Fourth of July in Uganda

Ironically, part of my Fourth of July was celebrated with a bunch of Brits! The university is celebrating its 100 years of being a school, so a delegation from the U.K. with various connections to the school’s history came for part of the week’s activities and the centennial graduation (which was today). We had dinner together at the guest house and then some of us went to the cultural celebration being held that night on campus. Uganda has around 50 tribes, each with their own language, tribal dance and culture. The cultural night celebrates the different tribes of the students by having students gather together with others of their tribe and present their tribal dance in front of the UCU (Uganda Christian University) community. I think they also have judges that announce a winner at the end of the night. Every tribe has a different style of dance and different outfits related to their tribal dance.

What I love about Uganda is that people are very expressive, and often do so through dance, no matter their age. They also appreciate bold bottoms and curvy hips (as evidenced by their tribal outfits). As an American woman who comes from a culture with different feelings about those features, I appreciate their positive viewpoint. I have uploaded a couple clips from the dances that they performed for your viewing pleasure (though to be honest it is not the greatest quality video). I might also suggest that we bring this tradition to the forefront of American culture by having each state come up with their own state dance with unique outfits…Minnesota for instance could have more of a lyrical style dance with flowing, blue outfits to represent our 10,000 lakes. As I am out of the country, I will leave it to you all to initiate this bill in congress. That way, by the time I get back to the US, this event of statehood cultural dance-offs will be organized so I can send video clips of it to the Ugandans. I am sure such an event would be just as big as the Super Bowl.

In the mean time, I will enjoy the spirit and energy of Ugandan tribal dances. Each dance they presented yesterday lasted around 10 minutes. The event started near 8:30 pm and they were still going strong at 10 pm at which time I left. Although my Fourth of July did not include any fireworks (or many Americans for that matter) it did include an excellent star-filled walk home to sounds of the tribal drums beating in the distance.

There are 3 different tribal dances I have pieced together. The first is my favorite, look for the guy who pops in at minutes 1 and 2 :)