Batoro: Gentle people with rich heritage

UNIQUE CULTURE

In Uganda, the Batoro are renowned for being calm and having a young king. However, there are certain unique aspects of their culture people do not know about, writes Rogers Sunday

The Batoro are welcoming, gentle and hospitable, Henry Kato, a cultural and heritage expert, says. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg as the kingdom is endowed with a rich culture in different aspects of life.

For example, the kingdom has its pet-naming tradition, locally known as empaako. Despite being only 12 in number, pet-names are shared amongst all the people in Toro. “A Mutoro will always greet another Mutoro using the pet-name,” Alice Basemera, the director of Koogere Cultural Foundation of Uganda, says.

THE EMPAAKO NAMING SYSTEM

The 12 pet-names in Toro are Abooki, Amooti, Apuuli, Adyeeri, Acaali, Abwooli, Abbala, Akiiki, Atwooki, Ateenyi, Araali and Okaali, which is reserved for the king. Unlike Araali, Acaali, Abbala and Apuuli, which are only for males, the rest are shared by both genders. A baby boy is given a pet-name four days after birth, while for a girl, it is three.

“After birth, the baby stays in the house with the mother for three to four days and on the day of exiting the house, relatives are invited for the empaakonaming ceremony” Basemera says. The choice of the pet-name is usually decided by the clan head and the baby’s maternal parents. The ceremony is accompanied with celebrations to welcome the newborn into the family.

 At the climax of the celebration, family members plant a banana sucker or a tree in honour of the baby, Gertrude Kabaganda, a traditional marriage expert, says.

MARRIAGE

 Kabaganda says in Toro, the bride and the groom are usually prepared by their parents for marriage. “We have an event known as Hakasaka, where we give guidance to our boys and girls before marriage. This is done at a stage where both the boy and the girl have clocked the age of marriage,” Kabaganda says. She says this equips the couple with skills to manage family affairs. Basemera says in the past, parents used to identify the families into which their daughter would get married.

“Girls would be married off at a tender age,” Basemera says. She says between the age of 10 and 20, a girl would start receiving sex education from her mother before being sent to start living with the family into which she would marry. “A comprehensive investigation of the family into which the girl was going to get married would be done — wealth, hereditary illnesses, norms and practices,” Basemera says. Unlike today, Kato says parents of the bride and groom would take the lead in the marriage preparations.

 In case of a misunderstanding between a husband and his wife, the two families would be called in to mediate. As a way of keeping the male gender superior, some dishes were traditionally not eaten by women. “Women were not allowed to eat tasty foods such as grasshoppers, eggs, fish and chicken. A woman who ate such food would be considered as disrespectful to the husband,” Kabaganda said. The major role of women in society was reproduction. “Women would be allowed to give birth to as many children as possible. Many children gave the home a sense of security,” Zebidayo Mwesige, an elder, says. Mwesige says anything that threatened a woman’s reproductive pottentail was always forbidden. “Women were not allowed to eat or drink anything whose origin was not known,” he says.

 SOCIALISATION

 To socialise, the Batoro used to gather at a fireplace (Ekyooto). “Ekyooto was where people would gather to learn history, cultural practices, norms and the language,” Mwesige says. A family patriach or an elder would chair Ekyooto sessions. Apart from socialising, Ekyooto would also be used as a family or communal court, where disagreements and conflicts would be publically listened and attended to. “In case of a disagreement between a husband and wife, the aggrieved party would run to the elders to file a complaint.

The other party would later also be summoned to come to Ekyooto and matters would be resolved there” Mwesige says. It was against this background that Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV during the Empango celebrations launched in September the Ekyooto Ha Mpango festival to showcase Toro’s culture.

 The festival was supposed to take place before the Omukama’s 26th coronation anniversary last month but due to COVID-19 restrictions, it was shifted to November 25-28, 2021.

 TRADITIONAL WEAR

 In Toro, the traditional wear for women is a long dress that is accompanied by esuka, ekutiya and ekitambi. Basemera says the dressing differentiates a married woman from widows and those who are single. “When a woman wears the traditional attire, with both arms properly covered, it a sign that she is married whereas one who is exposes her arms is single.

For the widows, they cover both arms but fold the suka at their back,” Basemera says. Kabaganda says a married woman is not supposed to expose her body parts. “Body parts such as the arms and thighs are supposed to be seen only by your husband,” she says. The men on the other hand wear the long tunic (kanzu) as their traditional wear. This is accompanied with a coat/jacket.

FOOD

 Oburo (millet) is the traditional staple food of the Batoro. It is eaten with firinda (mashed beans), roast meat as well as esabwe (mushrooms boiled with cow ghee).

The millet is served in a traditional basket known as endiiro that is made out of the papyrus leaves, while the sauce is also served on a traditional plate known as ekibindi that is made out of wood or moulded from clay. The other traditional foods are bananas, sweet potatoes, cassava and yams.

ORUNYEGE DANCE

 This is mainly involves men stamping their feet hard on the ground in a rhythmic way while shaking rattles tied on their legs. Their female counterparts dance around them while wiggling their waists.

We have an assortment of drums — long drum, central drum and beat drum,” Basemera says. The dance requires a lot of energy. Marriage hopefuls use the dance to showcase their strength and express feelings towards their loved ones. Traditional love songs and poems are another form of social entertainment in Toro.

AMAKONDERE ROYAL DANCE

There is the Amakondere royal dance that is mainly performed at kingdom functions and events. It is meant to entertain the king and his guests. It involves the blowing of wooden trumpets and sounding of drums as men and women dancers alternately jump gently while lifting one foot as they move forward.

ITS ORIGINS

Toro kingdom was formed around 1822 when the first son of Omukama Kyebambe Nyamutukura of Bunyoro known as Olimi Kaboyo took the southern part of his father’s kingdom and formed his own. Today King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV is the reigning king of Toro.

The king superintends over all the clans in Toro with the help of the leaders. The kingdom has ministers and chiefs that represent the interests of the king and the kingdom. It was among those that were abolished in 1966, but restored in 1993. Toro kingdom is comprised of over 150 clans.

The key major clans of Toro are the Babiito royal clan, Basiita, Basambu, Bagweri, Bakurungu, among others. These are mainly spread all over the current districts of Kabarole, Ntoroko, Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge, Kitagwenda and Bunyangabu. Each clan has an elected representative to the kingdom (Parliament) chaired by the king. The Kingdom Supreme Council is the highest decision making body of the land.