Where Kasikis have gone crazy
May 10, 2007
LAST year, Hotel International, Muyenga, was the talk of town as many of the city’s prominent people flocked there to attend the kasiki (bachelor’s party) of Elijah Sebunnya (popularly known as Kasiwukira). <br>
By Titus Serunjogi
LAST year, Hotel International, Muyenga, was the talk of town as many of the city’s prominent people flocked there to attend the kasiki (bachelor’s party) of Elijah Sebunnya (popularly known as Kasiwukira).
The host did not disappoint the guests. As soon as a guest arrived, he or she was immediately served a snack. No time was wasted in giving speeches or showing the groom around. There was food and booze.
And just when everyone was beginning to get tipsy, Ragga Dee showed up and fired them up with his “Nkugguddemu Oyagala Cash†and then the dancing started till the wee hours of the night.
Such is the merrymaking that characterises most pre-wedding parties of in town today.
Pre-wedding parties are quickly becoming another part of Kampala’s pleasure activities –– just like going to a dance on weekends.
Every Wednesday, hundreds of people flock Club Silk or Ange Noir, the popular Kampala nightclubs, just to lose themselves at a friend’s kasiki. The bashes are often such mad-cap affairs.
Today, booze and meat are a must at a kasiki and are always in plenty. And the dancing? You will not fail to see some dirty dancing.
Richard Kasozi, the events planner at Jean Rich on Park Royale, says it has become a culture for guests to come along with girls who are paid to tease the groom “all in the name of sending him out of the singles’ club.â€
Kasozi narrates how, at one kasiki, guests brought a lap-dancer for the groom. Elsewhere, a groom’s friends provoked him to kiss a barmaid as a good-bye kiss to bachelorhood. That was when the grooms friends had got drunk.
They also allowed the groom to dance with any of the girls in the house.
Kasozi believes that such wacky trends have been borrowed from Europe, where a stag party is celebrated as the last time a groom can ‘chase a skirt’ without much consequence.
Afterwards, for all his life, he was expected to stick to one woman.
Of course, no bride can stand seeing such lewd pranks on her husband-to-be. Instead, ladies have devised their own version of a pre-wedding send-off called ‘bridal shower’.
It is when the senga’s talk to the girl about marriage. This happens behind closed doors and it is a girls-only affair.
“Friends call the bride to a secret venue and shower her with gifts that she will use in her marriage.
These include, table napkins, bath oils and scented candles,†says Olivia Lumala, the one-time president of the Rotaract Club, who has also organised a couple of bridal showers.
However, this is a sharp contrast from culture.
Traditionally, among the Baganda, Kasiki is meant to be a time when elderly men advise the groom on how to take care of his wives and children,†says Kasolo Serunyiigo, a 60-year-old teacher and keeper of the archives at Bulange. That is not all.
A prominent events organiser, who preferred anonymity, says friends can go as far as hiring a commercial senga to teach a bride-to-be a few bedroom antics.
Nairobi brides-to-be are said to take things more ‘seriously’ by hiring a male stripper to entertain them throughout the Bridal Shower.
Serunyiigo, however, says that bridal showers go against traditional custom.
Traditionally, girls used to go for kufumbirira just before the wedding, a bride was locked inside a room where her paternal aunties would smear ghee on her body to make her appear plump and more beautiful.
How many urban women will agree to do such a pre-wedding ritual?
Only Nubian girls seem to have stuck to making pre-wedding parties the traditional way.
During her pre-wedding bash, Case Clinic’s accountant Haram Abdullah was painted all over with henna. She had to keep behind closed doors and was barred from seeing men.
“Henna not only beautifies the bride, but also dedicates her to ancestral powers for fertility and motherhood. The longer the dye lasts on the bride’s hands even after marriage, the better.
That is a sure sign that her husband is not forcing her to do menial jobs,†says Sitna Nobbi, a henna artist.
The Nubian pre-wedding ritual may also include piercing of the bride’s eyebrows and nose –– all in the name of beauty. All the while, the groom’s relatives wait outside the closed room.
Occasionally, they beat drums, dance and sing: “We are taking you to Goli.†The latter song means that come what may, they must return to their home the next day with the bride.
In Kampala in the 1990s, a bride’s dad would throw an overnight bash at his home on the eve of the wedding day, often Friday. Today, bridal showers and pre-wedding parties can happen months before the weddings.
“We just could not keep to those hard and fast rules. When we had raised enough money for the kasiki, we went for it. It took us three weeks to raise more money for our dream reception and afterparty.
That is when we walked down the
aisle,†says Donald Sekawunde, who recently threw a kasiki at Club Silk Royale.
However, a man’s kasiki was never meant to cost a fortune. As Serunyiigo explains, all it takes to make a kasiki is for married men to come and advise the groom-to-be on how to take good care of his family.
They might share drinks or even have lunch at his home. Feasting can be reserved for the day when the groom goes to fetch his bride and returns home with her.
At this time, neighbours and relatives come in to cook for the new couple and celebrate the day with them.
Today, the trend at kasiki is that guests must buy their own drinks. Many of the popular venues for such parties also have a restaurant running throughout the event.
With such a trend, are the senga’s and kojjas fulfilling their obligation to the brides and grooms-to-be?
LAST year, Hotel International, Muyenga, was the talk of town as many of the city’s prominent people flocked there to attend the kasiki (bachelor’s party) of Elijah Sebunnya (popularly known as Kasiwukira).
The host did not disappoint the guests. As soon as a guest arrived, he or she was immediately served a snack. No time was wasted in giving speeches or showing the groom around. There was food and booze.
And just when everyone was beginning to get tipsy, Ragga Dee showed up and fired them up with his “Nkugguddemu Oyagala Cash†and then the dancing started till the wee hours of the night.
Such is the merrymaking that characterises most pre-wedding parties of in town today.
Pre-wedding parties are quickly becoming another part of Kampala’s pleasure activities –– just like going to a dance on weekends.
Every Wednesday, hundreds of people flock Club Silk or Ange Noir, the popular Kampala nightclubs, just to lose themselves at a friend’s kasiki. The bashes are often such mad-cap affairs.
Today, booze and meat are a must at a kasiki and are always in plenty. And the dancing? You will not fail to see some dirty dancing.
Richard Kasozi, the events planner at Jean Rich on Park Royale, says it has become a culture for guests to come along with girls who are paid to tease the groom “all in the name of sending him out of the singles’ club.â€
Kasozi narrates how, at one kasiki, guests brought a lap-dancer for the groom. Elsewhere, a groom’s friends provoked him to kiss a barmaid as a good-bye kiss to bachelorhood. That was when the grooms friends had got drunk.
They also allowed the groom to dance with any of the girls in the house.
Kasozi believes that such wacky trends have been borrowed from Europe, where a stag party is celebrated as the last time a groom can ‘chase a skirt’ without much consequence.
Afterwards, for all his life, he was expected to stick to one woman.
Of course, no bride can stand seeing such lewd pranks on her husband-to-be. Instead, ladies have devised their own version of a pre-wedding send-off called ‘bridal shower’.
It is when the senga’s talk to the girl about marriage. This happens behind closed doors and it is a girls-only affair.
“Friends call the bride to a secret venue and shower her with gifts that she will use in her marriage.
These include, table napkins, bath oils and scented candles,†says Olivia Lumala, the one-time president of the Rotaract Club, who has also organised a couple of bridal showers.
However, this is a sharp contrast from culture.
Traditionally, among the Baganda, Kasiki is meant to be a time when elderly men advise the groom on how to take care of his wives and children,†says Kasolo Serunyiigo, a 60-year-old teacher and keeper of the archives at Bulange. That is not all.
A prominent events organiser, who preferred anonymity, says friends can go as far as hiring a commercial senga to teach a bride-to-be a few bedroom antics.
Nairobi brides-to-be are said to take things more ‘seriously’ by hiring a male stripper to entertain them throughout the Bridal Shower.
Serunyiigo, however, says that bridal showers go against traditional custom.
Traditionally, girls used to go for kufumbirira just before the wedding, a bride was locked inside a room where her paternal aunties would smear ghee on her body to make her appear plump and more beautiful.
How many urban women will agree to do such a pre-wedding ritual?
Only Nubian girls seem to have stuck to making pre-wedding parties the traditional way.
During her pre-wedding bash, Case Clinic’s accountant Haram Abdullah was painted all over with henna. She had to keep behind closed doors and was barred from seeing men.
“Henna not only beautifies the bride, but also dedicates her to ancestral powers for fertility and motherhood. The longer the dye lasts on the bride’s hands even after marriage, the better.
That is a sure sign that her husband is not forcing her to do menial jobs,†says Sitna Nobbi, a henna artist.
The Nubian pre-wedding ritual may also include piercing of the bride’s eyebrows and nose –– all in the name of beauty. All the while, the groom’s relatives wait outside the closed room.
Occasionally, they beat drums, dance and sing: “We are taking you to Goli.†The latter song means that come what may, they must return to their home the next day with the bride.
In Kampala in the 1990s, a bride’s dad would throw an overnight bash at his home on the eve of the wedding day, often Friday. Today, bridal showers and pre-wedding parties can happen months before the weddings.
“We just could not keep to those hard and fast rules. When we had raised enough money for the kasiki, we went for it. It took us three weeks to raise more money for our dream reception and afterparty.
That is when we walked down the
aisle,†says Donald Sekawunde, who recently threw a kasiki at Club Silk Royale.
However, a man’s kasiki was never meant to cost a fortune. As Serunyiigo explains, all it takes to make a kasiki is for married men to come and advise the groom-to-be on how to take good care of his family.
They might share drinks or even have lunch at his home. Feasting can be reserved for the day when the groom goes to fetch his bride and returns home with her.
At this time, neighbours and relatives come in to cook for the new couple and celebrate the day with them.
Today, the trend at kasiki is that guests must buy their own drinks. Many of the popular venues for such parties also have a restaurant running throughout the event.
With such a trend, are the senga’s and kojjas fulfilling their obligation to the brides and grooms-to-be?