Kasubi Tombs – The kings of Buganda in Kampala

The site of the burial grounds of kabakas and other members of the Baganda royal family. The Baganda belong to the Bantu speaking people and date their political civilization back to the 13th century AD. According to oral traditions, the first Kabaka of Buganda was Kintu. He is said to have come with his wife Nambi, whose hand he won by performing heroic deeds at the command of her father Ggulu, the god of the sky.

Kabaka Kintu is said not to have died but to have disappeared into a forest at Magonga. At Kasubi and in all other royal tombs, there is an area behind a bark cloth (lubugo) curtain known as Kibira or forest where certain secret ceremonies are performed. At the Kasubi Tombs the Kibira is the area where the real tombs of the Kabakas are, while in front of the curtain there are raised platforms corresponding to the position of each Kabaka’s tomb behind the curtain.

When they died, the traditional practice was to bury each Kabaka at a separate site and to establish a royal shrine to house his jawbone which was believed to contain his spirit at another site.

The Kabakas buried at the site were:

• Muteesa I (1835–1884)
• Mwanga II (1867–1903)
• Daudi Chwa II (1896–1939)
• Sir Edward Muteesa II (1924–1969)

Featured Image: BujjaBukula or Gate House of Kasubi Tombs, the main building of the graves, before the fire / Image: via afrotourism.com

Website: kasubitombs