The Nande in an ethnic groupsmainly found in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Somo individuals can be found in Uganda.
The Nande are a component of the larger Konjo (Bakondjo, Wakonfjo) group, are a Bantu tribe on the Uganda-D.R. Congo border
They are numbering 2,510,500 in 2 countries. (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)
The Nande or Yira tribe is part of the Bantu group. According to history, this tribe came from Uganda via Semuliki River.
The Nande of Congo and the Konjo people of Uganda are a single ethnic group, which they call Yira (Bayira). They trace their origins to the Ruwenzori Mountains between the two countries. The languages Nande and Konjo are close enough to be considered divergent dialects. Nande has a number of dialects of its own: Nande proper, Kumbule, Mate, Tangi, Sanza, Shu, Songola (Songoora, Nyangala), Swaga / Kira (in Nande, all of these are prefixed with eki-).
Their language is Olhuyira, a Bantu language whose number of speakers in the DRC was estimated at more than 10,000,000 in 2022 and nearly 1,000,000 in Uganda.
For the varieties of this language known as Shu we are given the information that another language, "EkiShukaali" was formerly spoken by the women, the AvaShukaali. This may be a specific reference to some kind of "secret jargon" into which the girls, and not boys, were initiated.
Some of the Nande of Congo have a patron–vassal relationship with the Efé Pygmies.
Legend has it that the ancestors passed on top of a dragon which was in this river. This tribe from Uganda is situated in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo especially in the province of North Kivu. According to research, the Nande people constitute 60 percent of the population in this province. Another group is in Uganda called Bakonzo in KASESE.
This tribe is scattered on a space of 25,580 km2. A part from this specific place, the Nande are everywhere in the DRC and other countries due to their commercial and agricultural business.
In the Nande tribe, we have 12 small groups:
In general, Yira or Nande people have three names: the Christian name or a name linked to the divinity (here before Christianity), the order that you follow as child after birth, and the name of the family (father’s name). In this sense, for the males we have this subdivision: 1st.Mumbere, Paluku, Nzanzu, Kanyere; 2nd.Kambale, Mbale; 3rd.Kasereka, Kasero, Seré; 4th.Kakule, Kule; 5th.Katembo, Tembo; 6th. Mbusa, Kavusa; 7th. Ndungo, Katungo. And for the females, we have this subdivision: 1st. Masika, Kanyere, Nzanzu, Kambere; 2nd.Kavira, Vira, Katsiravwenge; 3rd.Kaswera, Kavugho; 4th. Kahambu, Kambambu, Mbambu; 5th. Tungu, Katungu; 6th. Kyakimwa; 7th. Katya, Kalivanda.
When a boy is born after a girl, he is called Muhindo; and when a girl is born after a boy, she is called Kahindo. Twins are named in this way: Nguru (who comes first) and Ndovya (the one who comes after). Those who are born in the roads are called Safari or Kanzira, and those who are born during the time of sorrow are called Mateso.
The initiation is done around the age of 14 for the male and 12 for the female. The purpose is to introduce these youth to the realities of the culture and give them some skills for life. By going through all the steps proposed by the master of initiation, the youth is able to look at life with a positive mindset. As the content of initiation remains secret, it ends with circumcision for males and experience of how to deal with a man in the house for the females. This experience is done very far from people in the bush, especially near the ancestor’s grave (better the tree of the ancestor).
After the initiation, these youth receive the mandate to get married and form a family. This process of marriage follows certain steps. The first step is the knowledge of each other; the second the male presents his intention to the female; thirdly, the man goes to see the biological father with the uncle of the lady to present his intention; if they agree to get married to each other, the man asks to go and prepare the dot.
This dot for everybody is 10 goats plus 2 goats for the uncles. These two goats are symbolic of the blood that the lady will be losing by giving birth. One of these two goats is slaughtered and eaten during the celebration of dot which is the traditional marriage. The blood of this goat is mixed with the traditional beer, “kasikisi”, which they pour down. By mixing this blood and the traditional beer, they symbolise the union of these two families.
By pouring this mixture down, they are calling the ancestors to witness this union and to bless it by giving them children. Before Christianity came in, at this point the new couple was allowed to touch each other. This first day, the aunt of the lady is there at night in the room to witness the union and confirm if her daughter is virgin. The uncle of the man remains outside sitting close to the fire all the night waiting for the result the next morning.
If the man goes out from the room with a white garment it means he is satisfied and ready for the conclusion of the marriage the next morning. If one of them is not satisfied, he or she takes a red garment and the man goes to give to the uncle and the woman goes to give to her aunt. From there before the conclusion of the marriage, the aunt and the uncle together with the elders sit and see the possibility of helping this new couple.
In being together in the community, there is always this possibility of offending each other. In Nande culture, four kinds of offenses are defined:
These offenses push people to sit together and look at how people can be reconciled. This reconciliation, also called mbanulo, is done in five steps:
The cult of the ancestors is common in Nande culture. The foundation of this cult is that death doesn’t have the last word on human life: omundu syehola. That is why a dead person receives a dignified funeral by invocation of the ancestors, asking them to receive the one who has died. This worship is the expression of the belief that after the physical life, there is the spiritual life with the ancestors. It is a continuation of the life on earth; that is why in the tomb of the dead person we put all the things which the person preferred to use.
There is an intrinsic link between this spiritual life and the life on earth. That is why the ancestors intervene in the life on earth in different ways: protection, blessings, harvest, offspring, etc. That is why the worship of the ancestors becomes relevant in the daily life. Once a year after the big harvest by each village, the cult of the ancestors is done seriously. The rite has three parts: the prayer of thanksgiving to the ancestors for the harvest and their protection; the immolation or killing of a goat; community meal by serving first God, then the ancestors, and after, the whole community. After eating there is the expression of joy through the songs called ekila.
During the prayer, the children are given the meat of white chicken which never give eggs, to symbolise the purity of the ancestors’ intention towards the community. During the meal, the children are served before everybody because children are the direct incarnation of the ancestors.
About food in Nande culture, without going into details, the common ones are: banana in its variety, beans, cassava, yellow yam, blue yam, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, potato in its variety, grasshoppers, cat, rat, etc.
In the social aspect of being together as family or community, there are some beliefs, aimed at teaching wisdom: Don’t throw water out at night and don’t clean your house at night: ancestors are present; Don’t go to bed angry, otherwise you won’t receive protection and blessing from the ancestors; Don’t accuse someone unjustly, his guardian may revenge; Speak in public about a problem after all the investigation- in order to value the virtue of silence because in silence we are communicating with the ancestors; Don’t go to your work before the burial of the dead person takes place; Always pour out a bit of water or drink to the soil before drinking; Don’t show or point your finger to the elder and the cemetery, etc.
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