The Nubi Tribe of Uganda | History & Culture

The Nubi Tribe: The Nubians are an ethno-linguistic group of people who are native to the regions of present day Bombo in Uganda, Kibera in Kenya, Norther Sudan and Southern Egypt.The Nubi speakers in Uganda are said to be Kakwa who came from the Nubian region of Egypt then moved down to southern Sudan and finally entered Uganda and Kenya.

The Kinubi language as it is sometimes called  more of Arabic, this definitely describes most of the Nubians as Muslims.

ORIGIN OF THE NUBI

The Nubi initial home was in Egypt, but with their continued movements, they found themselves in Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and even some parts of Congo DRC. The early Neolithic settlements from prehistoric Egypt were also found in the Nubian region which dated way back to 7000BC. Wadi Haifa was believed to be the oldest settlement in the Central Nile Valley. Towards the end of the dynastic era, the Upper Nubia broke off from the Egyptian proper. During that time, the Nubia formulated a dynasty that ruled the upper and lower Egypt in the eighth century BC. By the Twenty fifth century, all the Nubians were united under the Egyptians, this forced some others to extend to present day Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

The Nubians were also well known to be prominent warriors. They were blessed with skills of using the bow and arrow perfectly.

 As they continued to move, they formed kingdoms where some had many converts to Christianity, the Christian converts formed their three kingdoms; Nobatia in the north, makuria in the centre and finally the Alodia in the south.

In Egpyt, the Nubians up to today live in areas of Luxor and Aswan, in Northern Sudan, Kenya in the Kibera slums and in Uganda live in Bombo.

THE NUBIANS OF BOMBO IN UGANDA

They entered Uganda through Sudan, as soldiers in sir Samuel Bakers exploration, to the grab the lands down the Nile for the Egyptian Khedive ruler in early days. They even failed the Bunyoro conquest and went back to Sudan but some of them who had gone to Tanzania with Emin Pasha remained behind.

When Sir Gerald Portal was elected the special high commissioner to Uganda, he sent captain Fredrick Lugard to Albert Nyanza in Tanzania to bring back the many Nubian soldiers who had been left by Emin Pasha relief mission. The Nubians were also the soldiers that stood guard to Lugard as Uganda was being declared a British protectorate in 1894. This made them officers of the British crown through out the 60years and over British rule in Uganda.

The role of Nubians as soldiers vanished when the native Ugandans were being recruited into the army. Them being soldiers, they settled in Bombo military barracks together with their families. They became too many to be accommodated by the small barracks because of their growing numbers.

The Ugandan Sheikh Nuhu Mbogo, who was then the head of muhamedans in Uganda was made to surrender some of the land that had been given to him as part of the 1900 Buganda agreement, to the Nubians. But the official’s story was that the Nubi got the land around Bombo as a reward of their services to both the British and Ganda crown.

CULTURE

The Nubians developed a common identity which has been celebrated in poetry,novels,music and storytelling. Nubians in Modern day Sudan include the Danagla around Dongola reach, the Mahas from the third force to Wadi Haifa and the Sikurta around Aswan. They are well known for writing using their own scripts. They also practice incision; The Mahas men and women have scars on each check,while the Danagla wear these scars on their temples. The current generation though is abandoning this custom.

The Nubian ancient cultural development was influenced by its geography, it is sometimes divided into lower and upper Nubia, upper Nubia is where the ancient kingdom of Napata (kush) was founded. The Lower Nubia is now called “the corridor to Africa” where there was contact and cultural Nubians,Egyptians Greeks, Assyrians, Romans and Arabs. Lower Nubia was also where the Kingdom Moroe grew.

The languages now spoken by the Nubians are based on ancient Sudanic dialects. From north to south, they are;Kenuz, Fadicha, Sukkot, Mahas, Danagla.

The Kerma, Nepata and Monroe were Nubia’s largely populated centers. The rich agricultural land of Nubia supported all those cities. Ancient Egyptian rulers desired control of Nubia’s wealth. The Nubi were blessed with gold, and they imported trade routes with in territories.

For many many tears, the nubi express themselves singing, dancing and beating drums.

MARRAIGE.

Although all Nubians are Moslems, the first bride has the option of demanding that the groom never takes on another wife. Marriage in a Nubian setting is called a Nikah (tying the note) and it is conducted at a mosque or a girl’s home where it is led by a Sheikh (elder). It all begins with the boy and girl agreeing to get married.

Normally it is the boy who initiates the relationship before the couple informs the parents. However, there are still some conservative parents who still chose suitors for their daughters ignoring the choice of they made. This is because in relation to the Islamic belief, parents were to marry off their daughters n the best way they believed was okay.

The boy’s parents are supposed to get in touch with their counterparts on the girl’s side to ask for her hand in the marriage on his behalf.

Then, a visit to the girl’s family by the boy’s parents, intended to sort out the formalities for their children’s marriage, follows. It is then that deliberations on the related terms and conditions are made.One of the items on the agenda of such a meeting is the gifts that will be received by the bride’s family. Such items may include sugar, money, cooking oil, cloth and any other as may be demanded.

Before the Nikah at the mosque, the groom gets a chance to talk to the bride. This session is known as the Mahare (bride gifting) and the groom is supposed to ask the bride what she would like him to give to her. She can ask for such items as cars, houses or opt for nothing but love. The essence of this ceremony is to get the couple committed to marriage, for they get a feeling of being indebted to each other.

When the man failed to commit himself to the delivery of the girl’s demands, the marriage was free to be halted. There was also an option of payment of the demands of the girl in installments or pledge. But if divorce took place, the parents were demanded to pay back all the ‘Mahare’ the boy brought.

The Nikah climaxes with the couple tying the knot, which cements the couple as man and wife. This ceremony cannot be done if the bride is pregnant – she has to wait until she has given birth. It is blessed by a Sheikh in the presence of witnesses. However, the bride does not make an appearance there and she is expected to stay in hiding until she is ready to go to the groom’s home. She is represented at the Mosque by her brother or father, depending on who in her family has the right of giving her away.

The groom was free to take the bride home after the Nikah was performed successfully though the woman would stay wrapped up to ensure that no other man sees her until she has reached home. The first obligation a bride is expected to perform when she reaches her new home is to prepare a meal for her new family. It is referred to as ‘testing the hand of the bride‘ and it is done to confirm her potential to make a responsible wife who can fend for her family. It is by this test that the family takes their impressions of the new bride.

RELIGION

The Nubi have steadfastly maintained their Sunni Islam while living in Kenya for a century. In the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi alone, there are eight mosques, all led by Nubis

But now there are some Nubi Christian groups that emerge allover and that started during the sixth century. The many Muslims who are believed to be the biggest population of the Nubi have their traditional beliefs still blended with their Islamic practices. There some who believed that their traditional beliefs were centered on the spirit of the Nile because the Nile was believed to be the life sustaining power and hold the power of life and death within it. They also believed that the river was blessed by angels and sheikhs and other powerful beings.

The Sheikhs are sought for daily in times of sickness, marriages, blessings by the Nubi. The kenuzi Nubians had an annual festival called “saints day celebrations” or Moulid. The ceremony helps to re-energize the history of the Kenuzi. Gifts are presented at the ancestral shrines in the fulfillment of a promise made the previous year.

ECONOMY

The Nubi economy was based on agriculture, they grew wheat, barley, millet, peas, beans, watermelon, mangoes, citrus fruits, all were part of the Nubians.

Their staple food was a thick coarse break called “Dura”. They pile the pieces of “Dura” on top of each other and eat them with vegetables and sauces.

In the ancient Nubia, men migrated to the big cities to seek for jobs while the women farmed the land, cared for the animals and did all house chores. The Nubians also are good decorators of art work, they also made very good cultural designs. They are also teachers of the Nubi language.