Bless us oh Nakayima tree

Jan 21, 2005

FASCINATING tales of a mystical medieval tree (Nakayima) emerge from green hills that overlook Mubende township like a sentry. <br>For years, residents of Mubende have witnessed hundreds of tourists from across the globe and pilgrims from different parts of the country wind up onto the hills.

By Raphael Okello

FASCINATING tales of a mystical medieval tree (Nakayima) emerge from green hills that overlook Mubende township like a sentry.
For years, residents of Mubende have witnessed hundreds of tourists from across the globe and pilgrims from different parts of the country wind up onto the hills.

The arduous winding journey on a rutted rocky road through Mubende’s lustrous hills to Nakayima tree is believed to bestow blessings. To foreign tourists, it is just another trip to one of Africa’s mind-boggling attractions. For locals, however, it is a spiritual journey to a sanctified ground where the poor seek for wealth, the sick ask for health, the barren ask for fertility and the unemployed ask for jobs. It is a place where burdens are cast.

My trip, 700ft above the surrounding plateau, to Nakayima, was inspired by sheer love for adventure not the quest for fame or fortune, yet when I got there, everything changed!

In about the 13th century, Mubende hill was an important ritual centre for Nakayima or Nyakahuma, the Bachwezi cult medium of Ndahura, the first Mucwezi king of the Kitara Empire. Ndahura was believed to have the powers to give blessings to his people.

When he died, Nakayima, his eldest wife, became a central figure in the Bachwezi cult worship because many believed she was still able to communicate with the dead king. Consequently, many people travelled long distances to ask Ndahura, through Nakayima, for fame and fortune.

Unfortunately, Nakayima also passed away. But before her death, she had vowed to return to the people for as long as the tree, which made her Palace’s cornerstone, still existed. The Nakayima tree is said to have been part of the original fence of her palace.

Rays of the morning sun filter through the canopy of huge trees occupying the vacant and quiet tree-studded wide compound.

Three children loiter in shelters created by protruding roots at the base of a giant tree that has dwarfed them. The wondrous tree towers above the rest with great prominence exuding the significance attached to it.

Nakayima tree looks majestic. the roots, covering a surface area of 20ft, have formed over 20 chambers.

I take photographs of an old woman and a youthful man bowing in humility on a floor of the biggest chamber covered in a carpet of dry grass. The old woman almost throws a fit.

“Nakayima discourages taking of pictures from here!” she retorts.

A few meters away, a sacrificial fireplace puffs the last coil of smoke as I wait for them to conclude what looks like a pagan ritual. They are done in 10 minutes. She asks me to remove my shoes and invites me inside.

The dry grass feels cold under my feet as I bow before two old baskets — one containing coins and the other dry coffee beans.

I explain my reasons for visiting hoping to avoid going through customs I consider incompatible with my Christian values. But my explanation is in vain.

“First seek Nakayima’s approval,” Restie Nalubega, the elderly celebrant at Nakayima, says politely. She leads me into prayer, asking to repeat after her.

She reels off words with delightful eloquence and musical elegance as if reciting a poem. Her rhythm is fast, but controlled. Her words seem premeditated. She chooses them with direct purpose, wanting the gods to wish me well.

“I call upon you, Nakayima, the strongest god to descend before me. Bestow upon me your blessings and protection. I ask of you to secure my job, take me overseas where I will amass great wealth so that when I return to thank you, I come driving a posh car …”

I am not certain whether to pray along. After each prayer, she asks me to sacrifice any amount of cash together with four coffee beans in the shrine. Meanwhile, she stays behind to pick it up!

We move through the shrines of Nakayima, Ddungu, Ndawula, Kalisa and Kiwanuka among other deities while saying the same prayer.

According to Nalubega hundreds of pilgrims return to give thanks for the fortune they receive after visiting Nakayima.

We do not use medicine. The pilgrims simply ask what they want from Nakayima and then they offer different sacrifices,” says nalubega, who is called on to preside over an urgent function elsewhere.

Rose Mwanja, a conservator at the Uganda museum, affirms the legitimacy of the Nakayima legend.
“It’s hard to believe but the story is a true living legend.

The spirit, Nakayima talks and functions through people,” she says.

She explains it could be anyone from a family having ancestral links to Nakayima. Some of the mediums have moved from as far as Rwanda to the museum, where most of Nakayima’s excavations are preserved.

“As soon as they walk into the museum, they become hysterical. They scream and strip,” she says.
The mediums come from Ankole, Tutsi in Rwanda, Baganda and Basoga — tribes that have ancestral attachment to Nakayima.
She says there is a lady in Rwanda healing people with the spirit of Nakayima.

However, the spiritual role to lead pilgrims in prayer at Nakayima is hereditary. Nalubega and her sister, Kabahuma are the only two chief celebrants at Nakayima shrine. Their brother, John Lubega, past away.

“We want to build a museum at the Nakayima tree where all the artefacts will be returned, but we worry for their safety. There are very many mediums and that has created rivalry. One time she had built structures for pilgrims and tourists to rest, but they were burnt down.”

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