Empaako naming ritual performed, the head of the Abazira clan encourages people to perform the ritual

Preparing a traditional meal

The head of the Abazira clan in Tooro kingdom, Mr. Taddeo Balisanga Adyeri has appealed to people from Empaako communities to continue performing the Empaako naming ritual so as to safeguard the Empaako intangible cultural heritage from extinction.

“Many people from the Empaako communities have abandoned the Empaako naming ritual because of modernization which threatens the safeguarding of the Empaako naming system,” Said Balisanga Adyeri

Balisanga Adyeri who performed the ritual for his newly born child Kisembo Joseph Akiiki on Wednesday, 19^th 2018 at Nyamilyango village located in Bukuuku Sub County in Kabarole district, Tooro Kingdom also appreciated Engabu Za Tooro (Tooro Youth Platform for Action) and UNESCO for revitalizing Tooro culture.

Dancing and laughing 

The Empaako naming ritual involved the preparation and sharing of the traditional meal, the actual Empaako naming ritual which among other things involved walking with the baby and laughing, giving gifts to the baby to enable him get a solid ground to start from when he grows up, growing of the traditional sycamore tree (omutooma), taking of a traditional beer (Tonto), speeches and celebrations.

Eating a traditional meal

At first, many Empaako names were proposed like Amooti, Akiiki, Bbala and Adyeri among others by the family members but the father of the child, Mr. Taddeo Balinga Adyeri confirmed Akiiki because it has never existed in the family.

Engabu Za Tooro ICH Documentation unit team were invited to document the event with their hi-tech equipment so that the ritual can be archived and disseminated on both traditional and modern media platforms like radio, Television stations and social media.

Currently, Engabu Za Tooro (Tooro Youth Platform) is implementing a UNESCO co-funded project aimed at revitalizing ceremonies and practices associated with Empaako naming system in Uganda among the communities of the Batooro, Banyoro, Batuku, Batagwenda and Banyabindi of Western Uganda so as to enhance their capacities to transmit knowledge and skills to successive generations and to mobilise practitioners to revive the Empaako naming practice.

Naming Empaako

Empaako naming practice is facing threats of extinction mostly due to decline of its mother language (Runyoro - Rutooro), modernization, abandoning our traditional rituals, weakening cultural institutions especially at clan and family levels and attack from modern religious extremist denominations. 

Empaako is naming system whereby in addition to a family and given name, a child is given a special name called Empaako selected from a fixed and closed list of 12 (twelve) Empaako names shared by the entire society and used as a declaration of respect, endearment or affection.

Gifts for the child

Planting a sycamore tree

This practice has been shared and transmitted from generation to generation in Empaako communities of Batooro, Banyoro, Banyabindi, Basongora, Batuku, Batagwenda, Banyaruguru, Bagungu, Ba Nya Mboga and Bazib alocated in Western Uganda, Eastern DR Congo and Northern Tanzania respectively.