Kadodi is a traditional dance amongst the Bagisu. he Bagisu, also known as the Bamasaba, are\u00a0a Bantu-speaking ethnic group primarily located on the western slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda.\u00a0They are known for their rich cultural heritage, particularly their traditional circumcision rituals called Imbalu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To many it is a humiliation ritual a boy is stripped naked and runs around with his manhood exposed to the public a typification of how for how long it has been for him alone seen by him alone in private and now the nakedness has been opened up to the public- turning his care away from self to responsibility of the public, service above self in the sense like the Rotary International motto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This ceremony is a passage right for a boy Umusinde into a man Umusaani \u2013 a mark of maturity. This raises a question answer around Maturity and the underlying determinants there of maturity. Maturity isn\u2019t determined by the size of your beard or the stature of your biceps and triceps. It has little to do with the tones of your muscles. It has nothing to do with the age but more of responsibility. Maturity is primarily defined by your ability to take responsibility and at a certain point, everyman has the responsibility to choose a man to follow where your father has been present or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A preamble into what goes into the ceremony is that the boy is meant to choose the date he gets circumcised in the sense when he becomes a man as a personal first responsibility. This isn\u2019t coerced he does the selection of the date and month.On arrival of the date, the surgeon arrives with the tools for circumcision and asks the young man once again if he still want to go ahead with the ceremony. Its a test to check your persuasion and decision making amidst fear and test of commitment to follow through on your word as this is a trait expected of every man. For a man is as good as his word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike present day were anaesthetics are administered prior to the surgery traditionally, you are expected to be strong not cry or blink. This isn\u2019t meant to fund the stereotype that men don\u2019t cry rather that manhood is about managing pain because being a man in a painful business as a man faces pain head on and like Rugby player at the East African games heading for the touch line he doesn’t run away from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The circumcision is done, in two phase where the outer fore skin is cut off and the young man is made to run some meters in the pain and bleeding amidst chants from his peers and family members \u2013 an announcement that his he is now a man to the entire village. After this short run, the surgeon will remove all of the foreskin that covers the glans. This is followed by bandaging the wound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the following day after the circumcision ceremony, cleaning of the wound is done by your paternal uncle who is mandated to tutor you into the doctrine of man hood. This is done while your father watches from outside the house through the window as its an emotion scene for him seeing you struggle with the pain you undergo as they take off the bandage from the wound. Your father speaks to your consciousness as they remove the bandage \u2013 reminding you \u201c My son, it is okay for a man to cry in understanding that pain it’s part of the life a man undergoes\u201d He cheers you on throughout the process reminding you that your ancestors under went the same path of pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the reminding, he bequeaths unto you important items with some proclamations<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1.\tA panga – \u201cThis is for you to clear the bush around your homestead for your wife to open a garden for farming\u201d he says. This marks your responsibility as a caretaker for your wife and the entire household<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2.\tA hoe \u2013 \u201cThis hoe is to remind you to always make sure that there is food in your granary at all times\u201d he proclaims. He passes onto you the responsibility to be a provider for your home in charge of food security in your house that at no moment should your children go hungry because you didn\u2019t till the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Axe \u2013 \u201cThe axe my son I give you shall help your wife split firewood so that food can come quicker to the serving mat\u201d he says. This reminds you that your family should never go hungry under any circumstance<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4.\tSlasher \u2013 \u201cA bush in your compound makes you a lazy man in the community\u201d He adds. This is to remind you to always be up to something as a man in society and shun laziness at least makes the homestead look appealing to the passersby but by all mean never be lazy .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This ceremony to the Mugisu man is a typification that a man is birthed in pain amidst challenges that chun and squeeze the man out of the boy. The wound on your body caused by the circumcision is a constant reminder to the bearer that now you focus, and life is no longer your won. You woe the world a posterity and generation to preserve. Its your responsibility to give back to society for your manhood isn\u2019t you own anymore was publicly viewed by society. You don\u2019t own yourself. Society owns you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kadodi is a traditional dance amongst the Bagisu. he Bagisu, also known as the Bamasaba, are\u00a0a Bantu-speaking ethnic group primarily located on the western slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda.\u00a0They are known for their rich cultural heritage, particularly their traditional circumcision rituals called Imbalu. To many it is a humiliation ritual a boy is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-masculinity"],"yoast_head":"\n