There are 52 original clans within Buganda. When a baby is born, s/he joins the father's clan and is given a clan name. Each clan has a book listing its female and male names. I was honored to receive a clan name, making me Maria Nakalema. Because Mr. Kalema's clan is royal I am a princess. Men and women from a same clan are not allowed to marry each other. When a couple is formed their clans are questioned either by their parents or a church leader, and if they come from a same clan they must break up.
Even though exclusive relationships are becoming more common, some men still get several wives. They claim that having children with more than just one woman increases their probability in producing smart, good-looking inheritants. Often a woman is not aware of his fiancée's existing wife(s) or she ignores it, as getting married is still considered somewhat compulsory in Uganda.
Men and women have traditional family roles: a husband earns money and a wife cares about children and household. If other decides to help another - either a woman getting a job or a man doing house work - it is considered as voluntary rather than expected. The common case is that both work during the day but only a wife cooks and cleans in the evening, making her relative work load greater. Generally men hold most decision making power and they can alter women's plans just by announcing them a new day program.
Women are not encouraged to do all things men do. For example, riding a motorcycle or a bike is not acceptable for a woman, who is supposed to wear a skirt and not show her thighs. Some girls are scared away from those vehicles by telling them that riding might cause lost virginity. That in turn would prevent a girl's family from receiving a goat when she marries a man.
It is important in the Buganda culture to show respect to those superior to you. Children kneel down in front of adults and women kneel down in front of men. Instead of having supper around a shared table, food is specifically served to men and children eat sitting on the floor. I still find it somewhat odd that at home my host family's well raised kids serve me with several things. We volunteers eat out meals from a separately prepared table (pic1).
Despite having collected this information by observing and discussing with different people, I can see that in general attitudes are westernizing, especially among educated urban people. When it comes to equality I see it as good development, but I hope cool tribal features will remain in the Buganda culture. However, it was already altered years ago when Christianity was brought to Uganda. The missionaries announced tribal drums and natural costumes as satanic, making people to abandon them and switch to more western style traditions.
I was delighted when I was invited to the HCF program coordinator's introduction ceremony, which is a traditional Buganda engagement party. The festivities began before noon and lasted until sunset, including introductions of the pride's and groom's family and friends, layout of presents (pic2), dinner (pic3) and dancing. I rented a beautiful traditional dress and got photographed with my host family, other volunteer girls and Rachel, the pride (pic4). Since in Uganda everyone is invited to a party and s/he may bring along additional people, the number of guests totals hundreds. In order to finance such big parties their hosts usually fundraise beforehand within the community, which as whole joins the long celebrations!
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