Ululations, Dancing and Praises Replaced Blood-letting Namugongo of Third June 1886

by Fr. Joseph Mukasa Muwonge

Left is the photo showing the pilgrims surrounding the altar where Mass is celebrated at Namugongo.
 Right is the section of pilgrims on the right side of the altar

It is exactly 133 years since the Holocaust that brings us together ululating and jubilating at the very place where Charles Lwanga and his companions demonstrated a special charism. We are also marking 140 years of the Catholic faith in Uganda.

Charles Lwanga was burnt to death, alive, exactly where the Altar of the basilica stands. It was consecrated by St. Pope Paul VI on August 2, 1969.

 After Lwanga realised his mission of witnessing Christ, his companions then left for the other execution site, one of the thirteen execution sites of the Buganda kingdom then.  The Martyrs were burnt to death at five of these sites.

According to the Baganda, this form of capital punishment was considered least degrading to the condemned persons.

Twelve Roman Catholics were martyred along with 13 Anglicans in the same fires of Namugongo.  The Catholics were: Kizito 14, Luke Baanabakintu 30, James Buuzaabalyawo 26, Gyaviiira Musoke 17, Ambrose Kibuuka 18 and Anatoli Kiriggwajjo 20.

Others were Achilles Kiwanuka 17, Mbaaga Tuzinde 17, Mugagga Lubowa 16, Mukasa Kiriwawanvu 25, Adulphus Ludigo Tibeeyalirwa 24 and Bruno Sserunkuuma 30.

It is worth noting that on that fateful day at Namugongo; more than one hundred people were killed at the very spot where the martyrs gave up their lives for the glory of God.

We also know of a one Wasswa who, still at Munyonyo in the meeting in which Kabaka Mwanga condemned the martyrs to death, did not join Karoli Lwanga and companions; he is sad to have renounced his faith but that later he made up his mind, joined his friends and was burnt to death alive in Namugongo on June 3, 1886.

During the Beatification and Canonisation process of the Martyrs, Rome inquired whether anybody had heard him say that he had returned to Christianity. Rome regarded his coming back as mere hearsay. That is how Wasswa was left out of the Canonisation.

But who knows! Wasswa could be in heaven with his friends. After all, not everybody in heaven will be canonised.

After seven days and nights at Kito, also known as Namugongo-Kito, where the chief executioner resided, and where the victims were kept in chains, the victims were in the morning of June 3, 1886 lined up ready to go to Namugongo execution site.

A number of executions had taken place at Namugongo but the Martyrdom was out of the ordinary. Even under normal circumstances, a human sacrifice site cannot be the place for dancing, singing and merry-making. Dare engage in such and you will be labeled a witch.

 But faith, which made the Martyrs at such an age synonymous with luxury, glory and personal agrandisement to give up their sweet mortal lives for the eternal life to come, works in ways far beyond human comprehension. It is the same faith that transforms execution sites into places of spiritual upliftment and physical healing.

In his book African Holocaust (1962), Faupel aptly paints the execution, allowing his readers to participate in the strength of the martyrs at a very trying moment, and the wrath of the executioners that combine to bring forth the ululation, dancing, singing and spiritual upliftment that we witness and rejoice in.

“On the evening of their seventh at Namugongo, the pulse of Mukaajanga’s drum sounded through the village and penetrated to the huts in which the captives were chained… and the executioner’s assistants, answering the summons, gathered round his quarters, shouting, yelling and howling in a frenzy of anticipation.”

Denis Kamyuka, who survived the holocaust, recounted the experience saying that they however did sleep as during the preceding nights.

“Each time we woke up, we recited our prayers. The OUR FATHER… and HAIL MARY… were continually on our lips.”

Faupel further paints the events of 3^rd June 1886: “Early in the morning of Ascension Thursday, 3^rd June 1886, the executioners, their faces smeared with soot swooped upon the huts in which their victims had been chained.

On their heads were fantastic wigs fashioned from the tails of small animals and birds’ feathers and, to complete their attire, they wore the skins of leopards or other animals around their waists, strings of amulets round their necks and bangles of bells on their ankles.”

Another author, Ddiba, also paints for us the final moments of the martyrs before their execution. In his book Eddiini mu Uganda (Religion in Uganda) he illustrates how Mukaajanga and his assistants spent the eve of the execution.

“Mukaajanga and his assistants, drumming and dancing, were singing during the night of the 2^nd of June 1886:

Enda z’abazadde enkya zinaakaaba

Enda z’abazadde enkya zinaawoloma

Enda z’abazadde enkya ganaayiika.”

A loose translation of the song goes:  Tomorrow parents will cry; Tomorrow parents will yell, Tomorrow the world will face it rough.

After that drama the martyrs –in- the- making left for the execution site, encouraging one another.

Judging from Kamyuka’s narration, it was probably between the Namugongo fathers’ presbytery and Uganda Martyrs’ Secondary School that the condemned met the assistant chief executioner who hit on each one’s head. That was the custom and the intention was to impede the victim’s ghost from haunting the executioner.

It was at this spot that Ssenkoole picked out Charles Lwanga saying Lwanga was his choice. This was so because Ssenkoole had a grudge with Lwanga resulting from the former’s refusal to work under Lwanga in the course of excavating the Kabaka’s lake in Ndeeba-Lubaga towards the end of 1884

Lwanga, not yet even baptised, offered to head the noble exercise. The Kabaka was so exercised that he ordered that every male youth and every capable man participates in the excavation. Ssenkoole refused to abide by the Kabaka’s order.

On many occasions, Lwanga tried to convince Ssenkoole to respect the Kabaka’s order but he remained adamant to the extent of saying that he, Ssenkoole 40, could not work under Lwanga a boy. As a result, a meeting was convened and Ssenkoole was found guilty. He was fined a goat and calabashes of local brew.

Although he paid the fine, he retained the grudge. He was so eager to take revenge on Lwanga that he just could not leave him move any further. This is how Lwanga came to be killed separately.

Separated from his companions, Lwanga had this to say: “Brothers, I have stayed here! Bye! We shall meet in heaven!”

“Well, stay! We shall soon meet in heaven,” they responded.

As Lwanga’s companions continued with their journey, after a valley, probably where the lake is and where we celebrate Mass, they came to a mutuba tree on which they hung their rugs in which the executioners had dressed them in while still at Mukaajanga’s courtyard in Kito.  The bark cloth is made from the mutuba tree.  

In Luganda, lubugo means bark cloth. If they are many they are called mbugo. The tree, on which the bark cloths were hung, derived its name from this. It was called SSEZIBUGO literary meaning, master of bark cloths.

While the martyrs were not at all shaken by what they had been subjected to, it is interesting to learn that Bruno Sserunkuuma was being bothered by the fact that Ssenkoole had not hit on the heads of some of his companions. He feared that they could be forced to abandon their faith and thus miss the opportunity of meeting the Almighty God!

Our ancestors in faith, the martyrs, challenge us on a number of occasions and in a number of ways. For instance, why do we forget the motto of our country: For God and My Country? What is our contribution to making Uganda a better place, prosperous and safe for everyone?

There are a lot of celebrations and limelight that we enjoy today simply because the Martyrs accepted to suffer for the greater glory of God. We need to emulate the Martyrs.

For instance, have you ever taken time to ask yourself why, of all countries Saint Pope Paul VI decided to come to Uganda in 1969?Two other Popes followed suite: St. Pope John Paul II in February 1993 and Pope Francis in 2015.

While in Lubaga Cathedral on 31^st July 1969, Saint Pope Paul VI inaugurated SECAM- Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar. It was here that the Pope commissioned Africans to be missionaries to Africa.

SECAM is back in Uganda in July this year, to celebrate 50 years of its existence.

Between 1885 and 1887 the then Buganda kingdom was characterised by wailing and blood-letting as the martyrdom raged on.  While the relatives, friends and parents were devastated, the victims died praying and happy to witness Christ.

It was nothing other than the grace of God that enabled these young men to stand firm and accept to give up their lives! More so, after just six and seven years of instruction in the Catholic faith by foreigners who were at the same time struggling to learn the language and the culture of the catechumen.  Indeed great things happen when God mixes with man!

The Martyrs shed their blood at different places. Some witnessed Christ in Munyonyo, Kyamula and Old Kampala. Others were martyred in Kiyinda-Mityana, Lubaawo and Nakivubo on various dates but united in witnessing Christ.

Jildo Irwa and Daudi Okello were martyred 30 years later. While Irwa was born in 1902, Daudi Okello was born in 1900.

One hundred and thirty-three years later, we continue to experience the same challenges and tribulations as our ancestors in faith, the Martyrs of Uganda.  Nevertheless, we still have hope that one day we shall overcome. That is why today on 3^rd June, 2019 it is singing, dancing and ululations at Namugongo and other places of martyrdom spread across the country.

Editor: Fr. Joseph Mukasa Muwonge is the Promoter of the Devotion to the Uganda Martyrs- Kampala Archdiocese.