Lifestyle
From ancient times till the late 1990s, “magira” (white peas sauce) was a top delicacy among the Banyole people and other neighbouring tribes including the Japadhoras, the Bagwere, the Bagisu and Ateso people. Though it was sometimes seasonal during the harvest times, some families had a way of preserving white peas in small pots. This would help families to once in a while make some Magira and also the preserved white peas would be used for seeds in the next season of ploughing.
But while this special sauce remains a finger leaking delicacy to many who get to have a taste of it in these recent years, not many young people in their early 20s know the process which the women in those days and those who still make it have had to go through to set a plate of Magira on the table.
Also apart from the process of making magira still remains very rare knowledge to the young people, there are some traditional ceremonies that were always organised in those days. The famous MAGIRA CONTEST, this was a big thing in the communities especially among the Banyole people.
In this article I share with you the story of the famous MAGIRA CONTEST, the story is from a documentary I covered from the village of Musitu Busaba sub county in Butaleja District, the Documentary was sponsored by Mama Comfort an African culture and Traditions Loving woman.
Ok lets jump from this long introduction and focus on the Magira contest, by 7am Erik my camera guy and I were in Musitu village to capture the most amazing story anyone would want to watch. We gathered at Hadira Moses’ home who is also the LC1 chairperson of the village. The women and a few girls who were contestants greeted us, we interacted with the women and greeted the elders who were going to be the judges of the contest.
Before we arrived the women had already started winnowing the white peas which they had dried up the previous days, Erik and I got right away to the business, Erik on the camera as I narrated the story and interviewed the women, girls and the elders.
To have magira ready takes almost a whole day we were told, but before I narrate to you the charms of the contest, the what, where, when and how it happened, here let me break down for you the process of making magira.
1. First the white peas are displayed under the hot sun, they dry up, this takes some hours, so usually its wise advise that if you are to make magira, dry the white peas a day before, this eases the process of removing the husks.
2. after drying up, the peas are poured in a local wooden hand motor, the peas are pounded into almost powder, this process is intended to remove the husks from the peas. During this process, the white peas are pounded together with some dry banana leaves, Florence one of the contestants explained the purpose of the dry banana leaves is to help purify the peas, the dry banana leaves help to remove the brown and black spots from the white peas.
3. The peas are then winnowed to remove the husks, at this stage the white pages are now in small pieces that has been crushed in a motor, you can hardly tell they are peas.
4. The white peas are grinded on a traditional grinding stone, this stone is also used for grinding millet and sorghum. Florence is advising the 16 year old girl (Doreen Hiisa Senior 3), not to grind the peas harder, they are not meant to be pounder. This process is meant to further crush the peas which helps in boiling them quickly into stew.
5. While the grinding is going on, the women set a cooking pot or saucepan on fire with water, the peas are poured in the boiling water, with soda ash, there is need for more firewood and the fire must be enough.
6. After the peas have fully cooked and soft, the woman stirs the peas with a wooden mingling stick usually, this process goes on until the peas are thick and so soft and soup like but very think, at this time the scent changes capable to raising anyone’s appetite. It also gets dangerous at this stage, the Magira keeps boiling and some jumps out of the saucepan like porridge, the women have to make sure it never drops on their skin. After a while the magaira is ready for serving.
Its now 4pm the elders are still having some glasses of local liquor sponsored by us to keep them around and active until the time for judgement is due. While the boiling of the peas was going on, I had some conversations with the elders about the MAGIRA CONTEST. During their time this was a Youth event like you can see dance parties in this generation where the best dancer take the gifts, the MAGIRA CONTEST was an event that brought young people together to compete who can make the best magira.
The girls were prepared by their mothers and trained how to make magira, so a girl’s performance brought honour to her mother. The girls were allowed to invite male friends who brought for them different gifts, this event was the right time to show off a likely husband to someone’s daughter, and it was also a right time to choose the right girl for marriage.
It was fun, they invited local music instrumentalists, xylophones, drums, and many more music instruments were played, they danced and celebrated. The winner was always given gifts like saucepans, plates among other things.
According to the elders the MAGIRA CONTEST helped to determine if a girl was ready to be a wife and a mother, they considered girls of age to participate in the Magira contest. It also helped to show if women in the community are doing a good motherly job of training their daughters and preparing them to be responsible mothers tomorrow.