Senate president Bernard Makuza has called on Rwandans to foster national unity and uphold their cultural values amid growing influence of modernity.

Makuza was addressing thousands of people who convened yesterday in Karangazi Sector, Nyagatare District, to mark National Harvest Day, locally known as Umuganura.

"As we mark Umuganura, let us jealously guard our achievements across different key sectors of development. Umuganura reflects Rwandan values, reminding us to uphold Rwandan identity, our unity and recommit to preserving our dignity,” he said.

The National Harvest Day, a local concept of the Thanksgiving Day, is marked annually on the first Friday of August.

The day was marked under the theme, "Umuganura, a foundation of unity and self-reliance.” 

The senate leader called for preservation of important values of Rwandan culture, including modesty, banquets sharing and supporting the vulnerable.

"Dating back to our ancestors’ times, Umuganura festival was a sign of unity, bringing together leaders and citizens, parents and children to share banquets and commit to good causes. This practice strengthened Rwandans to the level of denouncing slavery at the time the whole of Africa was subjected to slavery,” he said.

Makuza said Umuganura festival had been banned in 1925 by colonialists who found it a liability to their wishes of dividing Rwandans.

Yesterday’s Umuganura festival was also graced by various dignitaries, including ministers and envoys accredited to Rwanda.

Makuza also toured exhibition stands in the company of other dignitaries to observe the achievements and offered milk and sorghum bread to children.

The celebrations involved awarding the best performers in different sectors, cultural dances, cattle parading and entertainment by local artists, including Jay Polly, Diana Teta and Intore Tuyisenge.

The day saw banquet sharing among the leaders and citizens.

The Minister for Sports and Culture, Julienne Uwacu, said the country has committed to reviving the components of culture which have been decimated.

Rwandans in the Diaspora also marked Umuganura, making the Rwandan culture known all over the world, according to the minister.

Uwacu said at the family level, Umuganura was celebrated on August 1 and there had been a cultural concert (Inkera y’abahizi) the day before.

Speaking to Saturday Times, citizens in Nyagatare District said their crop and livestock production is worth celebrating.

"I grow bananas and have cattle, but this season’s yields made me happy. Remembering our cultural practices through Umuganura is like a blessing to us,” said Meshach Rwakarigembe, a resident of Karangazi Sector.

Melanie Mukarubibi, a farmer in Nyagatare Sector, said they had prepared special meals and drinks to celebrate commendable yields.

Before the festive day, farmers across the country had told this newspaper that this season’s production has been good and the statistics from Rwanda Agriculture Board backed their assessment.

Tracing the roots of Umuganura concept

In an explanatory note, the Ministry of Sports and Culture gives background of the Umuganura festival.

In Rwandan traditions, Umuganura "Harvest Day” was one of the most important ceremonies performed by Rwandans at the beginning of every harvest season. This event came second to the most important ceremony in the Rwandan kingdom, which was the enthronisation of the new King.

Some literature states that Umuganura could have been started together with the introduction of agriculture in Rwanda during the third century Before Christ.

The celebration of Umuganura was a big event in the kingdom because it was a period of recognising the achievements in terms of harvest, both at the kingdom and family levels.

The Rwandan culture of celebrating Umuganura was abolished by colonial powers in 1925 when the last "Umutware w’Umuganura” (chief of harvest) named Gashamura, son of Rukangirashyamba, was forced into exile in Burundi.         

After independence, people continued to celebrate Umuganura in their families but the Rwandan political administration did not do enough to enhance its importance.

Nowadays, the Government of Rwanda is really determined to draw homegrown solutions from its culture to handle today's challenges.

 The Umuganura festival has been restored alongside other traditional concepts such as community mediators (Abunzi), Gacaca jurisdiction, performance contracts (Imihigo),  public service training (Itorero/Ingando), family welfare support (Ubudehe) and community work (Umuganda), among others.

 Umuganura celebrations aim at thanking God for the harvest and to strategise for better harvest in the next season.

However, Umuganura has currently broadened its meaning, from formally being agro-based harvest to include achievements from other sectors such as health, education, ICT, sports, mining, infrastructure, culture, tourism, that all have contributed to the development of the country.