Ajamaat Percu Project
Ajamaat meaning Human Being, he has the overstanding(understanding). Ajamaat music brings out connections between modern music and African roots.
The unity of AJAMAAT is based on the feeling of solidarity of all its members. Solidarity maintained by the practice of the same values. No centralized structure but an egalitarian individualist organization system. The notions of hereditary powers, hierarchical social cast, slavery or even work on behalf of a boss are foreign to him.
ORIGIN OF RUMBA
The “Nkoumba” later called in Cuba Rumba is a navel dance which has its source in Central Africa, more precisely in the Kongo Kingdom and in the Central African Republic among “Mbati”, an ethnic group in the southwest of the country. In “Mbati”, just like in “Moukongo”, “Nkoumba” designates the navel. Among the “Bakongo” ethnic group located in the south of the Democratic Congo of Angola and among the “Mbati” of Central Africa, the navel dance is a carnal folkloric expression allowing a couple of dancers to perform navel to navel.
When black African slaves arrived in Cuba 5 centuries ago with the “Nkoumba” dance, the Spanish colonizer removed the Africanness from this popular cultural expression and named it Rumba to make it his own. From a linguistic point of view, Cuba retains to this day several words of African origin, despite numerous transformations noted in the cultural heritage of former slaves. Rumba retains to this day some Bantu and Yoruba words which we hear in certain Cuban songs. When Rumba returned to Africa between the 1940s and 1950s, after having long been a means of artistic expression and protest by blacks who denounced the injustice of which they were victims in Cuba, it was re-appropriated by Africans. With the evolution of time, African musicians integrate their folklore into this rich cultural heritage and enrich it with other musical trends.
Elida Almeida makes the drums and búzios dance (large shells transformed into a musical instrument by destination, to use a bit of vocabulary dear to our legalist friends) and brings up to date a tradition, a forgotten festival, the tabanca.
The origin of these festivals dates back to ancient times, when the lords of the archipelago gave their slaves leave on the occasion of religious festivals… yes, these masters were nice! And during these non-working days the slaves indulged in great colorful and musical festivities, tolerated by the kind masters… well, until they realized that these great celebrations were also an opportunity to indulge in caricatures. of all kinds, yes yes, there too, to mockery of the clergy and themselves… tabanca forbidden! But even with their ban, the tradition did not disappear, itself becoming a gesture of protest. It is perhaps only today that the tabanca tradition is beginning to falter with the disinterest of younger generations.
Since 1556, the port of Luanda, part of the kingdom of Ndongo (vassal of Kongo), had exported thousands of Bantus cargoes to America, among others to the region called Río de la Plata, a region that encompasses the Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The preponderance of nationals from Central Africa is mainly due to geographical proximity.
Taking into account the relatively shorter travel times between Central Africa and the mouth of the Rio de la Plata and the strategic nature of this corridor in the introduction of the Malimbe, Congo, Ngola workforce, mundongo, matamba, imbangala and benguela in South America, the port of Buenos Aires will be intensively exploited, concluded the late Angolan historian Simão Souindoula in his presentation[1].
Therefore, the Río de la Plata received approximately 100,000 Africans per year, mainly Bantus coming from the ports of Mpinda, then from Luanda, Loango, Badagry (Lagos state, Nigeria), Dahomey and finally from the Coast. Gold (present-day Ghana). In 1808, three out of ten residents of Buenos Aires were Black. Afro-Argentines made up more than half the population in some agricultural provinces. In the 20th century, the latter literally “disappeared” from the landscape, according to the dominant thesis. Their forced participation in wars, yellow fever which struck the black neighborhoods of Buenos Aires in 1871 and miscegenation are said to be at the origin of this phenomenon.
In reality, the Afro-Argentinian community has been radically “invisibilised” by official history, and continues to be so by the eugenics policies put in place for a long time. This policy can be seen in the mass sending of blacks into the War of the Triple Alliance (1874-1870) and the mass European immigration in 1953. It has also long been and still is to a certain extent, a victim stigma, professional racism (the obligation to straighten one’s hair for a job), as evidenced by the expression “negro de alma” (black of soul) which has become the colloquial expression to designate thugs, whatever whatever their skin color. Afro-Argentines, like their Afro-Mexican brothers, have long been excluded from public services. Many do not have access to public structures such as universities and end up in precarious or informal jobs, according to several sociological studies.
However, this voluntary obscuration of the Black population of Argentina has never been able to erase the cultural heritage that these populations brought to this country. The most emblematic example of this cultural heritage is the national emblematic dance, Tango. Tango is an African dance with mixed Iberian rhythms. The name “Tango” comes from the Kikongo verb “Tanga”, which means to sing in the Kikongo language, a Bantu language from Central Africa.
Souindoula Simão. Transatlantic Slave Trade (16th and 19th centuries). Luanda, November 2013.
[2]: Misibamba is, among other things, proof of the contribution of blacks to the Spanish language of Argentina. Because “Misibamba” is a word from the Bantu Kikongo language, which means “The Bambas or the Mbambas”, An ethnic group existing today in the 2 Congos, in northern Angola and in Gabon.
[3] Documentary: “Black Beauty of Paraguay. The Forgotten People. Afropride YouTube channel.
[4] The term Candombé is related to the name of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, whose terms mean: black music, celebration or customs of blacks. Although for the name ”Candomblé” still gives broad perspectives of definitions and meanings: confers: SAMBA TOMBA, Justes Axel: ”A Vivência e a Réinvenção da Central África nas Religiões de Matriz Africana do Brasil: Candomblé Congo Angola” . Master’s Thesis in Social Sciences. Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. January 2019.
SENEGAL
Daray Kocc popular theater troupe, professional taggate (panegyric singing).
The traditional lyrical ensemble of Sorano for 2 years, professional in Goumbe and Ndaw rabin (songs of rejoicing).
ndëpp and tuuru (ritual song) as well as Kassag (song of the circumcised)
bakku (wrestlers’ self-aggrandizing song).
Sabar https://www.facebook.com/leadermondien/videos/10222297178208052
“taakhuraan”, “xaxar”, “toolé”, “taasu”, or “bakk”
“Cavalier aux dames”, the quadrille or square
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=464376460871793&id=186268215349287
History of bonuses Suriname
History. From Gwoka
**Neither black nor white: history of Creole music**https://librairie.philharmoniedeparis.fr › …
Joe Muggs, Brian David Stevens – Bass, Mids, Tops – Bleep
AFRICAN QUEENS
THE NYABINGHI QUEENS: MUHUMUSA AND KAIGIRWA
For the general public, Nyabinghi refers to traditional Jamaican music, based on the rhythms of buru and kumina drums. Much more than that, the Nyabinghi Order is one of the first foundations of the Rastafari movement with the Bobo Ashanti movement, which was founded thanks to the revelations of Leonard Percival Howell, themselves influenced by the prophecy of Marcus Garvey or even by Prince Emmanuel. This movement therefore strongly influenced Rastafari artists.
However nyahbinghi or Nyah Benge finds its origins above all in the heart of Africa, through cultures and emblematic characters: Sekhmet, Njavingi, Muhumusa, Kaigirwa, …
Its name originates from a term to define a movement against Western settlers in southwestern Uganda in the mid-19th century and early 20th century. This uprising was led by a group of women, the leader of which was a charismatic warrior named Muhumusa, a true leader in the fight against the Germanic colonial army. It is said to be animated by the spirit of a legendary Amazon queen who also called herself Nyabinghi.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Western historians think that it is necessarily a legend, because for them the African is so childish, to the point of imagining and believing the story of an African Queen of Queens, sent from God to avenge the black people.
For Western historians, all this is only fable and invention with the aim of reassuring themselves of an imminent and divine salvation, and Africans persist in believing that the spirit of this Queen of Queens animated the different black women through ages.
However, we will see that the origin of Nyabinghi does not go back to Muhumusa, nor to an Amazon queen.
To help you better understand this story, you must remember that Nyabinghi is the common name worn by a series of African warrior queens, but that in fact, a single spirit acted in them all. And the first that history records to have been inhabited by this spirit was in fact called Nyabinghi, which is why those who followed were also called that way.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
WHAT SPIRIT ANIMATED THE NYABINGHI QUEENS?
The very first Nyabinghi would have lived in Egypt, and the name of this Queen of Queens was Sekhmet, warrior goddess represented by the head of a lioness and instrument of Ra’s vengeance against the insurrection of men. Fearsome, from her lioness mouth come the winds of the desert. It would therefore be the spirit of Sekhmet which would act in all the Queens known as Nyabinghi. Remember this point in the story carefully, it will be necessary for you to understand the rest of the story.
The name Nyahbinghi originally means: “she who has many things”. This African cult had an important position in the history of this continent to fight against the colonial administration and slavery from Europe. The cult was declared outlawed by all the colonial powers under penalty of death, prison, or torture. Followers of the cult were often murdered. However, when a person animated by the spirit of Nyahbinghi died, this spirit left them and animated someone else, which made the destruction of the cult impossible.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Nyabinghi allegedly trained them to return to his native land and attack the invaders through an ambush. His strength and courage in leading his army was directed by the spirit of Sekhmet, and quickly the invaders fled. Justice, peace and stability had finally returned to the Kush region.
Nyabinghi would have left a code of life to his predecessors, the “Nyabinghi Codes of Life”:
Firstly, Nyabinghi is a true defender of peace, justice and order on mother earth. There is nothing more precious in Nyabinghi than the land of Africa where the Binghis were all born, where they grew up.
Nyabinghi loves all of humanity without exception. It glorifies the works of the father and son and the Binghis must do the same.
The Binghis are the guardians of mother earth and the brothers and sisters of all living beings in creation. They must love them, respect them and constantly show them compassion.
The Binghis are the guardians of mother earth and the brothers and sisters of all living beings in creation. They must love them, respect them and constantly show them compassion.
Binghis must at all times aspire to justice and manifest it in their actions, thoughts and words. They must never practice evil because it is evil that weakens the strong.
The Binghis must always share their water with those who are thirsty, their food with those who are hungry, their clothes with those who are stripped, and their boats with those who must sail far away.
Nyabinghi shows loyalty and sincerity with the righteous, but he who acts unjustly will be tested by fire.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° °°°
Different versions tell us about the end of Nyabinghi. For some, she was killed in combat. However, after her death she still continued to be revered, it is said that she continued to send messages through her bagirwas, urging them to regain control of their homeland from foreign rulers. The bagirwas and wise men confirm these facts and say they are regularly in spiritual communication with the Patron Saint of Africa beyond. It is even said that Nyabinghi comes back to life wherever the children of Africa call on her, whether in Africa or in the Diaspora.
The cult of Nyahbinghi in southern Uganda and northern Rwanda was inspired by this famous woman who left her mark on history. The cult was one of many that celebrated heroes and heroines called “emandwas”.
While in other cults the emandwa could be called by any initiated member, access to the spirit of Queen Nyahbinghi was limited to the “bagirwa” (those who initiate) who claimed to have been selected by her and thus have the exclusive power to invoke his presence and interpret his will. The bagirwas were mainly female.
The bagirwas claimed the power to invoke supernatural forces to punish those who had angered his spirit. After demonstrating this power, the simple threat of exercising it was enough to gain respect and loyalty. To become a disciple of Nyahbinghi, the advice of a diviner was required. The aim was protection against the misfortunes of life. Offerings were usually made.
The cult had no initiation or community rites. It brought together various tribes of Africa against racist European laws and was unique because of its effective resistance against these colonial laws, using traditional African beliefs to paralyze the colonial administration. The fact that a traditional cult was able to carry out such tenacious and effective action in opposition to foreign law ensures the cult of Nyahbinghi a very distinct position in the history of Africa.
Despite this, the cult of Nyahbinghi managed to immobilize the administrative efforts of three colonial powers (Belgium, England, Germany) for almost two decades.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
GATHERING OF BINGHIS IN UGANDA
For millennia, she will be adored and revered in Africa. All Nyabinghi followers are easily recognized by their common characteristics: they wear dreadlocks, a lion or lioness as a totem and have made an oath to always place the well-being of Africa as a priority.
According to the first English colonists and slave masters, Nyabinghi’s followers had formed a very large, extremely resistant secret society across the entire continent. Their presence was simultaneously recorded in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, Sudan, Congo and Uganda. Despite the sophisticated weapons of the British soldiers, they were unable to understand the courage of the Binghis. They were ready to fight to the death and saw a certain royal dignity in their end.
This resistance was even found among the community of Africans (Maroons) in the Caribbean and South America, where the Binghis did not hesitate to plot to poison slave masters and their livestock or to vandalize their estates and plantations.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
MUHUMUSA
Let’s now return to Muhumusa, mentioned at the beginning of this story. European settlers met her in the 20th century, when she was at the head of a Binghis guerrilla force made up of women. Queen Muhumusa was considered the most fierce anti-colonialist of the Nyahbinghi leaders. Those who support her believe she is the reincarnation of the Queen of Kush, Nyabinghi. Followers wear dread locks, smoke weed, and fight against settlers. Muhumusa is described as a woman of strong character, extremely strong physically and very feared by the group of Nyabingi priestesses in Rwanda and Uganda. Under his command, she made a determined effort to drive the settlers from African shores.
The Nyabinghi movement will be condemned, then hunted by the British. Considered “witchcraft”, the 1912 ordinance in favor of Christianity formally prohibited any practice of the cult of Nyabinghi.
Ceremony during which the spirit of Nyabinghi is invoked, remember, that of the lioness-headed goddess, Sekhmet. During this ceremony, followers sing and dance for the Queen of Queens or the Lioness.
Muhumusa will be captured by the British and will be held prisoner until his death in Kampala (Uganda) from 1913 to 1945, which will not prevent these followers from continuing their fight against colonialism. The female army that she led will be repeatedly led in succession by other women, or sometimes by men, in whom the spirit of the Lioness Goddess, Patroness of Africa, Daughter and Mother of the Great God and Queen of the Sekhmet-Nyabinghi Queens, inhabits them to help them fight the invaders and enemies of Africa.
She became the first in a line of rebel priestesses fighting against colonial domination in and even after being imprisoned, she inspired widespread popular enthusiasm. The British adopted a law on witchcraft in 1912, in direct response to the political effectiveness of this resistance movement based on spirituality.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
KAIGIRWA
In August 1917, the “Nyabinga” Kaigirwa followed in the footsteps of Muhumusa, and led the Nyakishenyi revolt, with the unanimous support of the people. British officials put a price on his head, but no one would claim him. After the British attacked Kaigirwa’s Congo camp in January 1919, killing most of the men, Kaigirwa and the main body of fighters managed to evade the army and escape.
However, the British seized the sacred white sheep and burned it before a summons of the main chiefs. After this act, a series of disasters afflicted the district commissioner who had killed the sheep. His herds were wiped out, his roof gave way and a mysterious fire broke out in his house. Kaigirwa attempted another uprising, then moved into the hills, where she was never captured.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
VIDÉOS :
B.WORLD CONNECTION – SYLVIA SERBIN – PART1
http://www.dailymotion.com/…/x2ig3r_b-world-connection…
B.WORLD CONNECTION – SYLVIA SERBIN – PART2
http://www.dailymotion.com/…/x2iii7_b-world-connection…
B.WORLD CONNECTION – SYLVIA SERBIN – PART3
http://www.dailymotion.com/…/x2imma_b-world-connection…
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
IN THE DIASPORA
After being suppressed in 1928, the cult resurfaced in the 1930s, when the threat of Mussolini weighed on Ethiopia. It quickly spread from Ethiopia to the four corners of Africa, the Caribbean and the United States.
On December 7, 1935, the Jamaica Times reprinted an article under the title: “A Secret Society to Destroy the Whites”, dealing with the Nyahbinghi cult in Africa. The article stated that the Nyahbinghi had organized a conference in Moscow and that Emperor Haile Selassie had been officially designated as the leader of the Nyahbinghi. He reported that his words, upon accepting this position, were: “death to the enemies of the African race.” Following this article, Nyahbinghi began to spread to Jamaica and the meaning of Nyahbinghi was translated based on the words of the emperor and the fact that the article said that the word meant: “death to the colonists”.
Le Nyahbinghi démarra dans l’île comme une manière de vivre. C’était une réponse à l’appel du Nyahbinghi en Afrique pour une évolution du celui-ci dans la vie de tous les jours afin qu’il puisse résister aux fusils des colons par la puissance spirituelle et l’assurance de la victoire du Bien sur le Mal. Le mouvement Rastafari revendique ses liens avec l’Afrique et tous les Noirs de la Diaspora.
En Afrique, l’histoire de la Reine Nyahbinghi et de ses femmes-guerrières qui avaient été les premières à propager ce culte continua à poser des problèmes aux colons, mais de manière plus secrète qu’auparavant.
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Sources:
http://www.suppressedhistories.net/…/nyabingi/bagirwa.html
http://reinesheroinesdafrique.doomby.com/…/la-lionne…
http://jahschool.positiforum.info/t110-NYAHBINGHI.html
http://famiglia-gang.skyrock.com/3013463125-Nyabinghi.html
http://makandalspeaks.blogspot.fr/…/le-top-10-des…
https://internubian.com/…/nyabingi-priestesses-muhumusa…
http://kalamu.com/…/history-10-fearless-black-female…/
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Kem Infos
https://www.facebook.com/keminfose more
Sutukung
A classic in the repertoire of Senegalese music. A legendary song covered by several artists. Sutukung is composed by the alo keba dramatized in honor of one of its benefactors living in Jara Sutukung in Gambia.
Biography of Lalo Keba Dramé:
Lalo Kéba Dramé, such an evocative name, written in golden letters in the annals of African and particularly Senegalese music, is a legend. Very little known to the younger generation, the man with the kora nevertheless marked his era with his favorite title: “Coura Mbissane”, sung in duet with Rokhaya Dieng renamed Coura Mbissane… Became his wife, the eighth and love of his life. A whole story around this loving and legendary couple…
The legend Lalo Kéba Dramé was born in 1926 in the village of Soumboundou (Fogny – department of Bounkiling) in Casamance and died in 1974. He distinguished himself as a good student in the “art of Jaliya” (griot : singing and playing the kora) to quickly become a real “korafola” (kora player). Its remarkable performances during family ceremonies ensure its promotion internationally. His name spread throughout the Senegambian area and led him to settle in Senegal where he became the official griot for key events in the history of Casamance, through a Senegalese Radio Television (RTS) program in the language Mandingo hosted by El Hadj Moctar Diallo. He is known for his favorite titles such as “Massané Cissé”, “Keléfa”, or even “Kantintin”, and arouses the admiration of eminent personalities, such as Léopold Sénégal Senghor, president of Senegal at the time and even the Queen of England, Elizabeth II.
International notoriety came to fruition in 1967 with his renditions of “Bambo Bodian”, a song in honor of a wealthy benefactor. But, it is above all “Coura Mbissane”, a new hit sung in duet with Rokhaya Dieng, which propels him to the firmament. In this product, he adapts for the first time, the “djembesseng” to the kora, these very captivating Mandinka polyrhythms with the complicity of the djembe. Two years after his participation in the first Congress of Manding Studies in London in 1972, Lalo Kéba Dramé, the genius of the kora tragically disappeared.
The album Hommage à Lalo Kéba Dramé, released posthumously in 1979 five years later, is a true classic in the repertoire of Mandinka kora music. Fans were able to listen to it again in, African Pearls vol.4: The Teranga Spirit, a beautiful compilation produced in 2006 by the Syllart structure of the late Ibrahima Sylla in 2006. We find there the tenors, Lalo Kéba Dramé, Labah Sosseh, Ndiaga Mbaye, Soundioulou Cissokho, the National Lyric Ensemble of Senegal, the Gambians of Ifan Bondi…
In addition, his works are still taught at the Dakar School of Arts. Out of recognition, a Lalo Kéba Dramé memorial took place on Saturday May 31 and Sunday June 1, 2014 in Ziguinchor. A weekend during which this monument of oral tradition was honored for services rendered to his people, with his favorite instrument: the kora. It is an important part of the cultural heritage of the entire Senegambian area which has been revisited there. The memory of this kora virtuoso, also considered a philosopher, historian and poet, recognized throughout the sub-region, has made it possible to revisit the immensity of his work left to posterity.
Ritual and History : the Case of Nyabingi [article]
I
The religious traditions of the populations of northern Rwanda, particularly the areas of northern Byumba and northern Ruhengeri’, resemble, in some respects, those typical of much of the inter-lacustrine region. These peoples recognize a supreme deity, honor the spirits of deceased ancestors and enact the kubandwa ritual, paying homage to certain imandwa spirits. In one important respect, however, their tradition is not typical of the wider region: the Bakiga and Banyarwanda of these northern territories worship a deity unique to this relatively small region; a region that includes Kigezi in southern Uganda and the very mountainous terrain rising to the north and northwest of the Rugezi Swamp in northern Rwanda. They believe in the powers of Nyabingi, also known as Biheko, a woman who played an important role in the history of this specific region, and who is now revered for her considerable powers. A number of devotees, las bas, known as bagirwa, now represent the spirit of Nyabingi to the people of this region who look to it as a spiritual power for the protection of their health and fertility.
The Nyabingi cult differs significantly from other cults (in particular, Kubandwa, to which it has often been compared) prevalent in the area. This difference can be described from different points of view. It differs first in the functional sense. The kubandwa, according to one interpretation, functioned as a protest, by the masses, against an established order governed by a divine king. Another interpretation showed how the kubandwa ritual, by virtue of its symbols found in the royal investiture ritual, is the expression, by all members of society, of their common submission and acceptance of the ideology of royalty. Interpretations of the Kubandwa ritual generally presume an already existing political structure; it is thought to either support or protest an ideology of political inequality. If it is difficult to specify the precise political function of Nyabingi, we can readily say that he did not serve to protest or maintain political order. Nyabingi worship developed mainly in regions without complex political organizations.
[1. The population of this region of Rwanda rarely claims to be Munyarwanda
by tradition. People here generally claim allegiance to large families, traditionally judged by local leaders who have proclaimed themselves independent of the mwami.
Those whose families came from the North, that is to say from Kigezi in Uganda, can
even pretend to be Bakiga, although that word, Bakiga, is quite vague. it was German,
occupation which brought many of these families under the control of the mwami by force,
and made these people become Banyarwanda. These people from the North recognize
this fact, generally with contempt, saying umuzungu ni rusangiza “it was the
The white man who made us eat ourselves together »]
If it had any function, it was to provide an authoritative ideology for a nascent political organization where none had previously existed. The Nyabingi cult differs again from a structural point of view. The kubandwa is a public ceremony – a ritual during which an individual is Initiated into a secret society. It is by virtue of such an initiation that an individual undertakes to obey and pass himself off as one of the deities of the imandwa pantheon, and therefore, to be assisted in various earthly affairs.
There is no initiation, no secret society or formal public ceremonies. There is none for the cult of Nyabingi. Nyabingi is represented on earth by bagirwa, priests, who have privileged access to her. These representatives can contact Nyabingi on behalf of those seeking Nyabingi’s assistance or intervention in their affairs. There is, in fact, no formal ritual associated with the cult of Nyabingi. Rather, these are private sessions with a representative capable of making appeals and known to Nyabingi.
Finally, the identity of Nyabingi in the context of recent history defines Nyabingi outside the concepts of the supreme divinity and the imandwa from yet another point. The deities of the Kubandwa pantheon have only a vague historical identity.
Despite the remarkable work of Luc De Heusch in historical tracing of the diffusion of identity that the imandwa underwent before their introduction to Rwanda, their historical reality is still quite vague. Nyabingi, on the other hand, has more accessible historical identity. The circumstances which give the imandwa a historical identity are quite remote, while the circumstances which give Nyabingi a historical identity are considerably more recent. Not everyone agrees on what those circumstances were, but everyone feels that Nyabingi continues her presence in this region where she once lived and influenced events. The image of Nyabingi as a historical figure is more compelling than for other objects of reverence.
We would therefore expect that the ritual and mythology linked to Nyabingi would be imbued with a historicity which explains, in part, the inspiration that the Bakiga and the Banyarwanda receive from them. Yet this historicity has rarely been understood or even recognized. The expressions used by the bagirwa during sessions evoking Nyabingi refer to personalities and places which all have a discoverable historical reality. It is the aim in this essay to expose the framework of past events in which the names, expressions, and clichés used in the consultation ritual find historical meaning. These ritual expressions should therefore appear as conjunctions of past and present, vehicles through which symbolic structure and social heritage are woven into a single ritual discourse.
II
Le cadre rituel pour contacter Nyabingi implique une consultation personnelle avec le mugirwa qui entre en transe et permet ainsi à l’esprit de Nyabingi de parler par sa personne. Une fois le mugirwa possédé par l’esprit, les visiteurs peuvent poser des questions spécifiques : ils peuvent demander à Nyabingi d’intercéder pour guérir un enfant malade. Les incantations, chants et exclamations utilisés au cours de la rencontre n’ont pas besoin d’être introduites selon un modèle fixe. Personne ne s’y attend là, à une liturgie régulière à ces occasions. Il y a cependant certaines phrases ou clichés se référant à des noms, des généalogies et des événements qui se produisent inévitablement. Ces expressions, dans le cadre de cette séance, évoquent la présence spirituelle de Nyabingi, et le murgiwa, en dirigeant le drame de sa possession, les utilise à des moments de la procédure. Par exemple : à la fin de la session et au fur et à mesure le mugirwa revient à son état normal, il assure à son client que la voix de Nyabingi a été authentique. Avec beaucoup d’emphase, il proclame alors « Dois-je être mensonger, envoie-moi chez les Bagina qui ont tué Murari! ».
The mugirwa may call upon certain sacred names – Murari, Gahaya, Nyakajunga, Nyabunyana, and Rubunda – at other times in the session these names invoke people who would have been part of Nyabingi’s immediate family. The art most often combined in genealogies such as -Gahaya ka Muvari wa Nyakajunga. The order in which these are arranged does not, at first glance, seem to matter, as it is also common to hear the same names in reverse order: Murari wa Gahaya’. Another name, Nyabunyana, also appears in the sessions.
In the early stages of the consultation, before a mugirwa agrees to contact Nyabingi, he may ask the client to bring a sheep; he designates this sheep as an offering to Nyabunyana, Nyabingi’s mother.
Some incantations are just elaborate repetitions of familiar genealogies, such as: “Quickly Rutindangyezi, lightning of Gahaya, son of Murari, grandson of Rubunda while others may say something of the places where Nyabingi passed with his followers upon arriving in Rwanda: ‘My father’s Nyabingi, be with you, you came by Mahura (Muhura), you came by Mpororo, you passed by Ndorwa and crossed the Nduga, Rutindangeri, son of Gahaya, be with you …”During the sacrifice.
III
These are some of the most important elements of the liturgy in which believers express their respect for Nyabingi and seek his advice. It would seem that the relevance of people such as Murari and Gahaya, of the Bagina and places such as Muhura and Mpororo to the historical circumstances of Nyabingi’s emergence as a center of religious attention should be central to an understanding of the cult. Yet there is virtually no consensus among those who have researched this area regarding these questions: Who were these people?
Nyakajunga? Why do we swear when referring to how the Bagina killed Murari?
Investigations have been made in Kigezi, Byumba and Ruhengeri on these questions, the banyarwanda themselves do not espouse any hypothesis or tradition on the history of Nyabingi. In fact there are two and perhaps more distinct sets of traditions underlying the Nyabingi cult that prevails in Kigezi and northern Rwanda.
One series tells how Nyabingi arrived in the region from Congo. Its cast of characters includes Rutagirakijune, Kanzanira, Gahu and Ruhara. A typical
version tells how Rutagirakijune came from Mpimbi, where she would have
learned from Nyabingi, and traveled east, revealing Nyabingi’s power to a few
selected individuals.
These individuals were Kanzanira, Gahu, Ruhara and others, who in turn became famous bagirwa. All this happened during the reign of Rwabugiri. The names, Gahaya and Murari, rarely appear in this set of traditions, except as deities with vague identities. In sum, this set of traditions asserts that the tradition of worshiping Nyabingi comes from the west and that the practice arrived in Rwanda just before the 1900s.
Another set of traditions attempts to relate Nyabingi to an entirely different time.
This group of traditions somehow recognizes that Nyabingi had something to do with the long-vanished royal family of Ndorwa.
Among the members of this family were Murari and Gahaya, and others. All these people lived well before Kigeri Rwabugiri, perhaps even under the reign of
Kiheri Ndabarasa. Moreover, the capital of these kings of Ndorwa was in the northeast of Rwanda.
In short, this set of traditions asserts that the tradition of worshiping Nyabingi comes from the east and that the practice arrived in Rwanda well before the 1900s.
A number of Bakiga and Banyarwanda know both sets of traditions, and their reaction is to say that one contradicts the other. Elders and other knowledgeable people are inclined to support one to the exclusion and discredit of the other. Only a few attempt to reconcile them by weaving the names and places into a single period. In both cases, the historical perspective on Nyabingi emerges confused. The lack of consensus among historians or missionaries who have written on this subject only reflects the lack of consensus among the Banyarwanda themselves.
The ritual context in which the names Murari and Gahaya most often appear, and by which they are most generally known, seems, at first glance, to complicate the historical perspective even further. However, the unusual and seemingly contradictory way in which these names are used in ritual discourse, provides a clue to clear up some of the ambiguity surrounding Nyabingi’s story.
The problem with these names is this: the expressions in which the names appear organize them into genealogical patterns; However, these provisions are not always consistent. Gahaya may be given as the son of Murari, as in “Gahaya ka Murari wa Ny Nyakajunga”. In the context of other expressions, such as “Murari wa Nyakajunga mwana wa Gahaya”, Gahaya becomes the ancestor and not the son of Murari. This same inconsistency appears in a certain number of traditions. Some accounts claim that Murari succeeded Nyakajunga’ while others explain how Gahaya, son of Murari gave a royal drum to Nyakajunga making him a successor to Murari.
Another important figure, Rubunda, is said to have been Gahaya’s successor in some accounts, and Gahaya’s grandfather in others. There are two possible explanations for this discrepancy: one is that the ritual use of these names distorts historical facts and that oral traditions are unreliable. In this case, historical investigation becomes impossible.
Another is to assume that these apparent discrepancies are not distortions of fact at all but, in some way, represent historical reality. We must therefore propose a historical explanation capable of understanding these apparent contradictions. In this particular case, such an explanation could be that there are more individuals than one in Ndorwa history who bear the name Murari, and more than one person named Gahaya. It is assumed, in other words, that if a given individual is related to Gahaya in two different ways, the name Gahaya refers to two different people. This latter explanation is actually true for the names Gahaya and Murari.
Furthermore, it is an important step in making possible a reconstruction of the history of Nyabingi and its relationship with the kings and the kingdom of Ndorwa.
We know for example that a certain Gahaya II Ka Muzora reigned in Ndorwa at the same time as Cyilima Rujugira reigned in Rwanda. If this Gahaya was a second Gahaya then we would expect that there would have been a first Gahaya at some point in history. This is quite likely since Ndorwa had been a great power well before the reign of Cyilima Rujugira. Indeed, Ndorwa’s expansions peaked almost a century before the reign of Cyilima Rujugira, when Kigeri Nyamuheshura ruled Rwanda.
The ruler, Murari, is generally believed to be the father of Gahaya II. This would make Murari contemporary with Cyilima Rujugira, or perhaps earlier.
However, many sources speak of another Murari who, resurrecting the kingdom of his ancestors much later, established a court in Bukire during the reign of Yuhi Gahindiro in Rwanda. This Murari was attacked and killed by Rwandan forces.
At least a century separates these two people identified as Murari.
The recurrence of the same royal names at different moments in history is only logical in reference to a practice specific to royal dynasties in the inter-lacustrine zone. Individual rulers, ascending to office in a particular kingdom, were given one of a set of names that recurred repeatedly throughout that kingdom’s history. Five kings named Ntare in the history of Nkolé. Four kings named Kimenyi appear at different points in Gisaka’s timeline.
In some cases, set repetitions of names occurred in a regular pattern, that is, cyclically, throughout the history of a Kingdom. Hence, in Rwanda, a Kigeri regularly followed a Cyilima (or a Mutara), a Mibambwe regularly followed a Kigeri, and a Yuhi regularly followed a Mibambwe. It is entirely reasonable that the Bashambo of Ndorwa also designated their kings in a repetitive cycle of names, including the names Murari and Gahaya.
With this in mind, many anomalies in Ndorwa’s history begin to dissolve and we can begin to get a clearer picture of the historical context of Nyabingi.
Assuming that, as in other interlacustrine kingdoms, the names in the dynasties of the Bashambo-ruled Ndorwa kingdom have reappeared, one can begin to wonder how the cycles of kingship fit in with the historical facts available to history of Ndorwa. Given the various sources of Bashambo history – their own traditions as well as the relevant traditions of surrounding kingdoms – one can sort and order the major events, asking in each case this question: With what event or group of events , can the possible repetitions of Murari and Gahaya be associated???
There is no way of knowing in advance how many repeats of Murari and Gahaya have occurred in Ndorwa’s past. In comparison with the genealogy of ruling dynasty in Rwanda, the genealogy of Bashambo kings is extremely vague and discontinuous. There are considerable gaps in the chronology, periods where no king is mentioned.
The events themselves, however, suggest a certain pattern. The main events in Ndorwa’s history, and the names and places associated with them, appear to fall into three groups, suggesting three periods of intense and concerted activity at Ndorwa. It is quite likely that rulers during each of these notable phases of Ndorwa’s history received, or took for themselves, names associated with a recognized royal lineage. These names were Murari and Gahaya.
It further appears that the rule was that whenever there was a Murari. a gahaya immediately succeeded him. It can therefore be conjectured that there were three kings named Murari followed in each case by a Gahaya, reigning during each of the three distinct sentences of the Ndorwa tradition.
The first of these phases appears to have been simultaneous with the reign of Kigeri Nyamuheshura in Rwanda. Sources differ on the dates of his reign: one source gives 1672 for his death, another, 1609.’ In any case, this first period of consolidation of Bashambo) in Ndorwa can be dated to about a century before Cyilima Rujugira, since there are three kings separating Cyilima and Kigeri in the royal genealogy. It is said of Kigeri Nyamuheshera that he annexed territories between the volcanoes and the Congolese forests, but as he marched further north, he took care to leave on his right the kingdom of Ndorwa, a kingdom too powerful at the time ‘.•
D’Arianoff’s account of the reign of Kimenyi Rwahashya, king of Gisaka who came to power while Kigeri Nyamuheshura was on the throne in Rwanda—attests to Ndorwa’s considerable strength at this relatively early date. Gisaka and Ndorwa come to blows, because of an enmity between their queens. Ndorwa defeated Gisaka, and the queen of Ndorwa commemorated the victory by cutting off her opponent’s breasts. Ndorwa captured a considerable amount of territory from Gisaka extending its border to southern Eastern Buganza in Rwanda. •
A second phase of Ndorwa’s past emerges perhaps a century later. It is centered around the reign of Gahaya II Muzora Ka Murari. Cyilima Rujugira reigned in Rwanda when she came to power; we can place the reign of this Gahaya, leaving considerable margin of error, somewhere between the dates of 1720 and 1760.’
He was preceded by a Murari who is remembered for moving the capital from Ndorwa north to present-day Kigezi district of Kajara, and for conquering much of the territory which was later incorporated into the kingdom of Ankole. • During this period of expansion, Ndorwa reached its peak. When Gahaya II succeeded him, Ndorwa began to decline. Gisaka had increased in strength at this time (during the reign of Ruregeya: 1700-1725), defeating Mubari and expanding his territory northwards.
Successive kings of Gisaka were unable to defend the territory incorporated by Ruregiya. Mubari, along with other northern principalities, revolted. Kimenyi Getura IV, who came to power around 1750, first sought an alliance with Rwanda to recover these lost territories. He then realized that he would not benefit from an alliance with Rwanda, because Rwanda, being by far the more powerful, would always have the advantage. He then sought an alliance with the Ndorwa, in the person of King Gahaya II, against Rwanda. Cyilima in Rwanda, learning of this, sent his two sons, Sharangabo and Ndabarasa to the northeast to prevent this alliance by wedged their armies between the two countries. From this expedition, Ndorwa as a power began to dissolve. When Ndabarasa came to power as Kigeri, he continued to send military invasions against Ndorwa. The vast majority of traditions retained by the Rwandan royal court on Ndorwa have to do with these expeditions and this period during which Gahaya II Ka Muzora was defeated by Kigeri Ndabarasa.
This phase, due to Rwanda’s famous victory, seems to dominate the entire spectrum of events associated with the Ndorwa tradition. Whenever a Murari or Gahaya is mentioned, it is assumed that he lived during this second phase, and an attempt is made to link him, in one way or another, to the Rwandan kings, Kigeri or Cyilima.
And when Nyabingi is mentioned in the context of the names Murari and Gahaya, it is automatically assumed that this Murari or Gahaya is the one who was defeated by Rwanda. There is, however, no conclusive evidence. that Nyabingi or anyone having to do with the Nyabingi tradition were contemporaries of this phase of Ndorwa history. The Murari and Gahaya with whom almost all the names and places associated with Nyabingi, and which are mentioned in his cult, seem rather to be associated with another later phase of the history of the Ndorwa. In other words, there appears to have been a third phase in which a Murari, and perhaps a Gahaya ruled. Very little information has been published about this third cycle of Bashambo’s history; However, it is in reference to this phase that all the ritual symbols used in the Nyabingi cult can receive a historical identity.
Most Ndorwa traditions which attempt to account for what happened after Gahaya’s death say, in one way or another, that the kingdom, with its royal regalia and ruling family, completely disappeared. The reason for Gahaya’s death was the invasion and occupation by Rwandan soldiers. But the Bashambob traditions which recount the death of Gahaya say practically nothing about the Rwandan invasions. They speak of the dismemberment of the country rather as if the sons of Gahaya quarreled among themselves, then established independent principalities of their own accord. They say that Gahaya, in despair, may have committed suicide, but say nothing of his death at the hands of the Rwandan military. In short, the traditions seem to disguise the defeat of Ndorwa by Rwanda and attribute the death of Gahaya and the decline of the kingdom to causes internal to the royal dynasty; they make the Bashambo responsible for their own destiny. They ignore the inglorious defeat of Ndorwa by placing historical reality in a more favorable light.
As a result, these traditions fail to say much about Gahaya’s successors. Some go so far as to tell how Gahaya disowned his sons and buried the royal drum, explicitly denying the continuity of the kingdom. But the kingdom maintained its continuity, and in reality, Gahaya had successors. Although lacking notoriety, they have not entirely disappeared from the memory of the living Bashambo. They are particularly important for understanding the third phase of Ndorwa history, and for identifying the major figures in the Nyabingi ritual.
Gahaya had a number of sons. Many people in northern Rwanda are able to enumerate them, and generally, the list includes the following: Rukari, Kahaya, Kihondwa, Kircnzi, Ruhiri, Mafundo and Rugambagye. • Among all, two names, Mafundo and Rugambagye , in particular, stand out from the others since, with the exception of these two, none of the sons owned royal drums. Mafundo and Rugambagye, on the other hand, possessed drums and other royal regalia. Mafundo, it is said, made his own drum, named Kihoza, and went to rule in Igara Rugambagye, alone among all the sons, received the symbols of royalty and the regalia of Gahaya.
These symbols of royalty passed through several hands. Three people who came to possess the royal regalia, at different times, were named Rubunda, Rukongyi and Nyakajunga. There is not much information about these figures, and in fact they seem unrelated except for one thing: they are all descendants of Rugambagye — the same Rugambagye who was given custody of the royal drummers of Gahaya before his death. It is with reference to this family of Rugambagye that we can follow the fate of those who continued the Bashambo royal tradition and also confirm the continuity of the royal lineage, from the death of Gahaya II to the emergence – a half -century later – of Murari, son of Nyakajunga, who tried to re-establish the right of rule of the Bashambo royal lineage in Mutara.
A number of different sources help confirm the historical identity of Rubunda, Rukongyi and Nyakajunga as members of the Bashambo royal line after Gahaya. Kagame recorded traditions specifying Rubunda and Rukongyi as Gahaya’s successors.• Several other sources confirm this affinity between Gahaya and Rubunda. Delmas wrote that a certain Rubumba, one of Gahaya’s sons, governing Ndorwa around 1780, was killed by Kigeri Ndabarasa on his lands near Gatsibo annexed by Rwanda. Pauwels calls Rubundo his son of Gahaya, and Nicolet names a Rubunda as Gahaya’s successor in the areas subsequently occupied by the Bene Kihondwa, in Bweshekatwa and the Bene Kahaya in Bwera. • As for Nyakajunga, some sources describe him as a servant , others as the son of Gahaya.• In all cases, he is the beneficiary, like Rubunda, of a royal drum and seems to have reigned in the Ndorwa region some time after the deaths of Rubunda and Rukongyi. The proper place in Ndorwa’s story for these three characters – Rubunda, Rukongyi and Nyakajunga – is at first glance puzzling. Rubunda, according to Kagamc, succeeds Gahaya, as does Rukongyi. However, according to a genealogy cited by Bigirumwami, Rubunda should be an ancestor of Murari, father of Gahaya.•
According to Pauwels, Rukongyi as well as Nyakajunga should be the ancestors of Murari. However, we frequently hear the opposite: Nyakajungu, mwana wa Gahaya ‘Nyakajunga, son of Gahaya’; and most myths of Nyakajunga say that he is descended from Gahaya, son of Murari.
Placed in its proper historical context, this confusion disappears. All three of the characters lived between the second and third phases of Ndorwa history. They lived between the disappearance of Gahaya II. whose death marked the end of a phase, and the emergence of a Murari, under the reign of Yuhi Gahindiro, whose appearance marks the first of a third phase. These people can be identified by reference to two cycles of Bashambo kings, each cycle containing identical names of Gahaya and Murari. Rubunda like Rukongyi and Nyakajunga, was a descendant of one cycle of kings and ancestor to the next.
About forty or fifty years passed between the death of Gahaya II and the appearance of Murari. Presumably, Gahaya II was killed during or shortly before the reign of Kigeri Ndabarasa. Ndabarasa reigned, approximately, between 1760 and 1700. He was succeeded by Mibambwe Sentabyo, who died suddenly after only five years of reign. When Mibambwe died, the only legitimate successor was a young child, Yuhi Gahindiro. By the time Murari made his presence known to Rwanda as the successor to the Bashambo royal dynasty and potential aspirant to power in Ndorwa. Yuhi Gahindiro was no longer a baby. This must have been 15 years after Gahindiro came to power. If he became a mwami around 1800, Murari’s presence as a claimant for the right to govern the patrimony of his ancestors could not have been before 1815.
At this time, Murari, descendant of Rubunda and Nyakajunga, arrived in North-West Mutara, accompanied by a number of Bashambo with their cattle. According to popular tradition, they established their main court in the vicinity of a hill called Bukire. To the east of Bukire, towards the communes of Muliura and Gituza, in striking contrast to the dry plains, is a pocket of lush vegetation surrounding a mineral spring. People call these springs Nyiragahaya. The hill that rises just south of the springs is known as Rya Murari.
Large ramparts made of earth and possibly cattle dung surround the upper parts of the hill. It is here that Murari is said to have held his court.
The Rwandan court reacted violently to the presence of this Murari. fearing the resurgence of an old enemy on their northern borders. Two court favorites of yuhi Gahindiro, Rugaju and Marara, entered into a competition (guhiga) to see who, in an invasion of Bukire, would be the first to defeat ‘Murari the Muhima’.•
The Banyarwanda forces, stimulated by this contest, overwhelmed Bashambo’s small contingent. Marara became the first to reach Murari, and he received, as his reward, the region of Bukire as his personal fiefdom. Living in this area, just north of Bukire, were the Bagina, who had helped Marara’s Rwandan army defeat the Bashambo. It is in fact believed that the Bagina killed Murari in this battle, hence the common expression: •the Bagina who killed Murari’_ Marara also received command of the Bagina and organized them into a new Rwandan militia. Murari had a son, Gahaya, who never came to power in Bukire. When Rwanda attacked, some say Gahaya was killed in Kigezi. Others say he escaped. fleeing with the followers of a notable woman, Nyabingi, said to have been Murari’s sister. Nyabingi is said to have lived in Nyiragahaya, while Murari lived in Rya Murari, and Murari often asked him for advice. Until recently, Banyarwanda and Bakiga from Ruhengeri and Byumba came to Mutara to make offerings at the springs of Nyiragahaya, the abandoned residence of Nyabingi in Boukire.
The history of Murari in Bukire, the third and final phase of the history of Ndorwa, has left to posterity a set of characters, genealogies, places and events. These names, their relationships, events and some places are familiar to many Bakiga and Banyarwanda, especially representatives of the spirit of Nyabingi; …….
[A famous rebel, Semugaza, who plotted but failed to overthrow
Mibambwe. went into exile in Ndorwa just after Yuhi Gahindiro became mwami.
Yuhi Gahindiro later pardoned Semugaza and allowed him to return; but this
must have been much later, because it could not have been before Vuhi was able
To exercise his authority by himself, it was perhaps ten years after Semugaza
had left for Ndorwa_ Mugari could not have taken power before departure
of Sernugaza’s forces since they would have posed considerable opposition to him.
This allows us to date Murari’s candidacy for power in Bukire (I would like to thank Father Kagame for granting me a manuscript on the history of Rwanda in which I found.
in detail, the history of Semugaza and accounts of the invasion of Rwanda at Ndorwa. under the reign of Yuhi Gahindiro ];
……..but for the most part, their true historical context no longer gives meaning to these names, genealogies and encounters. They are now scattered fragments of a past, but that past is no longer relevant to their meaning. they have been cast afloat from their historical moorings and become, on the contrary, sacred utterances and verbal gestures, intended to evoke the visit of a particular and powerful deity, Nyabingi. The characters – Murari, Gahaya, Rubunda and Nyakajunga – were recruited, out of their historical context, for a ritual ceremony. It is in this ceremony that these names have been so faithfully preserved. The genealogies which link these figures together (Murari wa Nyakaiunga, Nyabingi wa Nyakajunga, Nyagajunga, mwana Gahaya, Gahaya ka Murai wa Nyakajunga) have also been faithfully presented as formal expressions. But they too are uprooted from the historical tradition that formed the relationships, and have been re-integrated into a new context: ritual expressions to evoke the spirit of Nyabingi.
Events, likewise, have been preserved in expressions such as: ‘the Bagina who killed Murari’. The events, like the litany of the characters, have become frozen expressions in the context of a ritual discourse, and stripped of any historical import. In a sense, history has become liturgy, events have become the lexicon of a ritual.
In another sense, however, the structure did not entirely obscure the story. Even if the ritual itself ignores its explicit historical inspiration, the fact that the names occur together, in the same ritual context, provides a clue to give these various expressions a historical place and time. Once an overall picture of Ndorwa’s history has been pieced together and distinct phases have been defined by specific events and names (as this paper has attempted to do) the elements in the ritual liturgy can be located in one of those historic moments in the spectrum of Ndorwa traditions.
Nyakajunga, Nyabunyana, Murari and Gahaya, the Bagina clan, the Muhura and Mpororo places, all serve in the liturgy of Nyabingi worship, charged with sacred meaning. These same names and events in which they participate, also occur in the third phase of Ndorwa’s history, as this article has tried to describe. The simultaneous occurrence of these names and events as elements of liturgy and as critical elements of a distinct phase of Ndorwa’s history, would suggest the following conclusion: Nyabingi as a religious power and the cult of this goddess had her historical origin during the brief reign of Murari, the last of the Bashambo royal kings, ruling in Bukire.
VII
We can now ask two distinct questions regarding the relationship between history and ritual expression. The first poses a purely historical problem: What does it mean for the chronology of a cult when a large number of ritual statements can be linked to a specific set of historical events? It seems natural that within these events, we must seek the origin of the cult. In the case of the Nyabingi cult, in particular, one should expect that the origin of the reverence for Nyabingi power could be found in Bukire.
The traditions which associated Nyabingi with Gahaya II or with Ruhinda, the itinerant prince Muchwezi, founder of Karagwe, or with Kitami, the Amazon princess who ruled a country composed exclusively of women, do not seem to have much historical value. Nyabingi may well have been the name of a spirit honored by individual Bashombo families, prior to Murari’s rule in Bukire. It is clear, however, that the Nyabingi venerated by the Banyarwanda and the Bakiga today refers to the woman or spirit of the Bashambo who lived in Mutara during the reign of Yuhi Gahindiro in Rwanda. The second question poses a more theoretical problem: what can be said about the validity of ritual expressions as authentic historical statements?
Ritual, of all forms of cultural expression has often been considered the least reliable of all cultural repositories for historically valid information. Nyabingi’s examples suggest this is not true. Although historical context is lost in the use of these expressions in ritual, the authenticity of these words cannot be disputed.
Certain expressions (notably the names Gahaya, Murari and Nyakajunga arranged in varying sequences) which may appear in ritual circumstances, appeared to be logically inconsistent. Although incompatible with criticism and the logical intellect, within ritual these expressions endured without distortion. It may be that ritual behavior and liturgy are by definition illogical and irrational. This, however. does not discredit it as a source of historical information. If anything, because it is perfectly free from a critical perspective on historical plausibility, it is particularly suited to serve as a repository for strange allusions and reflections that remain true to their historical context.
The expressions that become an integral part of ritual discourse are, in a sense, semantically fixed.
The point of liturgy is to use the same — exactly the same — objects of speech over and over again.
And, once again, it is the structure that such ritual expressions constitute, not their meaning, that is important to the power of a ritual exercise.
In a totemic system, as Lévi-Strauss described it, it is the structure of elements, or the relationships between elements, and not the meaning that each of them individually carries that animates the religious intellect. Likewise, the elements of ritual expression lose the historical context which gave it meaning, and become like clichés, outside of history. Like the elements of a totemic system, these elements of ritual are linked to a synchronic existence. And it is for this very reason, because such elements are used as objects in an unchanging discourse, that these expressions can be so faithful to the historical information they convey.
The story that these elements of ritual discourse tell is fragmented. Historical context is sacrificed for authenticity. It is the duty of the researcher, with conjecture, clever guessing, and experimentation, to match the expressions with the historical context—to match the structure to the event.
[It has often been assumed that the more the form by which a tradition is transmitted is oriented toward a religious or social end, the more the historical validity is compromised, Vansina however noted that traditions transmitted with the aid of mnemonic devices (and expressions rituals clearly serve such devices) may be subject to less distortion than traditions transmitted by other means. J. VANSINA. ]
Oral Tradition (Chicago, 1965): 41.
J. FREEDMAN — Rite and history: The Nyabingi. Fr
Despite apparent contradictions, resolved by the character
cyclical of royal names, we can establish that the central character and the events which serve as the basis for the cult of Nvabingi, have a historical character (end of the 18th century,
beginning XlX) rather than purely mythological.
**[Jim Freedman](https://www.persee.fr/authority/39434)**
[Cahiers d’Études africaines](https://www.persee.fr/collection/cea) Year 1974 [53](https://www.persee.fr/issue/cea_0008-0055_1974_num_14_53?sectionId=cea_0008-0055_1974_num_14_53_2668) pp. 170-180
https://www.cesbc.org/publications/nganga_arsene_francoeur/pour_une_histoire_du_reggae.htm#_ednref35
