Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Honorific Distinctions of Royal Rwanda

By chevalier63
derkeiler.com
August 5, 2007

In the course of my research on the history of the Rwandan monarchy, I recently encountered the text excerpted below.

It was written in 1952 by the Abbe Alexis Kagame, and outlines some of the traditional awards made by the Mwami of Rwanda (at that time H.M. Mutara III Rudahigwa) to those who rose to the defense of the Kingdom.

This text may be of interest to those who seek the historical and inspirational roots of the current group of honorific distinctions bestowed by H.M. Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, present Mwami of Rwanda.

Stewart Addington Saint-David. Honorific Distinctions in the Rwandan Tradition:Excerpts from the book “Le code des institutions politiques du Rwanda” (pages 77-79) by Alexis Kagame (1952)
The right to bestow honorific distinctions belongs to the King.

· Each warrior having killed his seventh enemy will receive the distinction called the Umudende (Necklace of the Seventh).

However, the acquisition of this distinction depends on the following conditions: the seven kills must be foreigners; adversaries killed during punitive expeditions or occasional combats will not be counted; they must have given up the ghost on a field of battle, not elsewhere, following wounds received. If the enemy expires having received several wounds, his death is attributed to him who first wounded him, even if his blow was a light one.

The description of the Umudende is a necklace of iron, from which hang small bells in even numbers: 2, 4 or 6, at chest height. By a decision of Kigeli IV Rwabugili were abolished obligations attached to this distinction which were considered too onerous, and which rendered it inaccessible to heroes of modest fortune (1).

· The warrior having killed his 14th enemy by the conditions of these rules will receive the distinction called the Impotore (Torse).

The Torse consists of a bracelet formed from a leaf of iron and a leaf of brass rolled one on the other to create regular torse form. The Torse imposes no obligation on who so ever receives it.

These two honorific distinctions in question are mutually exclusive: the warrior decorated with the Torse can no longer wear the Necklace of the Seventh.

The two objects must be conserved with great respect in a separate hut at some distance and cannot be placed on the ground.

· The warrior having killed his 21st enemy under the same conditions will be the object of a grand ceremony called the Cremation of the Javelin and will thus become a national hero.

The Cremation of the Javelin (Gucana uruti) is decreed by the King, and its ceremony takes place on the highest mountain of the region where the hero lives. The poets, bards, warrior chanters, in a word all those who perform the solemnities of the Court participate, by order of the King.

The King cannot be decorated with anything other than the Necklace of the Seventh.

He receives it for seven kings or sub-kings, enthroned under the sign of the drum, and bearing in their countries the title of King, and killed during his reign.

Said princes cannot be killed but by an official expedition….after consultation of divine oracles undertaken specifically for this purpose, for royal blood cannot be spilled without a favorable and conclusive oracle.

From whence it appears that armed incursions cannot threaten the life of a foreign prince having borne the title of King. A non-kingly native prince, called Umuhinza (president of cultures) has nothing of the sacred character, and thus the esoteric code is not disturbed by this.

When an expedition has been directed against a foreign country, with a view toward its annexation, it is absolutely necessary that it be preceded by an offensive liberator:

One called offensive liberator (Umucengeli) the hero
designated by special consultation of the divine oracle to replace the King, and
to go spill his blood on the field of battle, in order to give to Rwanda the
right to annex a territory bought with the price of royal
blood.

And another one called defensive liberator (Umutabazi) the hero designated in the same fashion to spill
his blood in the place of the King, in order to save the independence of Rwanda
when threatened by a foreign country.

The offensive liberator is not required but for the annexation of a territory ruled by a monarch reigning under the conditions cited above, to wit: kings or sub-kings, enthroned under the sign of the drum and bearing in their countries the title of King.

Translator's Note:
Alexis Kagame, born in Kiyanza, Rwanda in 1912, was a Rwandan poet, historian and Roman Catholic priest who introduced the written art, both in his own language, Kinyarwanda, and in French, to his country.

Kagame, the son of a deputy chief of the Tutsi people, was baptized in 1928 and ordained a priest in 1941. His considerable activity before and after taking his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, as well as his deep study of Rwandan literature made him one of the chief experts on the traditional organization and practices of Rwandan society, as well as on its ancient monarchy.

He died in 1981, after having created an extensive body of work in his various fields of expertise. He is primarily remembered as the foremost Rwandan historian of the last century.

Throughout the copious notes for this chapter, Kagame makes frequent mention of the various abami (kings) decorated with the Necklace of the Seventh, including Ruganzu II Ndoli (1510-1543), Mutara I Semugeshi (1543-1576), Kigeli II Nyamuheshera (1576-1609), Kigeli III Ndabrasa (1708-1741), Kigeli IV Rwabugili (1853-1895) and Yuhi V Musinga (1896-1931). Thus, this decoration dates from the late 15th century at the very least, and in all probability from a much earlier period.]

Author' Note:
(1) The recipient was obligated, for instance, to sacrifice a young bull at each new moon, a ceremony which was accompanied by a mock marriage. Thus no one, in a society of cattle owners, can expose himself to the obligation to kill a cow at each new moon, without knowing at which point he will be liberated of this obligation…

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posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 7:25 PM