Abazira Clan

Abazira Clan

Abazira clan are a “group of daring people” who are believed to have migrated from Abbysinia, the present day Ethiopia prior to the coming of Abatembuzi dynasty to Kitara in about 500 AD.

They were the reminants of the Tonda dynasty that was ousted by Abatembuzi led by King Kintu. As they passed through the present day Buganda, by then called Muhwawa County of Kitara empire, a group of them met a pride of lions totaling about 30 at some place called Bwiru in the present day Buddu County. They fought and killed these marauding lions using their walking sticks. As a result, the natives exclaimed in their local Luganda dialect that these people are “Abazira ddala”, the meaning of “a courageous people indeed” thus christening them “Abazira.”

These newly named Abazira people moved on in there relentless trek and settled in Kibooga while others proceeded to Mubende and Buyaga in the present day Kibaale District before some spreading into the present day Hoima and Masindi Districts. They learnt Runyakitara language and started intermarrying with the Runyoro-speaking natives of Bantu people.

The choice of Entiimba fish as their totem is quite dramatic. This fish which the British refers to as the Marbled lungfish in English is called “Emamba” by the Baganda and “Entiimba” by the Banyoro peoples and its scientific name is “Protopterus aethiopicus.” It is the original aquatic native of Ethiopia in the Lake Tana although it is found in most fresh water lakes of the interlucastrine region.
It is believed that Abazira chose this Entimba fish as their totem because of its daring characteristics which include among others;

1. it is considered the oldest form of evolution on planet earth which is both aquatic(live in water) and terrestrial(live on land). It has little “legs” with which it can walk on land as well as swim in water,
2. it has mammary glands on which it feeds its young one’s with milk, a thing not done by any other type of fish,
3. when a pond in which it is living dries up, it can burrow into the mud and hibernate (sleep) for over 4 months until the next rains,
5. unlike other fish which only extract oxygen from the water by use of gills, the lungfish also breath oxygen by use of lungs,
6. it can stay out of water for over 48 hours without dying,
7. it can bite your fingure after several hours while out of water as presumed dead,
The aforesaid therefore confirms that the lungfish is a daring/resistant/courageous being like Abazira, no wonder they chose it as their totem.

The Bazira and Bahati clans have in addition to the Encu Entiimba totem, a ente entiimba totem. The entimba cow, they say, resembled the Marbled Lung Fish and was thus selected by bahuma in the clan. The Marbled Lung Fish totemic group may have been an early group of the western stream to settle in Busongora (although there are no specific traditions) when they acquired Sanga cattle, they may have adopted the totem of the pastoral group with whom they had come in contact with, the Bafunjo.

So let’s be talking of “Enchu Entiimba” (marbled lungfish) and not “Ente Entiimba” (marbled cattle) as a totem of Abazira clan. It amounts to a mix of historical cultural ideology.

By: Isaac Kalembe Akiiki

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