Christmas in Kalapata

   

 Christmas in Kalapata

Kalapata is a village located in the Eastern district of Pallisa  in Uganda. I can proudly say it is one like no other. Basing on its location in the eastern low lands of Uganda. It characterized by several wetlands and swamps. this has made possible the growing of rice and fish farming.  the land near wetland is called "mwiga" in Lugwere one of the native languages. as one moves away from the wetland the soil texture and nature changes. the land away from the wetland is called "Kitera". It is  prestigious to have a chunk of land near the stream ( mwiga) and one far from the stream.(kitera). crops that are grown in the wetlands like rice are specific to that area and those like Cassava are specialized to the kitera.

I was  raised in Kalapata, a place that I have come to appreciate more after I have grown up. Though this is not where my parents originate, they made a home which has become home. when I look back to my teenage self, I loathed this Village then.  A younger me most likely will not have written an article about Kalapata. I actually think my  younger self is looking a me and thinking , " .....what's gotten into her? and then she would giggle and say ouch she must have  lost it already".  so sorry little gal 😇😇😇.  Growing up comes with  learning  and I have learned to  appreciate  my  heritage and upbringing . Enough of the small talk ,   Let’s get down to the festivities.

As a little girl all I had to do was to wait for my new white ‘tantala’  dress every Christmas and follow my parents to church and take pictures with them after mass and then eat every thing they gave me. I must say at that age most of us felt entitled to these  white dresses, in addition to a white hat. now that I think about it we spent a  lot of time turning around to see how big your dress gets. at church we were fighting over the different things that attracted our site, I must say it was a total distraction all together. At that time I was   extremely  self centered to notice what goes around me. 

Later I came to understand that Christmas for many  in Kalapata is the time they get to have plenty. A brief description of the social class of the people in Kalapata is as follows.  The majority of the people in  Kalapata are farmers who grow crops like rice, cotton , ground nuts, maize and many others.  A few years ago, Cotton used  to be the Christmas crop of the people in Kalapata. Money from selling Cotton was  to take care of the festive season needs. Cotton is harvested starting from the months of November to December.  After the sale of Cotton women and children are seen rushing to the market on Tuesday which is the market day. they come back by mid day happy with new clothes . the women often purchase a new Gomesi material which they take to the tailor for sewing.  one of the most busy professions around this time is the tailor. Different people drop off their clothes  as early as November.  in Kalapata there is a prominent tailor  where most people drop off their clothes. for a long time she did the sewing from her home until young girls in the village got skilled as well and got into tailoring. she was later forced to get a spot at the trading center to compete favorably. 

Kalapata has got a few  rich families by our standards.  I prefer to refer to them as the conglomerates of the village, they seem to have a lot of wealth compared to anyone else. in this class these people have very many of their relatives not  based in the village but in major cities of Uganda. They mostly drive back to the village for the festivities and they become the talk of the village. what have they brought?, what car did they come in? and so on . these conversations are carried around by women who move from one garden to the next to offer labor in mostly weeding.  other than the the conglomerates of the village we have the civil servants. lets look at the civil servants😇 in detail this is where I belong.

I may say the civil servant families are the most dominant in Kalapata. in this class we have the teachers the nurses the government officials a the district, the accountants. these are the families that have gone to school and are employed , they go to their jobs every day and come back home and participate in farming as well.  they raise above the normal common people that did not go to school and they are their biggest employers. these  people have managed to educate and send their children to schools both within and outside the district. the parents of these children feel proud to walk around with their school going children. they love the village but want something better outside. basing on their different professions they will still be addressed by those different titles by the other people.  many other people want to associate with these people. but it is a trend for the children of the civil servants to identify with each other. the festive season is for these people to find out who might be doing much better than them.  Christmas to this class is comparing notes and finding out who is doing much better than the other. we have the business people in another class but that enough about the classes. Otherwise I will have to tell you about those who practice witchcraft and scare the hell out of every one in the village. 

The Christmas tradition  in Kalapata as I know it as of today since I am no longer  overly self centered , is  all about food and  eating  like every where else. What makes it interesting is how it is done. Most families now plan for Christmas  food as early January. By food I mean the meat. Both men and women join a group or Sacco as early to save for the meat that they will consume at Christmas time. To become a member of a particular Sacco you must pay the subscription fee which is a certain fee. the families that think they need more meat subscribe twice or even three times. the leaders are selected these mostly include the chairperson, the sectary and treasurer. the most important role is that of the treasurer because their are so many stories of people who run off with peoples money.  in course of the year this money is grown by the members borrowing and paying back with a certain interest percentage. The members then agree on the month in which they will purchase the animal. this so as to avoid the high costs of animals in the last month of Christmas. an youthful good looking cow is purchased in the month of July and grazed by either a willing member or they hire a herds boy. the role of the herds boy is to make sure this cow  or bull if fattened well and looks juicy enough. The members ensure that their animal grows well and becomes heavy by the 24th day of December. then the members gather at the chairpersons home for the slaughter. these gather and wait for the appointment time made by the  desiginated official Village slaughter man. to control theft of animals in the villages a slaughter man is appointed to account for the number of animals that get slaughter in a day. when the slaughter has been made the slaughter is made of with the tail of the cow. and the herds boy is rewarded with the legs of the cow in appreciation for his work. the head is often sold to a member or any one to make the beginning capital for the next year, as the slaughter is going on the liver and kidney is taken out and fried for the members to enjoy as they wait for their meat to be ready. 

The meat dividing ceremony is dine in the presence of the members who observe carefully to avoid arguments. The meat is measured to ascertain the number of kilograms which are divided amongst the members. It is then decided how many kilograms each member will carry to their home, of course a well fattened cow produces more kilograms. then the meat is cut and divide part by part. every member must get at least a kilogram from every particular part of the cow, this is repeated until the meat is fully divided. Once this is done with , numbers are written on a pieces of paper and attached to the different heaps of meat.  Then after other papers are cast with the same numbers and each member picks an enclosed number. each member takes the heap of meat to which his or her number corresponds. This is done to avoid doubts and any other suspicions that could arise. since most of the groups are enclosed to like 10members each of them walks away with 20 kgs of meat or 40kgs if they subscribed twice.  

All I have to say about the above process is the word amazing  and welcome to Kalapata.

Other than the fact that 24th is a well known meat day , the 23rd day of December  in Kalapata is the day pigs are slaughtered. It is the day festive day of pork  on this day people buy and enjoy meat in their families. The pork is eaten on the day before the meat festivities begin. It is not uncommon to hear a neighbor who suffered from diarrhea the whole night from over eating or from being mean and failure to share.

The young  women and young teenage girls now perm or burn their hair  to make is shinny and soft.  After the process of hair softening, most girls dye the hair so that it is purely black in color. Another addition is glitter  which is mostly dropped in the hair and face slightly. This makes the young teenage girls to sparkle. I must say that in Kalapata the tradition of having Christmas trees and decorating them does not exist. But  fortunately we have got  the living and moving young girls who go around with glitter shining bright with very lovely faces. These are the young and vibrant Christmas trees. The church session is always fun too,  it is a time to appreciate the efforts that both young and people make to look extra great on that day. As soon as they finish their lunch they change into happening clothing and rush to the trading cente to participate in fun activities. this is the time the young girls and boys to hook up as well. Activities like like films, football, comedy , music and dance and other shows. 

Since people in Kalapata hardly have fridge's, meat is preserved by steaming , and then it is smoked on low heat until it is dry. I can say this is the most enjoyable moment. The meat gets chewy and crunchy to eat 

Christmas in Kalapata ends the moment that when the roasted dry meat gets finished.

and this is Christmas  in Kalapata.