IDNO

N.19106.ROS

Description

The King of Bunyoro’s Royal meat dish made from the wood of the musoga tree and two cups? (one with a carved design on the surface) positioned on a wooden table in an interior (in the Royal enclosure?). The King’s sacred meal of meat was carried to him on this dish. [ED 10/1/2008]

The meat dish is now in the care of the MAA, reference ROS 1920.93, and described as "Royal oval wooden meat-dish. The vessel body is tapered and stained red with grooved scorched festoons along the rim. Beneath the body are 12 broadly triangular struts upon a concave oval base. Evidence of damage and partial attempted repair work." [JD 02/07/2022]

Place

E Africa; Uganda; Bunyoro

Cultural Affliation

Nyoro [Banyoro; Bakitara]

Named Person

Andereya Bisereko Duhaga II (b. 1882 - d. 1924)

Photographer

?Roscoe, John R.

Collector / Expedition

Roscoe, John R. [Mackie Ethnological Expedition, Uganda, 1919 - 1920]

Date

1919 - 1920

Collection Name

Roscoe Collection

Source

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This negative was kept in an envelope marked C30/55/ by the cataloguer. The envelope was kept in box marked C30/ by the cataloguer.
Previously stored on Shelf 4, in group of 4 wooden boxes numbered 180.

Publication: Image published in Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 144, with the caption: "Bunyoro: The Royal Meat Dish”. [ED 10/1/2008]

Context: "Each afternoon, before the cows came in for the evening milking, the king had a sacred meal of beef. For this the flesh of a yearling bull from the Royal herd had to be used, and the meat was strictly reserved for the king’s use or disposal. The cook lived near the royal enclosure, but outside, for no cooking might be done inside. The chief whose charge it was to remind the king of his duties told him when the time for his meal had come. The king rose from the throne, and taking a drumstick, he gave one beat on each of nine drums which were hung round the throne-room; this warned the people that the time of silence was at hand, and also told the cook the King was waiting for him. The cook might not pass through the main gateway with the king’s food, but had to walk round the royal enclosure and enter by the gate of the sacred cows. When he reached the throne he knelt down, and, taking the pot of meat from his servant, dismissed him and turned to wait upon the King. He had to feed the king, who was not permitted to touch the food. With a two-pronged fork the cook took a piece of the meat and placed it in the king’s mouth; this was done four times, and if at any point the cook allowed the fork to touch the king’s teeth he was put to death on the spot. When the meal was over, a second basket of food was brought to the king, and he ordered it to be distributed among his pages, who were summoned to the courtyard outside the throne-room for the purpose.
The King was not supposed to eat any other meat, the rest of his food being milk alone, and this ceremonial meat-eating was regarded, not as a meal, but as a sacrifice to bring blessing on all the food of the land. In these later days the kings have broken away from the old custom, and now eat a meal of vegetable food and meat. Still, no cooking of food is even now permitted within the royal enclosure; it has to be done outside in the cook’s house, and until within the past few years the food was carried secretly into a specially built house and eaten in secret. Many dishes of all kinds were prepared to tempt the Royal appetite, and were carried to this house, and the King would would steal away from court for his meal. Having chosen the dishes of which he would partake, he was quickly served, ate standing, drank some beer, and then returned to his court as though he had been engaged in some quite legitimate occupation.
In the olden days, if any meat was remained over from the sacred meal, it was eaten by someone appointed by the king; but only a small amount from the sacred animal was cooked, and the rest of the meat was dried and used as it was required. When another animal was killed, any raw meat remaining from the last was given, by the King’s order, to one of the herdsmen.” (Roscoe, J., 1922. The Soul of Central Africa: An Account of the Mackie Ethnological Expedition. (London: Cassell and Co.), p. 150). [ED 10/1/2008]

Meat-Dishes: "In early days there were only two classes of wood-workers, the more important being the men who made milk-vessels, washing bowls, meat-dishes, and pails for drawing water for the cows, while those of the second class made the canoes which were used upon the river Nile and on Lake Albert. ...
The principal wooden dishes were the milk pots (Bisahi), which were used on ceremonial occasions, and the meat-dishes for the king and chiefs, and all of these were made from the wood of the musoga tree. Before the carpenter attempted to cut down the tree for his work he had to take to the tree-spirit an offering, generally a basket of millet and beans, though he might take something of greater value, at times even a goat, in order that the tree-spirit might consent to the tree’s being cut down, and that the dishes might shape without cracking.
The vessels were cut out of solid blocks of wood which were roughly shaped and put in the shade where the rays of sun could not reach them. They were left for only a few days to season and then the man began to work on them with his adzes and chisels, shaping them slowly and watching the wood carefully all the time lest it should crack before he had finished ; should it show any signs of doing so, he would sometimes resort to smearing it with cow dung.
The king had a special carpenter, called Ababaija, who was responsible for his drums, milk-pots and meat dishes. The drums of the chiefs were also under control of the King, who alone could give a chief permission to use one and who provided him with it. The drum-makers did not belong to any special clan, but they were all serfs and were all under the direction of Ababaija.” (Roscoe, J., 1923. The Bakitara (or Banyoro): The First Part of the Report of The Mackie Ethnological Expedition to Central Africa. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 228 - 230.). [ED 10/1/2008]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program Two. [Elisabeth Deane 10/1/2008]