Tutsi

The Tutsi have lived in close proximity to the Twa and Hutu in the forested great lakes area of Central Africa, what is now known as Northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Southwestern Uganda. The Tutsi, [Page 675]like other groups in the area, speak a Central African Bantu language, Kinyrwanda or Kirundi, depending on whether one is in present-day Rwanda or Burundi. Within the language, the folklore, myths, proverbs, poetry, and parables are all important in teaching the community spiritual, ethical, and moral standards and understandings. Many of the stories told are said to have come from a mythical king named Gihanga. This king also may have been an ancient famed griot, one who has a kingly status as an ancestor because of the importance of the oral record in the Tutsi tradition, as in all African traditions and cultures.

The creator or high God of the Tutsi is called Imaana. This God has the power to grant life, death, and wealth, and the kings of the Tutsi share in the power because they are living or human manifestations of the divine. Also important for the Tutsi are the ancestors because it is they who will act as intermediaries between humans and the divine. Called Abazima by the Tutsi, the ancestors act as intermediaries and messengers to Imaana. Humans must honor the ancestors and bring offerings to them to remain in their favor. Misfortune can be attributed to dishonor of the ancestors or dishonor to themselves because they represent their ancestors.

The Tutsi creation myth begins with an original couple who lived in paradise. This original pair, however, was sterile, so they asked God for help in having a child. God then mixed saliva with clay in a pot and made a small human figure. The pot symbolized the womb of the woman, and then God ordered the woman to stir and pour milk into the pot every day for 9 months. She did this, and in 9 months, the small human figure had grown limbs; she then pulled the new human being out of the pot, and she now had a child. This is a symbolic story meant to illustrate the process of a woman's pregnancy and childbirth. Further, this story also illustrates the woman's intimate connection to the divine and her knowledge of the mysteries of life.

Death, like birth, is important to the spiritual and religious understandings of the Tutsi. At birth, Tutsi children are taken through a naming ceremony that proclaims the name of the child to God, the ancestors, the living, and the yet unborn. In death, the community and family members offer prayers and mourn for a short period after the death and funeral. During this period, the close family members avoid work and sex to mark their mourning and loss of a loved one. At the end of the mourning period, the family members and community come together for a feast to celebrate transition of life.