To Bahima, fat brides are ideal
Jan 25, 2004
A friend living in UK sent me an extract from a London paper titled ‘Hima Fat Fiancées’. It reads: “For the Hima people in western Uganda, fat is beautiful –– at least for the women
By Jackson Oboth
A friend living in UK sent me an extract from a London paper titled ‘Hima Fat Fiancées’. It reads: “For the Hima people in western Uganda, fat is beautiful –– at least for the women.
Men measure a woman’s attractiveness by her obesity, and a young woman is prepared for marriage in ways guaranteed to ‘fatten her up’: the least possible activity and the most possible food.
By the time of her marriage, the young woman may be so fat that she can not walk, only waddle. At the wedding, onlookers comment on how beautiful she is, noting with approval the cracks in her skin caused by the fatness and the difficulty with which she walks.
Once married, a wife is kept fat by consuming surplus milk from the cowherd –– often coerced to do so by her husband long past the point of satiation.
The wife leads a life of ‘leisure.’ She is assigned no heavy physical work, rarely leaves home and spends her days in sexual liaisons with a variety of men approved by her husband.
These sexual relationships cement economic ones: the obese, conspicuously-consuming wife is both a symbol and an instrument of her husband’s economic prosperity......â€
A few weeks ago, I set out to find out the truth. Do the Hima still fatten up their brides in preparation for marriage?
The Bahima are a cattle-keeping community of the Ankole tribe, living in western Uganda, known for their unique attachment to their cows.
Eighteen-year-old Sheila lives with her parents in Kyabagenyi village, a cattle corridor some 9kg off the main road to Rucwere town.
She has been identified for marriage by 22-year-old Rubagyemyura of Kyanga village, 17km west of the jungle from Sheila’s village.
To reach Sheila’s home, we drive through cattle trails in the wilderness, with no clearly defined roads. Bushbacks, wild pigs and goats criss-cross the trail as the noise from the car interrupts their afternoon siesta.
Eventually, we come to a homestead of three housing units. Two iron-roofed building and a grass-thatched mud and wattle hut.
The mud and wattle structure is where the fattening paraphernalia has been arranged. It comprises a collection of well-polished and smoked ebyaanzi (milk containers) of different colours.
This is where the young bride will spend months with the fattening specialist, doing no heavy work, but eating. She will be coaxed into drinking milk, eating ghee and roasted fatty goat meat.
Sheila is a tall, slender, dark-skinned Ankole girl, probably weighing just over 65kg.
Nobody gets to see her now, apart from her close family members. She has been allocated to her grandmother, a 70-year-old woman, to begin the fattening rituals as soon as the cattle for bride price has been selected from the groom’s kraal, a ceremony locally known here as Okujugisa.
Shedrack, a University student who is our guide, says feeding on specially selected traditional foods, and doing no physical work can accelerate body growth at an amazing rate.
“A young woman weighing 65kg at the time of identification for marriage can be fattened to as heavy as 160kg in only three months. By the time they are through with her, she would be too fat to the extent that she can hardly walk.â€
Rubagyemura is a typical Hima herdsman. He is out grazing his herd when we visit his home. His brother, thrilled with our arrival and purpose of visit, summons Rubagyemura by blowing into his curved palms, making a musical sound.
To our surprise, an answer comes from a distance in the same manner and 10 minutes later, a panting young man arrives, stick in hand.
His home is close nit, with four huts –– one he shares with his mother and a kitchen, the other two belong to his brother, who lives with a fat mother of three children.
Rubagyemura is now ready for okugugisa, when the bride’s family will select 10 cows from his kraal. The date has been fixed for the beginning of December.
Mzee Rwamunyankole, whom we found grazing his cattle on our way back to Rucwere town, says okujugisa is a very important event in the marriage tradition among the Bahima.
During the ceremony, men from both the groom and bride’s sides engage in witty debate and poem recitation in a bid to out-compete each other.
“Sometimes they engage in bitter disagreements, resulting into quarrels. But in the end, the cows would still be selected and a date would be agreed upon when the groom’s family would deliver them to the bride’s home.â€
After okujugisa, the fattening process begins, as the bride is prepared for okuhingira, the traditional give-away ceremony. President Museveni refers to this ceremony as the Ankole wedding ceremony, as good as a church wedding.
On this day, the bride must look fat and beautiful. This is the day she is given away to her husband, along with an assortment of gifts ranging from cattle to household items.
Rubagyemura is looking forward to this day. When we ask about how he feels, his face lights up into a big smile and without a word, it says it all; “I can’t wait to see my bride!â€
A friend living in UK sent me an extract from a London paper titled ‘Hima Fat Fiancées’. It reads: “For the Hima people in western Uganda, fat is beautiful –– at least for the women.
Men measure a woman’s attractiveness by her obesity, and a young woman is prepared for marriage in ways guaranteed to ‘fatten her up’: the least possible activity and the most possible food.
By the time of her marriage, the young woman may be so fat that she can not walk, only waddle. At the wedding, onlookers comment on how beautiful she is, noting with approval the cracks in her skin caused by the fatness and the difficulty with which she walks.
Once married, a wife is kept fat by consuming surplus milk from the cowherd –– often coerced to do so by her husband long past the point of satiation.
The wife leads a life of ‘leisure.’ She is assigned no heavy physical work, rarely leaves home and spends her days in sexual liaisons with a variety of men approved by her husband.
These sexual relationships cement economic ones: the obese, conspicuously-consuming wife is both a symbol and an instrument of her husband’s economic prosperity......â€
A few weeks ago, I set out to find out the truth. Do the Hima still fatten up their brides in preparation for marriage?
The Bahima are a cattle-keeping community of the Ankole tribe, living in western Uganda, known for their unique attachment to their cows.
Eighteen-year-old Sheila lives with her parents in Kyabagenyi village, a cattle corridor some 9kg off the main road to Rucwere town.
She has been identified for marriage by 22-year-old Rubagyemyura of Kyanga village, 17km west of the jungle from Sheila’s village.
To reach Sheila’s home, we drive through cattle trails in the wilderness, with no clearly defined roads. Bushbacks, wild pigs and goats criss-cross the trail as the noise from the car interrupts their afternoon siesta.
Eventually, we come to a homestead of three housing units. Two iron-roofed building and a grass-thatched mud and wattle hut.
The mud and wattle structure is where the fattening paraphernalia has been arranged. It comprises a collection of well-polished and smoked ebyaanzi (milk containers) of different colours.
This is where the young bride will spend months with the fattening specialist, doing no heavy work, but eating. She will be coaxed into drinking milk, eating ghee and roasted fatty goat meat.
Sheila is a tall, slender, dark-skinned Ankole girl, probably weighing just over 65kg.
Nobody gets to see her now, apart from her close family members. She has been allocated to her grandmother, a 70-year-old woman, to begin the fattening rituals as soon as the cattle for bride price has been selected from the groom’s kraal, a ceremony locally known here as Okujugisa.
Shedrack, a University student who is our guide, says feeding on specially selected traditional foods, and doing no physical work can accelerate body growth at an amazing rate.
“A young woman weighing 65kg at the time of identification for marriage can be fattened to as heavy as 160kg in only three months. By the time they are through with her, she would be too fat to the extent that she can hardly walk.â€
Rubagyemura is a typical Hima herdsman. He is out grazing his herd when we visit his home. His brother, thrilled with our arrival and purpose of visit, summons Rubagyemura by blowing into his curved palms, making a musical sound.
To our surprise, an answer comes from a distance in the same manner and 10 minutes later, a panting young man arrives, stick in hand.
His home is close nit, with four huts –– one he shares with his mother and a kitchen, the other two belong to his brother, who lives with a fat mother of three children.
Rubagyemura is now ready for okugugisa, when the bride’s family will select 10 cows from his kraal. The date has been fixed for the beginning of December.
Mzee Rwamunyankole, whom we found grazing his cattle on our way back to Rucwere town, says okujugisa is a very important event in the marriage tradition among the Bahima.
During the ceremony, men from both the groom and bride’s sides engage in witty debate and poem recitation in a bid to out-compete each other.
“Sometimes they engage in bitter disagreements, resulting into quarrels. But in the end, the cows would still be selected and a date would be agreed upon when the groom’s family would deliver them to the bride’s home.â€
After okujugisa, the fattening process begins, as the bride is prepared for okuhingira, the traditional give-away ceremony. President Museveni refers to this ceremony as the Ankole wedding ceremony, as good as a church wedding.
On this day, the bride must look fat and beautiful. This is the day she is given away to her husband, along with an assortment of gifts ranging from cattle to household items.
Rubagyemura is looking forward to this day. When we ask about how he feels, his face lights up into a big smile and without a word, it says it all; “I can’t wait to see my bride!â€