MUSEENENE: THE MONTH OF THE GRASSHOPPER
‘…I screamed aloud upon touching these things that were wriggling…. I had thought they were green peas… you guys can’t be serious… ati munakula hawa wadudu?… sio cool!’.
This was the greeting my workmate in Nairobi had reserved for me as I reported to head-office from my market territory. Jennifer Mwai had been to Uganda on her maiden visit and while sight-seeing around Kampala, landed on a mutembeyi selling dressed, live longhorn grasshoppers (enseenene).
A delicacy among Ugandans (at least the Central and southern part), to Kenyans and other non-Ugandans, this is an insect among many, which most find strange that it is eaten. The grasshopper, like any other food, is a social anthropological subject where one’s delicacy is repulsion to another.
Presently trapped and marketed as a commercial good in urban centres especially Kampala; grasshoppers are an integral part of our culture and life, among those Ugandans where they are eaten.
In Ankole, there are cultural norms and prohibitions attached to grasshoppers, while in Buganda; there is a clan that has the grasshopper as its totem. Names such as Masembe, Kalibbala, Kimera, Mwebe, Kawalya and their female versions belong to the Nsenene clan.
Enseenene in Kinyankore Culture with a month named after it, this insect has been an integral part of Banyankore for ages. The eleventh month of the Julian calendar (November), is called Museenene in Runyankore-Rukiga.
This is the peak season when grasshoppers ‘fall’. One cultural practice associated with grasshoppers is called Okuganura. Okuganura is the practice where a woman presents her first harvest to her father-in-law, in fulfilling the custom that a man cannot eat the first harvest before his father.
It usually applies to seasonal crops such as millet, maize, beans, peas, groundnuts, potatoes et al. Enseenene, since they are harvested and a delicacy, are a component of this custom. November therefore was my favourite month at Grandpa’s since all the daughters-in-law had to bring their very first harvest to him.
Competing to be the favourite, each of our mothers would collect the harvest from all her children to ensure she had a quantity worth presenting to her father-in-law. In return, she received a token appreciation (a few shillings or even a goat).
The subsequent harvests are for the home and since November is close to December, a new gomesi or esuuti for Christmas is the perfect appreciation for a wife who does a good job of enseenene harvesting. This is as well, since in the traditional practice, women do not eat enseenene, so the gomesi becomes a worthwhile compensation.
Harvesting Ensenene
Harvesting Ensenene: the natural way It is slowly getting overshadowed by the ‘modern trapping’ using electric floodlights in towns, but nseenene harvesting in a typical village is an event and occasion that leaves no one seated.
Everybody in the home, save for toddlers. It begins with interpreting the telltale signs: the direction and swarming of migratory herons, referred as the nseenene heralds (amashuranseenene).
There is no scientific link between these birds and the nseenene, except for the fact that the two do come at the same time, but culturally, the birds are believed to herald the arrival of enseenene. Children will sing and dance around as the heron’s circle in the sky and eventually settle on a particular hill.
In the wee-hours of the morning, an early-riser (usually a man) goes out to spot(okuringa), and once he establishes the presence of enseenene, will beckon the village by a special ‘alarm’. He severs the head of the first nseenene he catches, and drops the nseenene upside-down in a tuft of grass. This ritual is meant to have all the nseenene ‘turned-upside down’ so that they don’t fly away, enabling maximum harvesting.
The tropical savannah grassland is the favourite environment for enseenene to fall, usually on gentle slopes and hilltops. Flourishing grass crops like millet and sorghum are also favourite hideouts for enseenene.
Harvesting is best done in the morning, when the dewy grass and low temperatures are not favourable for the nseenene to fly. With the rising temperatures, they fly and perch in trees or roam around, difficult to catch, though there are people who prefer to catch those flying. This is the case with my father. At his prime, he would only go out to harvest when the sun is up, catching the flying ones.
Preparation and preservation
Enseenene can be prepared in several ways, depending on whether they are for immediate consumption or preservation. For immediate consumption, we pluck the wings and legs off, a task no less demanding than harvesting.
To increase friction against the fatty bodies to ease plucking, the plucker’s fingers are regularly dipped in kitchen ashes. After plucking, the wings, legs, ashes the grass, are poured at crossroads of the path leading from the home.
Why this practice, we are yet to find out. The plucked (dressed) nseenene still alive (thus Jennifer’s scare), are pan-fried, with salt added in due course. While in town they are sold as a snack. At home, they form a delicacy sauce accompanying such staples as matooke and sweet potatoes.
The nseenene for storage are boiled in pre-heated hot water with wings and legs unplucked. They are then sun-dried to zero moisture content, then kept in air-tight containers such as large gourds, pots or wrapped in dry banana fibres. Occasional smoking above the kitchen hearth reinforces the preservation.
Occasionally, when a close relative visits or during scarcity, an enseenene dish will come in handy.
Names and meanings attached to them
Enseenene are named according to their colour.
- The most common is the green one, which is called Kijubwe. Ejubwe is a specie of thatching grass with a rich green colour. There is a specific poem one has to recite on catching the very first Kijubwe, to receive good luck for a bountiful harvest.
This poem, according to folklore, explains why women were forbidden from eating enseenene. Kijubwe tasted so delicious that women would no longer sleep, always waking up in the wee hours of the day to go checking if the nseenene had fallen.
It runs thus:
Kijubwe Kinyaganga
Eki omukazi yariire
Tareka bukasheesha,
Akyeera kuringa.
2. The second name is Katikoomire. This is the brown one, the colour and appearance of a dry twig, thus its name. One taboo associated with Katikoomire is that if one catches it as the very first one, it is usually killed and thrown away, to avoid it ‘drying in your hands’. They are normally fewer in any swarm than Kijubwe.
3. The third one has various names, depending on the region. It is variously called Omuheesi (blacksmith) or Kiisheruhande. It has reddish-purple stripes along its wings and head, and is more common with Kijubwe than Katikoomire. It is believed to have magic powers of increasing one’s chances of finding and catching more nseenene.
Thus, the formula to unlock the magic:
Kyeisheruhande handura omuganda gwangye,
Waaba otaguhandwire,
nkuteere ahansi Obwana
bwa Mareere bwekumakume
The verse implores Kyeisheruhande to grow the harvester’s handful; else, it will be smashed on the ground, the consequence being death that will attract young kites. The handful grows through Kyeisheruhande enabling the harvester find and catch more nseenene.
4. The fourth is called Omwana (baby). It has a beautiful colour mixture of a purple head, the colour fading towards the posterior. It is more common with Kijubwe than Katikoomire.
One ritual associated with Omwana is that whoever catches one goes around those nearby asking them to babysit. Babysitting here entails contributing a few nseenene to the one who has the baby. The donated nseenene do the babysitting.
Kaijakahiire is a type of Kijubwe, whose colour tends towards yellow, earning it the name ‘already cooked’. Cooked Kijubwe turns yellow, whether boiled, roasted or fried.
As you enjoy the aluminum-wrapped nseenene snack, you may want to try out the natural way…please jump on the next bus to the hills of Ryakatimba in Isingiro, for Enseenene with Googoro!
================================== ==================================
There are many species of grasshoppers. Enseenene, is what the English refer to as bush cricket, and according to Ugandan Entomologist, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, it is commonly called edible grasshopper with its scientific name being Homorocoryphus nitidulus.
