Empaako: Bunyoro-Kitara cultural naming ceremony fading away

Robert Rubongoya, a Mutooro living and working in Kampala, has given all his five children names (Empaako) without following the traditional naming rituals. Most families originating from the land of Empaako (Tooro) in Uganda, but living in multi-cultural and urban centres, are steadily losing the practice of giving Empaako to their children with or without the traditional naming ceremony, according to the Engabu Za Tooro (Tooro Youth Platform for Action).

For the few who persist and give Empaako like Rubongoya, those Empaako are not used in daily life and the bearers eventually forget them.
“I have personally not given my children Empaako according to our tradition because of the influence of Christianity.

The Empaako naming rituals have been replaced by prayers, thanksgiving and baptism after the birth of a child. On top of the Christian name, we add the Empaako to identify ourselves as Batooro,” Rubongoya, who hails from Kyenjonjo District in western Uganda, says.

He argues that even if one got the elders, one may not command a large gathering because most people have adopted many modern practices and lifestyles, and may therefore look at the Empaako rituals as backward and cumbersome.

Empaako is a naming system whereby a baby is given a special name from among the 12 names shared across the communities of the Batooro, Banyoro, Batagwenda, Batuku and Banyabindi found in western Uganda, in addition to their given and family names.

The naming ceremony is performed at home, presided over by the clan head with the participation of relatives.

The Empaako include Okaali, (which is reserved for a king), Apuuli, Araali, Bbala and Acaali, exclusively for men, while Akiiki, Adyeri, Amooti, Ateenyi, Atwoki, Abbooki and Abwoli are shared among both sexes.
The heads of clans are the custodians of the practice, while every member of the communities is a bearer.

The Empaako is given in a naming ceremony performed three or four days after the birth of a baby girl or boy respectively. Three and four among the concerned communities, are sacred figures when used in the life of a human being and, therefore, are applied in every ritual action.

Implications
The meaning and cultural value of Empaako is rooted in the naming rituals and Empaako given without the reflection on the meanings in the rituals, have drastically lost the bearer respect and impact.

Giving Empaako without any aspect of rituals has diluted the cultural value of the practice, reducing it to mere fun for social entertainment, according to the cultural organisation.

The endangered Empaako was among the four elements recently inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, which helps State parties mobilise international cooperation and assistance to ensure the transmission of this heritage with the participation of the concerned communities. The list that comprises 35 elements from different parts of the world.
The Empaako becomes the second Ugandan element following the endangered Bigwala, a gourd trumpet music and dance from Busoga.
The inventory of the Empaako tradition was facilitated by Engabu Za Tooro, with assistance from the Ugandan government and the concerned communities.
Based in Kabarole District, Engabu Za Tooro is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1999 based on the theme of culture and development.

“We proposed the Empaako tradition on the list because it is a very important ceremony among the communities that practice it. More importantly, it is threatened by the modern ways of life,” says the executive director of Engabu Za Tooro, Stephen Rwagweri Atwoki.

Relevance
The Empaako practice thus has a direct link with contemporary issues of sustainable development. These include; peace building and conflict resolution, environmental sustainability, domestic production and food security.

A traditional Empaako ceremony

The living room is engulfed in total silence as seven paternal aunts take turns to hold briefly and then hand over a four-day-old baby boy to the next aunt, each of whom observes his features to confirm that the child belongs to the Bakurungu clan.

The new baby, born to Steven Katuramu Akiiki and Agnes Nakanwagi Adyeeri, is undergoing the “recognising” (Kutonda) ritual – a very important step in the Empaako naming tradition.

During the ritual – the equivalent of the modern paternity test - a baby is received by the paternal aunts, who examine its features in relation to characteristic features of the paternal relatives. The baby’s resemblance to the living or dead relative and the aspirations of the clan, form the basis of the choice of Empaako.
There are six rituals of Empaako naming known as Omugenzo gw’Empaako in the Runyoro-Rutooro language. These include: the procession and ceremonial laughter (Enseko z’orweyo); recognising; selecting the Empaako (Kuruka); a traditional meal (Ekihuro); giving gifts (Kurabuka Omwana); and planting of the Omutoma (ficus natalensis) tree.

The ceremony
This ceremony, which I attended in Rwebijoka village, Buheesi Sub-county in Kabarole District, begins with the procession and ceremonial laughter. The paternal and maternal aunts move in procession while laughing, in and out of the house four times with a basket of banana peels and dirt that had been swept from the house.

When the children in the homestead realise that the laughter is not genuine, they chuckle – and soon the adults and young ones are all simultaneously dissolved into real laughter.

After the fourth time, the aunts proceed to the banana plantation and pour the contents of the basket on a banana tree specifically for making local beer known as Embiira. If it was a girl, they would have poured the contents on an edible banana tree (enyamunyo).

Nakanwagi’s mother, Fedres Kabagenyi Abwooli, who hosted the event by virtual of her daughter giving birth at her home in Rwebijoka village, explained that when a child was born in Tooro kingdom, the house was not swept and banana peels were not thrown away for four days if it was a boy and three days for a girl.

Next is the ritual of selecting the Empaako. Paternal and maternal relatives propose a number of Empaako. In the end, it is the baby’s paternal grandfather, Francis Agaba Akiiki, who rules and declares the Empaako by addressing it to the baby directly four times.

“I name you Bagonza Apuuli because you resemble my late grandfather, Bagonza Apuuli,” he declares, amid clapping and approval by the family members.

Agaba said the clan head or elder is given the opportunity to name the child because he is the eldest and has seen both the deceased and living relatives. He may or not choose from the proposed Empaako.

A traditional meal is served, after which family members offer gifts to the baby in form of goats, cows, chicken and money, which will become “capital” for wealth accumulation for the growing child.

The last ritual is the planting of the Omutoma tree to signify perpetuity and abundant life of the clan as represented by a rich natural environment, the characteristics and functions of the tree. It is the most enduring tree.

It grows big and wide, feeds the surrounding plants, provides shelter for resting, meetings and group activities.
It provides materials for dress, blanket, ritual and dance costumes and wrapping the dead. And it is a point of reference and symbol of ancestral homestead.

If it were a baby girl, they would have planted a banana, which is a perennial food plant and provides staple food for most Empaako communities, to signify responsibility to guarantee subsistence and food security for the home and community.

For Bagonza was the first of Nakanwagi’s four children to go through the traditional Empaako naming ceremony. “I would wish to follow our traditions. If I have more children,” she said.

Katuramu was not able to attend his son’s naming ceremony as he had to run his business in Kampala.

The role of Empaako
Empaako plays three important roles in one’s life.
In greeting. The two address each other using Empaako. One asks Empaako only on first interaction.Addressing a person by his or her Empaako name is a positive affirmation of social ties.

Neutralising anger and tension. Greeting or addressing by Empaako to a person one is in conflict with, sends strong message of compromise, peace and reconciliation.

The members of the bearer communities believe that Empaako mysteriously evaporates from the memory of the two people whose relationship gets strained, only to be recovered at reconciliation.
Respect and Honour.

Empaako is also a form of address in all positively subjective conditions of human interactions like;
• Expressing respect and honour to a parent, an elder, a leader, spirit medium and gods;
• Expressing affection to a companion, a lover, a tender minor, a sick or suffering, a missed or dead dear one;
• Appealing for favour from human or superhuman powers;
• Expressing thanks and bidding farewell.
Therefore, while Empaako is given along with a surname, the two serve completely different roles. The surname is only for official and impersonal address.

The state of the traditions and efforts to preserve them

Facing extinction.

The transmission of Empaako through traditional naming rituals has reduced drastically. This has been mainly due to the general decline in appreciation of traditional culture and the diminishing use of the language associated with the element resulting from the modern influences. But also more specifically is failure to adapt the rituals to changing situations.

On the ground.

A survey carried out during inventory of the tradition in 2010, established that out of 100 families, only five admitted to have carried out the rituals in the last five years. Equally, out of 100 adults, only seven elders could satisfactorily remember details of the rituals. There is no documentation of these rituals.

Threat.

Two religious groups namely; Bisaka religious cult and Abasesimukire Christian cult are directly preaching against the tradition. The groups argue that the practice is associated with pagans and it lures people to immorality. This is a result of misinterpretation due to lack of information about the meaning of the practice. The converts of these two groups do not give their children Empaako. About 700,000 people are estimated to be converts of these groups out of a population of four million people from the Empaako communities.

Meaning and origin.

According to Engabu Za Tooro, the available information gives the functional and associated meaning of these Empaako in their cultural context, but the literal meaning and ultimate origin is mystified and elders believe that such information is reserved.

However, existing scientific theories indicate that Empaako have meaning in Luo language and were established by the Luo migration. There is no agreed translation of the practice to any other language foreign to its cultural context. The descriptive attempt in English would be pet, “praise”, “affection” or “honour” names.

Way forward.
Engabu Za Tooro has drawn up a general timetable for the safeguarding of the Empaako tradition that will run from 2014 – 2017, at an estimated cost of $225, 500 (about Shs565 million).
The primary objectives of the safeguarding process are:
• To document the rituals and meaning of Empaako practice;
• Raise community awareness on the meaning and value of Empaako practice;
• Increase the visibility of Empaako (the 12 names of honour) and the 44 clans through production of material and symbolic representation and adapting them to social media, museums, souvenir development, corporate branding and historical and cultural sites.