The Basongora People | Cattle Herders of Western Uganda

The basongora culture : Basongora  are a minority group known as the Bahuma, Bacwezi who speak Rusongora language which is similar to Rutoro and Runyankole and they are found in Kaseese  western Uganda

The Basongora are mixed Bantu / Nilotic group in the East and central Africa were always identified as abakama which came from cattle milking

Origin

They emerged from the Batembuzi Empire and their traditional homeland is the foot hills and plains of Ruwenzori and the Rutshuru in western Uganda .They also occupied this neighborhood because of the outbreak of sleeping sickness and other factors where these people got diminished with their cattle. Basongora had a big territory in the 1400s which they later lost due to pressure, instabilities like climate, famines and civil wars.

When several clans were restored they formed Shenzi Empire which came together with the Shambo and Hinda clans followed closely by the Bito clan. The shambo states included Mpororo, Karagwe, Bushongora which were absorbed into other states of Uganda. The shambo state only remained dominant in Rwanda

The Basongora lost most of their land during the establishment of Queen Elizabeth national park where they were evicted in order to protect wildlife. But the Basongora were affected because they were provided with an alternative land by the government.  The Basongora crossed borders to from Democratic Republic of Congo and settled in Virunga National Park and they were sent them back to Uganda.

Food and beverages

The staple food for Basongora is cow milk which is very nutritious and the essential supplement was cow blood and because they never used to practice cultivation 

Economic setup

The Basongora were pastoralists traditionally but not nomadic though in the past the young men and women would move from one place to another to look for pastures for their cattle. In this case they would leave milk, some cattle at home and strong bodied men to guard their home to take care of the elders and after a while they would return home. They also practiced iron smelting

Life style

The Basongora always entertained themselves with folk songs, poems and they also don’t use drums for music and when dancing they cover themselves with a cloth known as eshuka.

The Basongora men always made decisions as the head of the family but they always based on the advice of the woman and their wives were very respectful to their husbands. They are also very disciplined people because they believe that discipline is an important and needed when rearing cattle

Beliefs

The Basongora are traditionally monotheistic and culturally they consist of almost exclusively ancient court rituals and customs where there rituals involved iron, cattle and divination. Their taboos involved prohibition against fish, insects, meat and abstinence from rich foods where they also use the highly ritualized moon calenders and also practiced cattle rituals.

The ancient Basongora culturally had characteristics of sacred kingship, iron purification, smoke and censer cleansing rites, rain making, milk offering, ritual bathing, archeology burials among others

Death and burial

When a person died among the Basongora, the whole village would gather in the compound and make fire in the middle to indicate that the deceased was the owner of the home and later placed in the coffin in the middle of the living room, the body would stay overnight and taken to ancestral grounds during the time of burial

If it was a child who died, few people are informed about death and people are not supposed to mourn and the body is buried in wrapped clothes.