The culture of male traditional circumcision among the Bagisu is one of the admired cultures worldwide, which the tribesmen believe is a way of promoting boys to men. The culture is full of rituals, performed from the stage of preparing the candidates to the last point of facing the surgeon, locally referred to as umushebi.
The activity involves removing the foreskin of the reproductive organs of the boys, who are usually between 14 to 18 years of age, every even year for more than 200 years ago according to historians and cultural enthusiasts.
The culture accompanied by the traditional dance, kadodi, is directly connected to nature and the current weather patterns, the reason negative effects of climate change are now affecting the way the rituals are performed. This year’s Imbalu (circumcision) launch is scheduled to take place on August 1. The Imbalu culture is practised among the Bagisu, a tribe settled at the slopes of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda, occupying the districts of Mbale, Manafa, Bududa, Namisindwa, Sironko and Bulambuli. Mr Yazid Masaba, an elder from Wanale clan in Mbale City, says climate change now poses a threat to the culture.
‘This may lead to abandoning of some of the precious rituals that define and beautify the Imbalu (circumcision), such as mudding, which is done in sacred swamps and wells,’ he says.
With the disappearance of some sacred swamps and drying up of wells, Mr Masaba says some components of the ritual are being abandoned. ‘In some circumstances, where drought has persisted in the months of August and December, some wells in most areas start drying and water is waited for as it comes from the ground. This is affecting our Imbalu rituals,’ he says. Each clan among the Bamasaba has a sacred swamp where the boys are taken to be smeared with mud on the last day before going to face the knife. In the rural areas, where the swamps are known, people are only allowed to cultivate or do any work from there during the year which is not for circumcision (odd year).
Mr Seth Muboolo, a resident of Bukonde Sub-county and a member of Butanga clan, says one risks his crops or any constructive work if he or she carries out work in the known sacred swamps during the circumcision year. ‘All these rituals require to be performed in places where natural water is stored, but climate change sometimes has brought changing weather patterns, which renders some rituals to go unperformed,’ he says. In this culture, boys are prepared and as a sign that one is ready to face the knife that fateful even year, the family prepares part of the millet that they use for brewing malwa, a traditional alcohol made from fermenting millet, maize or cassava.
The kadodi drummers, say without swamps, the making of the drums is also hard and in the long-run as swamps disappear within Bugisu Sub-region, it might affect the sound that has attracted a following from all over the world. Mr Wilson Wasukira, an elder from Sironko Town Council in Sironko District, also expressed concern over Mt Elgon losing green vegetation that harbours the Colobus monkeys, whose skins are used by Imbalu candidates. ‘Wildlife conservation is part of the key aspects for the Bamasaba culture to thrive in modernity as the candidates to be circumcised are decorated by skins of black and white Colobus monkeys and also their tails but soon we will lack those things,’ he says. Elders say traditional herbs, which were used for healing circumcision wounds are also disappearing and the locals are now using modern medicine.
Mr Joseph Weyusa, an elder from Mbale City, says circumcision is losing the economic benefit for candidates. ‘Today, Imbalu culture has changed due to religion and also modernity, with some parents believing that when a boy is circumcised culturally – through practices such as Kadodi dances and making malwa – he is no longer religious and is going astray,’ he says. Mr Moses Kutoyi, an elder and minister for culture and heritage in the cultural institution, says although climate change is affecting Imbalu, they will work hard to preserve it. Mr Kutoyi explains that during the circumcision year, cultural norms require families to observe peace – no divorce, no domestic violence and minimal quarrels.
‘Unity is essential because family members must work together in preparations such as cultivation, sowing millet and ensuring adequate food and birds for the circumcision ceremonies,’ he says. He emphasises that there are only two recognised Imbalu seasons in the region: August and December. ‘The August season is determined through a ritual involving a bird performed in July, which confirms the timing of circumcision. The December season mainly caters for school-going boys,’ he says.
Documentation of the Imbalu ceremony in Bugisu dates back to 1804, although it is believed that the practice began many centuries earlier. Registration of candidates for circumcision in the current season has already started. By April, the Bugisu Cultural Institution is expected to release the full list of candidates. In 2024, a total of 6,024 boys were circumcised across the Bugisu Sub-region. The Bugisu Cultural Institution believes that this number is likely to surpass the 2024 figure in the upcoming season.