Kadodi lights up Uganda Museum

Revellers dance during the festival at the Uganda Museum in Kampala on May 9, 2022. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI

What you need to know:

  • The Tourism minister asked the government to construct a museum for the Bamasaba people to showcase their culture.

People from all walks of life thronged the Uganda Museum yesterday to take part in the Kadodi Festival. 
Kadodi is a traditional dance among the Bamasaba performed during circumcision period.

The festival, which was organised by the Inzu Ya Masaba (Bamasaba cultural institution) and the government, is meant to showcase the Bamasaba culture.

Revellers started trickling into the venue as early as 7am, clad in traditional attires 

By 11am, there were long queues at the entry points, and even larger streams of people strolling about the streets from Acacia Avenue to Uganda Museum.

Dancers perform the Kadodi traditional dance, which is associated with circumcision ceremonies among the Bagisu of eastern Uganda. This was during the Kadodi Festival at the Uganda Museum in Kampala on May 9, 2022. PHOTO/ISAAC KASAMANI

While addressing the media at the festival, Ms Sarah Maswele Wasike, the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, said they are launching a circumcision year and will be moving to different regions of Uganda to promote it since it is popular among Ugandans.

 “We took a two-year break because of Covid-19, and we did not hold the Kadodi Festival physically with people. It is going to be launched in Mbale soon,” she said.

She added: “Every even year, Gishu boys are circumcised in a ceremony popularly known as Imbalu. Boys that fail to withstand the knife are shunned by women and other men. Those that pass the test are usually given gifts and pronounced men.”

Ms Wasike said during the circumcision season, the boys begin dancing around the village with their relatives in preparation for the official launching of Imbalu at Mutoto, the traditional circumcision ground.

She added: “When a boy asks for permission to get circumcised, he receives counselling from the elderly male relatives about the challenges of the knife, adulthood and what imbalu means to the Bamasaba clan.”

She called upon the government to help the Inzu Ya Masaba to construct a palace and museum to showcase different dances of the Bamasaba.