Kurugiza is a Maragaoli tradition that straddles the community’s building traditions and marriage traditions. It is an important part of our culture that serves to make a union complete. Literally, kurugiza means ‘to be made or be aided to cook’.
Recently, before COVID-19 disrupted our cultures and way of life, I attended the burial of a close relation. In the African way of tracing relations, the deceased was my mother. As soon as we made to her home with her in state from the mortuary for the traditional overnight vigil, her daughter in law wife to her youngest son, excused herself.
As she left, women including my mother followed her to matrimonial home – a fitting bungalow just a stone’s throw away. The women were on the business of kumrugiza.
Kuruga is a Maragoli word, that in specific, refers to the act of cooking vuchima; or busuma if you like. It also refers to the state of a woman being married. Such that we say: Vihenda aruga mu Babukusu. Meaning, Vihenda cooks in Bukusuland. By the end of this post you’ll have understood not only the meaning of this Maragoli expression, but also important marriage and building tradition of the Maragoli people of Mulembe known as kurugiza.
Kurugiza: Details of the Maragoli tradition
Kuzia ku avivuri
First, the woman – often a newly married woman- heads back to her parents home (ku avivuri). She is accompanied by her sister in law – either the sister to her brother, or a wife to her brother in law. There her parents who are expecting her arrival prepare a basket of food that she will be coming to collect.
In the basket, at minimum, there should be a live chicken, ingoko; preferably a mature cockerel, idaywa. Then there should be some flour for making ugali; preferably both maize flour (vuswage) and millet with or without sorghum (uvusi gwa voroo). If the family can afford some beef, the better. Traditional vegetables of whatever kind are also welcome, but not mandatory.
She is also to be given cooking utensils. In the days of our forefathers they had to be pots that she would use for cooking during kurugiza. Nowadays, a sufuria will do. Another distinction is that in those days kurugiza happened soon after dowry had been paid. But, following construction of a matrimonial home. This distinction is important as kurugiza is not to be confused with ku m’manura, a Maragoli marriage custom that occurs on the day the woman officially leaves her people for her matrimonial home to start her new life as a wife.
Role of sister in law
The sister-in-law, brother to her husband, is there to perform one of her cultural duties as senje to be. Together, when they come back after their overnight stay, the d-day, the sister in law sets up a fireplace, mahiga. It is here that the woman of the house will be cooking for her family in the days to come.
This act involves arranging the three stones that make up the fireplace to function. Then placing firewood and lighting the fire. She then takes the inyanguruga adds water and places it on the fire. This is called kuarika – for more terms Luhya relating to cooking ugali, our post on Know busuma like only a Luhya does is and excellent source. Once the water comes to a boil, the sister in law adds the flour to the water, and stops there.
The cooking – kurugiza
The first stir, kuruga, of the cooking ugali is then done by the woman who by way of kurugiza tradition is being handed mahiga. The woman can then cook the ugali to completion by herself, or her sister-in-law or any other helper can aid do the do.
In case you are wondering who the guests set to enjoy this first meal of the home are, allow us to list first those who shouldn’t miss. Her mothers in law and mulamwa. Meaning, the women married into her new clan – her husband’s people. Then, all and sundry in the vicinity of the event.
Kurugiza as part of the body of Maragoli traditions on building and constructing a matrimonial home
As a tradition that is part of the body of Maragoli building and construction traditions, kurugiza is the ultimate step before a couple inhabits (kwingiriza) their matrimonial home. This means that by the time kurugiza happens, the lady of the home is already known by way of the kuvika ikesegese tradition.
However, this does not mean that a man and his wife cannot take possession of their newly constructed matrimonial home before kurugiza. Undertaking the tradition only saves the household from lots of hustle afterwards.
For example, in the event that a woman’s mother-in-law passes on before kurugiza, the woman will have to perform the tradition before the burial of her husband’s mother. That’s what happened in the story above. Therefore, trust me when I say that you don’t want to be caught up like that. The reason as to why lies in the hustle of fulfilling the intricacies of this tradition as I described above.
Kurugiza as part of the body of Maragoli marriage traditions
With every round of marriage customs, a woman cements her dominion as the lady of the house. For example, once she participates in kuvika kesegese, no other woman can occupy her territory. The matrimonial house is hers, even in the event she gets estranged with her husband.
Any woman who wants to replace her will have to get her own kesegese. If her husband desires to replace her, dead or alive, another set of involving traditions have to take place. Collectively, these traditions served to deter divorce among the Maragoli, especially on account of a man’s bad behavior.
As regards kurugiza as you may know, the fireplace, mahiga, is a sacred place for the woman. Consider that mahiga cannot be taken down in full until the woman of the home passes on. Or as the Maragoli say it’s a taboo for a woman to: Kuruga uvuchima ku mahiga ga navizara weve nakiri kwivula umwaana umuyayi. It’s improper for a woman to cook ugali on her mother’s in law mahiga before she’s given birth to a son. But that’s a story for another day.
