Feb 23rd - Part 2: Ndiga

Shortly after Arne and I left to get pens for people to fill out the surveys, Anatoli called to say the Omutaka had arrived and was ready to go. BTW, I want to be sure to state here that Arne took basically all the pictures today (just a few of which I've clipped and put here).

We loaded into the Omutaka's van, painted with a seal identifying it as an official vehicle of the kingdom – and were off to stop #1 – the installation of the heir to the last chief of the ndiga (sheep) clan. When we rolled up, we were escorted to seats right behind the chiefs who sat in the front row of the VIP canopy on big padded chairs.

Several other canopies surrounded an open meadow, with a table set in the center, where a priest was saying Mass. Beyond the canopies were large round tent-like structures covered with tarpaulins and bark-cloth where the family of the deceased traditionally sleep before this last memorial. Today, one year after the death, is the last time they can cry about the dead – an official end to mourning and new start. Next to that were people preparing food in huge cauldrons.

Seated on bark-cloth in the meadow were the sisters and wife of the deceased. And standing at the altar, with bark-cloth togas were his heir and (I think) his cousin, who is his symbolic ‘wife’ for this occasion.

One of the strangest things about this affair was the mix of African tradition with Catholic mass. There was a full service, along with communion. – By the way, there were little plastic bags lying around that said ‘host’ and had a picture of a chalice on them that I thought were once filled with communion wafers, I stuffed one in my pocket thinking my mom would love the ketch factor – I later found out they were bags of vodka ---- Yes VODKA. I scanned it for your enjoyment – healthful, with no hangover!  

Anyhow, the priest officially recognized new heir and then said prayers over the gravesite, where people did the traditional ritual of cleaning it off. Then, people went into the obutaka, where they did several older traditions. The first was drinking from pots of water with a gourd: this is supposed to bring blessings. Much as I need the blessings, I don’t know if I had enough faith to trust (as Anatoli said) that it was ‘traditionally pure’.

Next was offering prayers by setting money at gourds filled with traditionally brewed beer and cleaning the gravesite of older chiefs. Shoes needed to be removed before entering this sacred space, and a man who didn’t was taken by spirits – which left him convulsing and wailing in the bush beyond.

George Mugera had told me the story of the origin of the Ndiga clan, and one of the main roles is played by a tree, where the body of a hero is caught and eventually falls to a barkcloth below – unfortunately, I was around the corner from this very tree, but failed to get its picture. We’ll have to wait for next time!

Now it was time for a HUGE meal from those big cauldrons. The most surprising and wonderful treat was a chicken steamed in a banana leaf (luwombo). Of course there were lots of starches, and Vianney would’ve definitely said it was “real” food.