Okwalula Abalongo - Buganda Twin Ritual PART ONE

It is said that the first recorded twin birth in Buganda during Ssekabaka Kintu's reign was deemed so unusual the gods decreed through their medium Keeya that unusual things would be allowed to happen. For instance, it is the only time that Baganda have licence to publicly mouth obscenities of varying shades, the only time when physical contact is allowed between the parents and their in-laws (this includes a bum-bumping dance), and the only time they can sit together at the lujjuliro (traditional dining table), at least until the mujwa (child of either parent's aunt) "steps into the food". Bawdy songs rich with puns and allegories abound, one of the tamer ones being "Abalongo twabazaala babiri ne Salongo, Mayanja mwana wange, jjangu ozine abalongo (Together with Ssalongo we gave birth to the twins, Mayanja my child, come and dance/celebrate the twins)". Together with the invectives flung about at will, such double-entendre songs are what characterise the twin's celebration in the minds of most people. David The popular imagination has so many things wrong about what exactly happens there. For example, no sex actually happens at the ceremony, but especially those who have never attended are quick to market it as a sex-fiesta. So much has changed since the days before foreign influences diluted the importance of this ceremony to the Baganda. The present meets the past, They would have started with Salongo Jemba climbing a tree in his father's compound or atop his father's kitchen and announcing to the four directions that he had had twins. Instead, it took close to a year because of the need to find money to feed the invited people, where before everyone carried foods they would cook to the ceremony, and all were invited regardless of relation to the celebrants. Also, the now-esoteric materials needed for the Kiganda celebration are not as readily available as they are used to be as are qualified practitioners who now cost about Shs500,000 because there are very few left. A phone call has replaced the father's-compound announcement, and as more people deem cultural practices demonic, especially one as risky as the twins who if mishandled are believed to wreak misfortune, the increasingly-fewer celebrations. Examples of the misfortunes are believed to include skin discolourations that make one look like parts of their skin were burnt away ( abalongo okwokya), the twins killing off an unfaithful parent, and spreading ill-luck to the twins if their parent handles them before touching the lweza or bombo (Marmodica fortido) plants which work as virus-filtration mechanism. But they are also said to bring good luck, especially to their parents. Sylvia Babirye, a lecturer in dance at Nagenda International School of Art and Design and a twin herself, said, " Our parents are immune to witchcraft, if they ask the umbilical cords that represent us in the basket where we were kept for anything they want, 98 per cent of the time it will be granted them." The symbolic twins tied up in a basket are figurative relatives of the living twins. It is believed that harm comes to one who steals them and they make the twins immune to witchcraft. It is also believed that anyone who harbours bad intentions towards their parents will be killed if they touch them. #twins #buganda #ritual #culture #rare