OUR HERITAGE: Karamoja’s stool of many uses
Stools are a big part of Karimojong culture but lately, elsers are sadened by their commercialisation. POTOS BY STEPHEN ARIONG
What you need to know:
Timeless. The stool has come to be identified as kind of badge of Karimojong honour
When visitors go for tour in the Karamoja region, many times they get excited when they see stools made by the Karimojong. Many crave to possess a piece. It is fitting therefore that such an individual should know the intrinsic value of the stool as observed by the locals.
The casual buyer usually will not easily believe that it is a multipurpose cultural stool because it is merely wooden but to the Karimojong who holds a strong cultural attachment, the item is valued identity for the tribe.
This stool has three major purposes in the Karimojong culture, one of them is to serve as a pillow. The second one is to help steady a man as he shoots at a target while in the bush fighting and the last use is for use as a chair.
As a pillow
This stool has different sizes. Some are as big as a regular chair while others are made small. Most people in the region are interested in the small ones because they are light. One can move with it everywhere so that when he gets tired, he can sleep anywhere and turn it into a pillow. In a meeting he again turns the stool and uses it as a chair.
The stool plays a big role when shooting at a target during war. The warrior takes cover with the wooden hand guard of the gun (near the bayonet) resting on top of the stool so that a gun will not shake.
After raiding cattle during such battles, one animal will be killed and its fats are removed and used for smearing the stools. They only smear the stools that were used during that particular event. The smearing is to thank the gods for the work of the stools.
These stools have no restrictions; everybody starting with 10-year-old boys can own one if he can manage to make his. Young people are not allowed to sit on the stool of elderly people. Likewise, the elderly cannot sit on the stools of boys.
John Losike, an elder in Pupu Village in Rupa Sub-County in Moroto District, says if any person who is not regarded as an elder sits on any stool belonging to elder without permission, they will suffer pain until death. He says though that such a person can be treated if he pleads for mercy and pays a big bull to the elder.
Times are changing
John Lothinyon, another elder in Nakapelimoru Village in Kotido District, says in the early 1970s these stools were not supposed to be sold because they served a big role in Karimojong culture. Unfortunately, according to the elder, they are now being sold due to the current poverty situation.
