Bagishu Marriage , Birth Rituals and their Traditional Economic Activities

Learn about the Bagishu traditional marriage

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Traditionally marriage was arranged by the parents of the boy and the girl, often without the knowledge and the consent of the girl.

After the bride wealth had been settled, a delegation from the boy’s side would come with the boy and they would be offered the bride.

A man could marry as many wives as he wished provided he could afford the bride wealth. In the event of divorce, the girl’s parents would return all that they had demanded as bride wealth. This depended on whether the woman left immediately after marriage or she had failed to produce children.

If she had had children, only part of the bride wealth would be returned.

Learn about the Bagishu birth and naming ritauls

Birth usually took place in the house. Traditionally, a medicine man would be consulted to administer some medicine in order to lessen the labour pains.

Some times the husband would be required to assist the wife during the time of labour. After giving birth, the mother would cut the umbilical cord. The afterbirth was buried.the naming of the child was not immediate. It would normally wait until such a time as the child began to cry continuously, say throughout the day or throughout the night.

Tradition says that an ancestor would then appear as if in a dream and dictate the name by which the child would be called. The name so commanded was normally the one of the ancestor who appeared in the dream.

The name thus suggested was obligatory and no one was supposed to question its suitability.

Traditional thoughts about death

In the event of death, people would cry loudly and the body of the deceased would remain in the house for three days before the burial could take palace. This applied to both sexes. Burial took place on the fourth day.

There were elaborate rituals which were performed during burial. If the deceased was barren, a hole was cut at the rear of the house. The corpse would be passed through it to be taken to burial.

In the case of a parent, the corpse would be passed through the normal entrance. Women who died unmarried were treated in the same way as if they were barren, but such cases were rare because mature girls were normally chased away from homes by their brothers to go and get married.

Before burial, the corpse was entreated that no one present was responsible for its death and therefore its spirit should not return as they had left no trace on earth, and their names were never given to anyone yet to be born.

Enough food and brew was prepared. After the burial a ceremony would be carried out. It was attend by the elders. If the dead person had been the head of the house hold, this ceremony would install an heir. The rules for choosing an heir demanded that he or she should be well-behaved and understanding.

The heir could be a girl or a boy no matter whether he or she was younger than some of his or her elder brothers and sisters.

Their traditional Economy

The Bagishu are essentially an agricultural society. Food production was for subsistence and the main crops included matooke, (Kamtore), potatoes (kamapondi), millet, beans (kamakanda) and peas. Besides agriculture, they also rear some cattle, sheep, and goats. Recently donkey has become a common sight as beast of burden. Land was owned on a clan basis. Boys would be allocated pieces of land upon getting married.Abacus African vacations orgainises culture tours that involve Gishu cultures and circumcision

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