MY ROOTS, MY IDENTITY, MY HERITAGE 🤗🤗

Hello everyone, today I want to share with you my heritage. We are told embrace our identifies and take pride in who we are and that is what we should do. IAM a mukiga by tribe and a very proud one at that. The bakiga are sometimes called the chiga or kiga. We are also called THE PEOPLE OF THE MOUNTAINS. So IAM a daughter of the mountains.

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The bakiga have many clans but the biggest one is called the basiga clan. I come from the clan of the bakimbiri. A clan head is called "Omukuru w'omuryango"...if you are to directly translate it, it would be "the head of door way" something like that.

Our traditional drinks are enturire and bushera. I will speak for myself when I say that you cannot visit our home and not be given a glass of bushera...it's my personal favorite drink. We are also known for our beer that's known as Omuramba. It is used for social gatherings...a pot is put in place and men sit around it and drink using long tubes and discuss issues.

Our staple food is millet bread(kalo), beans and peas which we supplement with yams, pumpkins, meat and veggetables. Personally, am not a fun of either of the above foods. We grow alot of Irish potatoes too...that, I love.

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Our traditional wear is "Omushanana". It's also worn by women in Burundi and Rwanda. It is basically worn for church services and ceremonies.

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Marriage wise, marriage is an important cultural institution. Traditionally, no marriage is honored without bride Price. It was also a tabbo to sell animals given as bride wealth for they can be used to get more wives for the bride's father or brothers. But times have changed so some traditions have faded away.

Have you heard of BAKIGA NATION? It is an event that gears at promoting unity and celebrating cultural heritage through food, music and games. It is under the Rukundo Egumeho CSR program which was founded by Owen Bigombe. You can see the people in the picture below dancing our dance that is called Ekiziniro.

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FUN FACTS ABOUT BAKIGA
• We donnot tolerate nonsense. Donot play games with the Intelligence and emotions of a mukiga. We hate it.

• We love to be greated in our language. I for one, I get very excited when someone greats me in rukiga because I don't meet many fellow bakiga.

• We are hardworkers and have alot of strength. Because of this, we don't like being idle cause we feel like we have all this energy that we need to use for something.

• We are tough but we are not rough. You must have heard rumours that bakiga are rough people but those are just rumours. We give what we are given. We are actually gentle and kind until provoked.
IAM A VERY PROUD MUKIGA
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