The Batwa Cultural Experience

The Batwa Cultural Experience

The Batwa Cultural Experience : These pygmies (Twa in Rwanda) basically lived in ancient Bwindi Forest in Uganda. However, they were evicted in 1980’s and 1900’s from the Rwanda & Uganda Parks without compensation. In Uganda the Batwa lived in harmony in the jungle with all creatures including the mountain gorillas thus named the “main gorilla trackers”. Later, it was gazetted as a National Park, where they lived a hunter gatherer lifestyle known as “the keepers of the forest”.

The Batwa lived a lifestyle of gathering fruits, plants and hunting game in the forest. In fact, they used bows and arrows, this was mainly for both medical and food purposes. They roamed the forests for centuries in search for fruits and honey whereby they lived a harmonious life. Surprisingly, they never practiced farming, nor charcoal burning not even the shelters they had could destroy the environment. Since they were evicted from their former home that’s when they started hunting gorillas, begging and working for others as servants.

Batwa Communities in Uganda

Batwa culture trail

This is found in Mgahinga Gorilla Park and tourists who are interested in culture are led by batwa locals through the jungle. Here, they teach tourists their ancient gathering and hunting ways and after the visit, these guides head back to their community.

The Batwa Experience in Buhoma

Found just outside Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, visitors enjoy this experience after trekking gorillas. This experience has greatly benefited the batwa communities and visitors are introduced to the culture through traditional dances, clothing, food, etc.

Buninga Batwa Forest in Nkuringo

Generally, this gives chance to tourists to explore the cultural and traditional ways of the Batwa. Buninga forest is not part of Bwindi but its wildlife species, primates and vegetation types are similar to those in Bwindi. While here, visitors can also spot some chimpanzees during the forest walk. 

The Batwa spiritual beliefs and rituals

Nagaasan the god

Batwa people believe Nagaasan or Imaana who is believed to provide wealth, food, protection and children. This chameleon was treated as sacred due to the fact it climbed to the highest point of the tree. As a matter of fact, the Twa believed that it came closest to God. The ancient religion of the Batwa is centered in the forest and it is practiced by the different people in the community. In fact, even after the introduction of Christianity, some Batwa people still stick on their old religion.

Birth rituals

When a baby was born among the Twa people, a bow and arrow was always placed in their palms as a sign of protection. The women also breastfed their babies for a very long time as this acted as a form of family planning for them.

Marriage rituals

The Twa practiced monogamy although sometimes they would exchange girls, known as barter marriage. Most of the marriages in the Twa were arranged by their respective families. During barter trade marriage, the two were made to face each other especially during the marriage ceremonies. As a result, this was a sign of their shared future in marriage. Afterwards, the father of the bride always introduced her to the family of the spirits. In case, the woman was barren, the man was always encouraged to get another woman.

This was done such that a woman can bear children for the continuity of his lineage. Non Batwa could not marry Twa people but the men who live around were reportedly to have always raped the Twa women. This was with a belief that they will get cured of HIV AIDS. Adultery was also not allowed among the Twa people. Bride purchasing during marriages as is the norm now was not accepted. However, a few gifts were given to the family of the bride and these were wild meat and honey. The meat of the squirrel was the most used since it was hard to hunt. Inf fact, during the marriage ceremony, it was given to the mother in law.

Death rituals

They hardly practiced inheritance ceremonies since the Twa people owned few possessions. Upon death, the family members would be given the possessions to own. The dead were normally buried in huts or cremated and the place where they were buried was always abandoned. They were also buried in caves and rocks but this was before they were chased out of the Bwindi. After the death of a beloved one, a medicine man would come by to cleanse the bereaved family members. It was done so that the spirit of the deceased would not attack them.

The social and economic life of the Batwa

House construction

They in small congested houses that are always too small to accommodate all the family members under one roof. For example, you might find over eight people living in the same single roomed house. In fact, most of these houses do not have mattresses or sits. Surprisingly, you find a family lying on their sisal made beds at night and sharing them from father to the children.

Socialization and marriage

The Batwa are very good people whereby they are welcoming and hospitable to the visitors. They socialize through hunting, music, dancing and different stories that are always told in the evening by the elders. They marry when they are in their teens and this has drastically increased their population yet they live on small pieces of land. Most of these drop out of school such that they help in the day to day running of the families. On the other hand, others become local guides for the tourists who visit the area for gorilla trekking.

Jobs and Education

It is extremely hard for the batwa people to get jobs whereby they end up doing casual jobs which do not bring in a lot of money. They also make clay pots that they sell to the different people who visit the area. Most of the people who design the pots say that although they sell these pots, the money they get is not enough. It can not last them a week and sometimes they end up going hungry due to lack of food.

The fact that their livelihood of hunting was take away from them, they are trying to adopt to the changing world.The children go to school however, most of them do not finish. This is because of the extreme poverty they face and end up doing odd jobs to survive. Besides, some of the children run away from schools because they are threatened by the teachers and fellow children.

In conclusion, one can not miss out the Batwa cultural experiences while on your visit to Uganda. In fact, it is possible to enjoy Gorilla trekking and crown it with a visit in any of the Batwa Communities.