Sukuma Museum Visit

** trigger warning for those with snake phobias 

Laurie, Nancy, Jaclyn, and I with traditional Drums

At language school, every Thursday is cultural day. Usually that means sitting in a circle with our teacher and discussing different topics of Tanzanian culture ie- family traditions, common hobbies, appropriate attire for different occasions, and meanings behind subtle movements. But last Thursday was our last one so it was suggested that we go to the Sukuma museum! It was very interesting and I learned alot so I thought I would share the experience. 

The Sukuma people are a tribe native to the northern part of Tanzania. There are 52 kingdoms within this tribe and they all come together to elect one king. Even though the king is officially elected, it is traditional for the kings -> daughters -> son (the kings grandson) to be elected. It follows this line of succession, instead of the normal ‘kings son’ because it is known that the wife could cheat or be forced to have another mans son to change the bloodline. I have posted a map of the kingdoms to the right. 

Map of kingdoms

The kingdoms expanded or collapsed not by force (**cough cough glares at Putin) but by playing a game sort of like mancala. The chefs of each perspective kingdom sit on opposite sides of the board and on the short sides sit the body guards. They each bet a portion of their kingdom and whoever wins keeps theirs and takes the part the other chief bet.  There were a couple of these boards around the grounds. 

Mancala invasion game   

I have also put up a picture of the kings throne- it is made out of wood and the back is completely covered for security purposes- so no one can stab him in the back. I thought that was pretty interesting. 

Another fun fact about the Sukuma people is that back in the day they had different counting systems for different groups of people- for example, youngsters had a different set of 1-10 than boys, than girls, than teens, than women, then men, then old people. This was all so that you could keep secrets better. But because there were so many different numbers all the numbering systems only went up to ten. So if you had more than ten things to count you would just have to separate them into different groups. For example if you had 14 cows- you probably had 7 and 7 or 10 and 4 or some combination there of. 

Kings throne

Iron Ore Tools

The Sukuma people were super smart to have all those different systems and they also figured out how to mine for iron and make iron ore. They would use this to make hoes for the fields, bowls for food and hand washing, and many other things. However, the actual technique of how to get the iron ore out of the chiseled rock was top secret information. No one was allowed to know how they did it outside of the workers themselves- that included all women. They were afraid if someone found out they could tell other kingdoms or tribes and their livelihoods would become just as normal and common knowledge as farming. 

Traditional and herbal medicine is common among the Sukuma people. They believe that ancestors have a lot to do with a persons health. If you are not feeling well and go to a healer they will shake a basket and throw it into the air- whatever lands outside of the basket is what is troubling you- ever object has a specific meaning and/or connection to a particular ancestor. The healer will use this information to treat your ailments. They keep all the medications in the hollowed out squash plants pictured to the left. 

Chicken Coup

Medicine containers

The Sukuma homestead had many interesting aspects. The chicken coup made out of sticks, the praying garden with paternal ancestors represented in the east and the maternal ancestors in the west, the giant shade tree planted when the family first moves in and provides shade for the livestock and under is also a burial ground for the men of the family, and the girls and boys different little houses on either side of the parents bigger main house in the center. But the part I personally found the most interesting was the four rocks that were ground down for specific purposes- the first rock was carved to be a bath for the babies in the family, the second was meant to catch the rain water for drinking, the third a water bowl for the guard dogs, and the fourth water for the cats and other animals to drink and for birdbaths.

Snake Dancer

Water Rocks

Sukuma traditional dances are very impressive and towards the end of our visit we were invited to watch a few of them. First there was a drum circle and boy could my high school drum-line take a few lessons from them! They were incredible and so in sync, it was very impressive! Then the dancers came out with bells on their ankles, jumping and vibing all together in sync. They went back into the building after that and came back in new outfits with garden hoes in their hands. Then they performed the 'hoe dance’ or bokobo (I definitely spelled that wrong and I apologize but that’s the best I’ve got). After that they went back into the building and changed again and this time before they came out dancing they brought out a box- we all knew what was inside. Next it was snake dancing- pythons to be exact. It was very impressive and nothing compared to church snakes! 

We Held the Python!

Overall the Sukuma museum was very informative and a fun experience! I hope you found it just as interesting as I did. **disclaimer- this is just what I got out of the museum and our tour guide I am by no means an expert. This is just my interpretation of the information I received.