Article Summary: Baganda are a group of Bantu speaking people in Uganda. They are the majority of Ugandan tribes as of today making 17% of Uganda’s population. Traditionally they were the most civilized people in Uganda where Christianity came to Uganda in 1877. Although Islam had come earlier, fewer people had followed it compared to those who followed Christianity. And for that matter when Christianity came many people went with it .And no matter the majority today are Christians.
Baganda are a group of Bantu speaking people in Uganda. They are the majority of Ugandan tribes as of today making 17% of Uganda’s population. Traditionally they were the most civilized people in Uganda where Christianity came to Uganda in 1877.
Although Islam had come earlier, fewer people had followed it compared to those who followed Christianity. And for that matter when Christianity came many people went with it .And no matter the majority today are Christians.
But this does not mean that they left their traditional religion. Some Baganda people are still practicing their traditional religion side by side with the current western religions.
In this article, I will give you the little I have gathered about their traditional religion.
The Baganda people believed in superhuman spirits in the form of mizimu, misambwa and balubaale.
The Balubale were believed to have been men whose exceptional attributes in life were carried over into death.
The mizimu were believed to be ghosts of dead people for it was believed that only the body could die and rot but the soul would still exist as omuzimu (singular of mizimu).
Such ghosts were believed to operate at the family level to haunt whoever the dead person had grudges with. If the mizimu entered natural objects, they were believed to become misambwa.
At another level, the mizimu could become tribal figures and also be known as Balulaale.
The supreme being among the Baganda people was the creator Katonda. Katonda was, believed to have had neither children nor parents. He was said to have created heavens and the earth with all that they contain.
Katonda was however, not believed to be very different from the other Balubaale. In fact he was believed to be one of the seventy –three Balubaale in Buganda.
There were three temples for Katonda in Buganda and all of them were situated in Kyaggwe under the care of priests from the Njovu clan.
The other Balubaale had specific functions. The most important among them were; katonda, Ggulu, god of the sky
the father of Kiwanuka, god of lightning.
Then there was Kawumpuli, god of plague,
Ndaula, god of small pox,
Musisi, god of earthquakes,
Wamala, god of Lake Wamala
Mukasa, god of Lake Victoria.
Musoke was the god of the rainbow
Kitaka was the god of the earth.
There were temples dedicated to the different Balubaale through out Buganda. Each temple was served by a medium and a priest who had powers over the temple and acted as a liaison between the Balubaale and the people.
In particular clans, priesthood was hereditary, but a priest of the same god could be found in different clans. The priests occupied a place of religious importance within society and they usually availed themselves for consultation.
The Kings had special shrines of worship.
The Royal sister known as Nnaalinya took charge of the king’s temple.
There is a tradition among the Baganda people that the Balubaale cult was introduced by kabaka Nakibinge to strengthen his authority and that he combined both political and religious functions for that matter.
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