Uganda #14: The Lumbe

Today is the day for the formal lumbe, the last funeral rites ceremony for my grandmother held in the the rural village in Masaka. 800-1000 people attended the event & I met hundreds of relatives from my uncle, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, step-grandfather, mother, father etc side. Below are some snapshots of my experience .

I attended the mass for my grandmother

I watched several families build temporary huts on my grandmother's property to stay in during the 4 day lumbe.

Some relatives viewed me as that crazy American-Ugandan lady in pants since I was the only female who were pants during the week. The village is still very conservative & women wear dresses & skirts.

I received many requests from old & young men to have an "American" penpal & exchange e-mails

I recalled memories of when my grandmother called me Bet; her friend was called Betty or Bet for short

I sat by the fire as women cooked rice, chicken & green bananas (matoke, the traditional Bagandan food) all wrapped in banana leaves

I wore a modernized version of a busuti (traditional female Bagandan dress)

I took an outside bath from a bucket next to a cow who grunted when I came too close to his territory

I watched a special belt made of backcloth being tied around the 3 children of my grandmother, which my mother & aunts wore for 3 days

I witnessed the caning of 2 boys, whose mother reported them to the clan for misbehavior & they collectively decided the boys' punishment. Since their father's death, the boys had badly misbehaved. Later on, the boys were bestowed with gifts & traditional values to become real men

I woke up at 3am to see my aunt & mother go for a traditional ceremony to chase away death spirits from the house

I cried when I saw my grandmother's grave & placed a flower on her gravestone

I met hundreds of new relatives, each with 25-60 people in their family unit & formally greeted them by kneeling in a greeting that lasts 2-5min

I walked on my grandmother's grave, a ceremony all grandchildren do to ensure her spirit is happy

I inherited a new grandmother, picked through my grandmother's will & approved by the fmailies; she had to be selected from my grandmother's side

I met several daddys and mothers, alternatively called aunts & uncles

I knelt & ate food from my new grandmother, a tradition she must do to welcome her new family members

I understand my heritage & characteristics by meeting all my relatives ie: why my natural hair color is lightly tinted red, why I love animals so much & don't drink (characteristics from my grandmother), why I respect elders, why I have a youthful looking face, why my eyes sometimes look bluish.