THE PRACTICE OF TRADITIONAL RELIGION AMONG THE GANDA OF UGANDA. Rogers M.

Kazibwe Introduction: Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa with a surface area of 241,038 square kilometers and with a population of 30 million. It became a British protectorate in 1894. It gained its independence in 1962 from the British and with a population of 8 million at the time. Uganda is bordered by Sudan in the North; Tanzania in the South; Congo and Rwanda in the East; and in the West by Kenya. Among the Ganda, traditional religion is central in all their activities even today as Christianity permeated their society. Since the introduction of Christianity, most Baganda became followers of Christianity and as John Mbiti says, they view Gods omnipotence seen in His exercise of power over nature. Despite the missionaries endeavours to make the Baganda get lid of their small gods; this bore fruits for a short while; the Baganda have a fallback position to their ancestral beliefs of their traditional religion. Internal Organisation: Uganda is composed of 54 various ethnic groups and the biggest of them all are the Baganda that are situated in the Central region of the country. The Baganda that are referred to as the Ganda make up 20% of the total population. The Baganda are located along the northern and western shores of Lake Victoria. They are sometimes referred to as the Kings men because of the significance or the role of their King known as the Kabaka in their political, social, and cultural institutions. Until 1967 when kingdoms were abolished by the Ugandan national government, the Baganda were
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organized into a tightly centralized bureaucratized kingdom.

In 1993, the national

government reinstated the kingdoms by permitting the coronation of various kings including the Baganda King Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II as the thirty six king of the Baganda. Traditionally, the Kabaka ruled over a hierarchy of chiefs who collected taxes in form of food and livestock. Portions were distributed through the hierarchy, eventually reaching the Kabakas palace in the form tribute (taxes). The Kabaka made direct political appointment of chiefs so as to maintain control over their loyalty to him. Many rituals surrounded the person of the king. Commoners had to face down on the ground in his presence. Since the reinstallation of the King in 1993, he has only ritual functions and no political power. He was removed of his power so that tribal differences would not interfere with the formation of a nation state. All Baganda participate in the Ugandan government system. Nevertheless, the kingdom and associated institutions remain strong forces in the cultural practices and value of the Baganda. The Baganda speak a Bantu language known as Luganda. It is a member of the Niger-Congo family languages. In the Luganda language, the singular form of Baganda is Muganda. Children learn speech skills that prepare them for adult life in a verbally rich culture. Both girls and boys are taught riddling games to improve on their vocabulary of the language. The Ganda culture is full of riddles, myths, legends, and proverbs that tell the origin and history of the Baganda as well as the workings of the everyday world. The most significant legend involves Kintu, the first Kabaka (king). He is believed to have married a woman called Nambi. First Nambi had to return to heaven. Gulu, her father, objected to her marriage because Kintu did not know how to farm but only how to obtain food from cattle (milk, Ghee, etc). Nambis relative tested Kintu in order to determine his suitability as a spouse. In one test Kintu was asked to identify his own cow in a herd, a difficult task since there were many
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cows like his own. By chance, a bee told Kintu to choose the cow on whose horns he would alight. After several large herds were brought to him, Kintu reported that his cow was not among them. (He was continuing to watch the bee that remained on the tree.) Eventually, Kintu, with the help of the bee, identified his cow, along with several calves that had been born to his cow. The amazed father eagerly gave his daughters hand in marriage. He advised them to hurry to leave for Kintus home before Walumbe (Death) came and wanted to go with them. They left carrying with them cows, a goat, fowl, sheep, and a plantain tree. Unfortunately, over the protests of Kintu, Nambi went back to obtain grain that had been forgotten. Although she tried to run away from Death, she was unsuccessful. After many years of happiness on earth, Walumbe (Death) began to bring illness and death to the children and then adults. Up to the present day, Death has lived upon the earth with no one knowing when or whom he will strike. The Baganda feared death very much. They did not believe in such paradigms as life after death. Whenever someone died, they would weep and wail around the corpse. Weeping was important because one who would not weep and wail could easily be suspected of causing the deceaseds death. The Baganda did not believe that death was a natural consequence. All deaths were attributed to wizards, sorcerers and supernatural spirits. Even today, among the Baganda an individual can not die of natural causes; they believe there is some one behind that death. Religion The majority of the present-day Baganda (Ganda) are Christians, about evenly divided between Catholic and Protestants. The first Protestant missionaries arrived in Buganda in 1877, followed by the Catholic Missionaries in 1879. Although Islam had come earlier, fewer people followed it compared to those who followed Christianity. And for that matter when
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Christianity came many people went with it. And no matter the majority of the Ganda today are Christians. In the last part of the 19th Century, most Baganda were practicing an indigenous religion known as the Balubaale (spirits) cult. This cult consisted of gods who had temples identified with them. These gods were each concerned with specific problems. For example, there was a god of fertility, a god of warfare, and a god of the lake. As John Mbiti points out, religion is the strongest element in the traditional background of the Baganda, and exerts probably the greatest influence upon the thinking and living of the people. The Baganda also believed in spiritual forces, particularly the action of witches, which were thought to cause illness and other misfortunes. People often wore amulet (charms) to ward off their evil powers. The most significant spirits were the Mizimu or ancestors who visited the living in dreams and sometimes warned impending dangers. The Balubaale cult no longer exists. However, belief in ancestors and the power of the witches is still quite common. The Ganda believed in superhuman spirits in the form of mizimu, misambwa and balubaale. The Balubaale were believed to have been men whose exceptional attributes in life were carried over into death. The mizimu were believed to be ghosts of dead people for it was believed that only the body could die and rot but the soul would still exist as omuzimu (singular of mizimu). Such ghosts were believed to operate at the family level to haunt whoever the dead person had grudges with. If the mizimu entered natural objects, they were believed to become misambwa. At another level, the mizimu could become tribal figures and also known as Balubaale. The Supreme Being among the Baganda was the creator Katonda. Katonda was however, not believed to be very different from the other Balubaale. In fact, he was believed to be one of the seventy three Balubaale in Buganda.
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Both the Protestant and Catholic Churches are challenged by their followers who practice both Christianity and traditional region including witch craft. In fact, witch craft turned into business. People seem to find solace in the gods of their ancestors than in the Christian Churches! Most witchcraft shrines are owned and managed by the Christians, an indication of how the Ganda are too much attached to their traditional religions. They are the same people who attend Sunday Holy Mass Celebrations and at the same time own witchcraft shrines. Therefore, many Baganda practice their traditional religion side by side with the current western religions. In the old traditional religions, the gods asked for sacrifice (blood) especially human sacrifice. This practice still goes on where the practitioners want to appease their gods in such of fortunes and riches! The Buganda Balubaale had specific functions. The most important among them were; Katonda (creator), Ggulu-god of the sky who was the father of Kiwanuka, god of lightining. Then there was Kawumpuli, god of plague; Ndaula, god of small pox, Musisi, god of earthquakes; Wamala, god of Lake Wamala; Mukasa, god of Lake Victoria; Musoke, the god of rainbow; Kitaka was the god of the earth. It is worth noting, that the Baganda believed that whatever calamities befell them, they were by God and therefore had to assign and name a of a god for that calamity. For instance, lightening, earthquakes etc. There were temples dedicated to the different Balubaale throughout Buganda. Each temple was served by a medium and a priest who had powers over the temple and acted as a liaison between the Balubaale and the people. In particular clans, priesthood was hereditary, but a priest of the same god could be found in different clans. The priests occupied a place of religious importance within society and they usually availed themselves for consultation. The kings had special shrines of worship.

The traditional religion of the Ganda was based on belief in a hierarchy of god-heroes (lubaale), ancestral spirits (mizimu), and nature spirits. The most important god was Mukasa, the god of Lake Victoria, health and fertility. Another important god was Kibuka, the god of war. Besides such national gods, each clan worshipped its own lubaale. Priests maintained temples and shrines, and cults centered on the spirits of former clan leaders and kings. Prophets, or mediums, were able to consult with these spirits, which influenced the affairs of the living. Although today most Ganda are either Christian or Moslem (a small minority), traditional religious practices are still performed, such as sorcery, folk medicine, spirit possession, and ancestor worship. Traditionally, a group of priests and a prophet, or medium, was associated with each temple. The priests performed the rites and sacrifices, and the prophet communicated with the spirit. Prophets were initiated into a cult after first being possessed by that cults spirit. Prophets also practiced magic and performed curing ceremonies. There were few public ceremonies in traditional Ganda religion. Priests away from public view conducted most ceremonies. Others involved only clan elders and members of the royal court. Individuals who requested an interview with a god initiated public ceremonies. A day was set, and gifts were brought. The Prophet invoked the lubaale, and the audience sang songs appropriate to the particular god. The god descended and possessed the prophet, and the sponsor of the event made his requests. The ceremony ended with further singing, dancing and drinking. The Kabaka (king) would also make requests of the national gods in a similar but more elaborate ceremony. Today as most Ganda profess Christianity does not stop them from worshipping their gods that they are so much attached. The Ganda still hold-on to their traditional religion in solving their concerns. They continue searching for their gods in mountains, trees, rocks, lakes, rivers and caves. They still practice sorcery, witchcraft and sacrifice to their gods in an effort to

appease the spirits. Some Ganda practice Christianity as well as their traditional beliefs as part of their culture. The Church in Uganda today is challenged by the existence of the practices that have watered down the efforts of the Evangelization of the Ganda people. The re-installation of the Ganda Kingdom in 1993 and hence, the Kabaka (King) seem to have ignited the traditional beliefs of the people by arguing that they have a traditional King and therefore, they should resort back to their former beliefs and traditions.

References Fallers, Margaret Chave (1960). The Eastern Lacustrine Bantu (Ganda and Soga). London: International African Institute. John, S. Mbiti (1995). African religious and philosophy, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 22 Bedford Square, London WC 1B 3HH. Martin, M. Marlene (1977). Ganda. In Sixty Cultures: A Guide to the HRAF Probability Files, edited by Robert O. Legac. New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files, Inc. Ray, Benjamin C. (1991). Myth, Ritual, and Kingship in Buganda. New York: Oxford University Press. Roscoe, John (1911). The Baganda: An Account of Their Native Customs and Beliefs. London: Macmillan. Southwold, Margin (1965). The Ganda of Uganda. In Peoples of Africa, edited by James L. Gibbs, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.