Prime
We must celebrate imbalu with dignity
Imbalu candidates perform one of the traditional dances at Mutoto Cultural Site in Mbale City in 2018. Photo / Yahudu Kitunzi
What you need to know:
- Please don’t intimidate our visitors with sharp objects such as pangas and spears.
We need strong regulations during imbalu fete in Masabaland.
The imbalu official launch, which is slated for tomorrow, will attract hundreds of people from the various corners of Masabaland.
Many tribesmen are warming up to celebrate this much hyped cultural event.
However, as our people prepare to celebrate, the cultural institution wishes to use this platform to share a few tips and the don’ts as we enter the imbalu season.
Imbalu is historical, cultural, and customary and therefore, let us celebrate imbalu as though we are living in the early 18th Century and accord it the modesty it enjoyed then.
Modernity is engulfing imbalu and yet it deserves modesty and civility. We therefore, encourage our sisters and mothers not to dance so seductively during the imbalu launch. Sometimes this provocative dancing can be a source of danger from the male salivating celebrants.
Historically while celebrating imbalu, girls and women would use locally improvised banana leaves, which were knitted together and tied around the waist of the ladies and insulated them from their inner dress or other overt contours kept off people’s eyes from seeing the inner contours of the dancer during such a acceleration, unfortunately currently many young girls dance in an overtly seductive way, especially donning very skimpy skirts and their breasts always on the loose and thus attracting the attention of male predators .
As a cultural institution, we encourage donning of historical attire or some sort of antiquated dress code to wade off the lustful eyes of male predators.
The provocative dances and dressing by our young girls are responsible for very high road carnage, as drivers fail to focus on the steering wheel, it is hard to serve two masters, they say, as drivers may be distracted and fail to concentrate on the wheels, I recall the death toll in both Bulambuli and Budaka imbalu celebrations were partly due to such conduct as per police reports.
The cultural institution also outlaws the movement of imbalu celebrants with sharpened pangas and spears,these are almost war assets and are more lethal than even guns since they are soundless when applied.
Please don’t intimidate our visitors with sharp objects such as pangas and spears.
Let us celebrate imbalu with dignity and decorum. Why splash alcohol on other celebrants like road users? I recall, with sadness, how a certain Moslem was splashed with alcohol by imbalu celebrants. Culture is about modesty and hooliganism.
Mr Steven Masiga is the spokesperson of Bamasaba Cultural Institution.
