Umuhoro

Umuhoro

Distribution according to Jan Elsen; Group II.A

The former national coat of arms of Rwanda

The Umuhoro (also Mugishu or Agasonka ) is a hip from Central Africa . It is counted among the Central African sickle weapons .

It occurs mainly in Rwanda and Burundi, as well as in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Different ethnic groups such as Hutu , Tutsi , Hima , Bahunde , Havu , Bembe , Lega or Fuliru use the tool. A long, thin metal stick with a wider blade in the shape of a crescent moon is characteristic . The average length is 58 cm. The handle is usually made of wood . The umuhoro was mainly used as an agricultural tool to remove scrub, clear small trees, or collect fruit from trees. But it could also be used as a weapon . The Lega in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo made copies, as mugusu , out of wood or bone for ceremonial purposes.

The Umhuhoros are closely related to similar tools, but instead of the long iron handle they have a long wooden handle and are used throughout the great African lakes .

According to Christopher Spring , these useful devices could have reached the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo via the Lualaba river system and influenced Ngulu there.

The former national coat of arms of Rwanda shows an umuhoro as a symbol for work.

literature

• Tristan Arbousse Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa (Billhooks, Sickles and Scythes) , British Archaeological Reports , 2010, ISBN 978-1-4073-0690-2
• Jan Elsen: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.3 - The sickle weapons Part 3 , Tribal Arts Verlag, Brussels, 2000, ISBN 2-930169-03-6

Web links

• Objects in the British Museum : [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8]

• Jean Nyandwi: Burundian proverb Ahari amahoro umuhoro uramwa , September 2003 [9]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Elsen: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.3 , 2000, pp. 17, 58-59
2. ↑ Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa (Billhooks, Sickles and Scythes) , 2010, p. 69
3. ↑ Bastide: Traditional Weapons of Africa (Billhooks, Sickles and Scythes) , 2010, pp. 40, 69
4. ↑ Elsen: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.3 , 2000, pp. 17, 58-59
5. ↑ Elsen: Tribal Arms Monographs Vol I / No.3 , 2000, pp. 17-19
6. ↑ Christopher Spring in Swords and hilt weapons , Barnes & Noble , 1989, ISBN 1-56619-249-8 , p. 216
7. ↑ Rwanda Business Law Handbook: Strategic Information and Laws , Verlag International Business Publications, 2012 ISBN 978-1-4387-7086-4 , p. 198 [1]