relatives and friends informing them of her death. Then they would come and suggest a place where she could be buried. They usually selected a place for her grave in the plantain garden if it was nearby. Her grave was made in the same way as that of a man and her funeral was conducted according to the customs of her husband’s clan. Her nephew had to make the first digging-for her grave and the others carried on.
WASHING THE CORPSE
Women washed the body in the same way as for men, after which they tied around her waist a small dress and left the whole dressing or wrapping to the men to do. After the dressing they made sure that all the relatives were present so that the burial could take place. If the relatives were a long way off, they were not awaited. The corpse was carried by the men and placed in the grave on its back and then on its left, and was left at the bottom of the grave according to the funeral customs of the husband’s clan.
If it was necessary to say some words there, a nephew or a heathen priest (Kabona) or an old man said a few words praying for the deceased, to whom he said ‘‘It is not we who have caused this death to you, but do take a few days and then return to take back with you the one who has brought you this demise.” If the deceased had some livestock, then a cow or goat was killed in order to offer her some of its meat to eat, as was the custom of the clan.
In the case of an old deceased woman who left no children behind, the heathen priest or nephew said to the corpse lying in the grave ‘Never return to us because you have left nothing behind you on earth’, and her name was never called on children of that clan so that it died out. If she had left children, her name was given to one of them after she had died.
Four days after her death, very early in the morning the burning of ‘Akasanja.’ was performed by the nephews, who took with them to a junction an unmatured cluster of bananas of namukago type, a hen and withered banana leaves, and worked on them accordingly. The nabairekuta beer (kasanja beer) was also prepared as in the case of men. That was what was carried out in respect of women.
THE FUNERAL RITES DAY CELEBRATION
This was allowed straightaway, or to take place after her clan relatives had come to a decision on the selected day for the occasion. Then the beer was prepared in the same way as for men.
INSTALLATION OF THE HEIRESS
The relatives of the deceased brought an unmarried girl and offered her to the widower to marry, as a substitute for the deceased; she was usually the younger sister of the deceased. When she succeeded her deceased sister, she became the owner of the home and plantain garden, and was a permanent wife of the widower. It was on this funeral rites ceremonial day that all concerned shaved their heads, including the heiress as it was also on that day that she became the wife of the widower.
If the deceased was a mother with daughters already married, the husbands of such daughters brought goats to the funeral in order to take their wives back. If the deceased had married sons, their wives all cooked food which they took to the ceremony in order to fetch their husbands. They dressed like men and when they arrived there, they stayed in the plantain gardens like the husbands did when they came to fetch their wives from the funeral of their parents-in-law. While these wives dressed like men and sat in the plantain garden, their husbands dressed well and with their friends went to greet their wives. After greeting them, they joked with their wives trying to amuse them in order to make them laugh; if these women did laugh, their food would not be accepted and they would not take their husbands with them. But if they controlled themselves and succeeded in keeping straight faces, the food which they had brought was eaten and each one would take her husband (this laughing system was applied only in cases of deceased women). This was also applicable in respect of a husband’s deceased father or mother when his wife went to fetch him.
The goats which the wife or wives slaughtered to cook and take with the food to the funeral were obtained from their parents, as well as the cock. If a husband had several wives, they all went at the same time to the scene.
A fetish hut which was built for a woman’s spirit was a temporary one which had to last only up to the day of the funeral rites.
A YOUNG WOMAN
Everything which was done when a young woman died was similar to those performed for an old woman. If she was umnarried, no heiress was put forward and when the final funeral rites ceremony was performed, everything was over. If her father gave a goat or a hen at the funeral rites ceremony, it would be killed at the head of the grave by the heathen priest and a liver was roasted and thrown into the grave by the priest who would say at the same time ‘This is the goat or hen given to you by your father. Then the heathen priest would start eating the meat and the others did likewise.
BURIAL
The digging of the grave and its size, the washing of the corpse, the dressing or wrapping, kasanja beer and the installation of an heir were all performed in the same way as that of an old woman.
A SPECIAL PERSON KNOWN AS ‘OMUSWEZI’ OR ‘OMUSAMIZE’ (GOD—PRIEST)
The rites were the same for either man or woman and when illness occurred, fellow god—priests were called to visit the patient or look after him. When these ‘Abasamize’ came they endeavoured to build fetish huts and offer sacrifices to the gods in the huts, while drums, relating to the gods, were beaten.
When it was seen that the illness became worse, the patient was removed into one of the main fetish huts. In there one of the senior god-priests, or a senior trainee learning to become Abasamize or ‘Abasweezi’, invited all kinds of gods to come and assist in curing the patient. Before this general invitation was made, usually the spirit or ‘Lubaale’ (god) practised by the patient would be called first and if it was a male spirit causing the illness, it came into his form before others and said ‘This is a very great battle but we are trying very hard to fight it and still we are fighting ahead’. Then it left the spirit and went away; if the patient recovered from the illness, another spirit, this time female, came in the form of the patient and remained on him or her, remaining until the cure was effected. However, if the patient did not survive, the male spirit said at the beginning. ‘This is a very great battle going on but we will not be able to overcome it’, which signified that the patient would die even though all the god spirits called all spirits or gods imploring them to spare the patient; their cries were not heeded, and not even a single voice would come out any longer from any of those spirits or gods, in spite of the beating of the priests’ rattles (‘Ensaasi’) — it would all be in vain. Later the patient died. If the deceased was a senior god-priest, a drum (‘Omubala’) was beaten with sticks to inform the people that the god— priestt had died. The beating went on for a very short time only. Then rattling (‘Ensaasi’) followed, with