The Gisu people, or ''Bamasaba'' people of

Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano, extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

, are a Bantu tribe and Bantu-speaking ethnic group of the

Masaba people The Masaba people, or ''Bamasaaba'', are a Bantu people inhabiting the eastern Ugandan districts of Sironko, Manafwa, Bududa, Mbale, Namisindwa and Bulambuli. They are closely related to the Bukusu and Luhya of Western Kenya. They are mainly ...

in eastern

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, closely related to the Bukusu people of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. Bamasaba live mainly in the Mbale District of Uganda on the slopes of

Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

. The Bagisu are estimated to be about 1,646,904 people making up 4.9% of the total population according to the 2014 National Census of Uganda.

Religion

The majority of the Bagisu people are Christians mainly

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(

Church of Uganda The Church of Uganda (C/U) is a member province of the Anglican Communion. Currently, there are 37 dioceses that make up the Church of Uganda, each headed by a bishop. Each diocese is divided into archdeaconries, each headed by a senior priest k ...

) estimated at 45.7% while a significant percentage are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

estimated at 29.1%. Around 14% of the Bagisu people follow

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

according to the 2002 Census of Uganda and 5.3% are

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Ancestor

The Masaba,

Bukusu The Bukusu people ( Bukusu: ''Babukusu'') are one of the 17 Kenyan tribes of the Luhya Bantu people of East Africa residing mainly in the counties of Bungoma and Trans Nzoia. They are the largest tribe of the Luhya nation, with 1,188,963 id ...

and

Luhya people The Luhya (also known as ''Abaluhyia'' or Luhyia) are a Bantu people and the second largest ethnic group in Kenya. The Luhya belong to the larger linguistic stock known as the Bantu. The Luhya are located in Western Province (Kenya), western Ken ...

believed that their ancestors were Mundu and Sera. The

people of Ethiopia Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

and the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands (also called the Abyssinian Highlands) is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , whil ...

have no name for Kundu, except that it is a mountain peak in Oromiya. The Bamasaba

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

, Masaba migrated from the

Ethiopian Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...

Mountains traveling via

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana () is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world ...

to Sironko and settled around Bududa where he fell in love with a Maasai girl who was known as Nabarwa. The

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of Nabarwa demanded that in order for Masaba to marry their daughter he had to undergo their rite of circumcision. He agreed to do so.

Culture

Circumcision in Africa Circumcision in Africa, and the Traditional African religions, rites of initiation in Africa, as well as "the frequent resemblance between details of ceremonial procedure in areas thousands of kilometres apart, indicate that the circumcision ritu ...

is an old culture as practiced by the Bamasaaba in Eastern

.The

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

of circumcision was adopted by the Bamasaba from their in-laws the Maasai people. The men among the Bagisu

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

undergo

initiation Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...

ceremonies known as ''Imbalu''. The initiation ceremonies among the Bamasaaba are held every two years during August. Banana is the staple food for the Gisu people. It's commonly referred to as "Matoke" The Bamasaaba ancestors lived on

bamboo shoot Bamboo shoots or bamboo sprouts are the edible shoots (new bamboo culms that come out of the ground) of many bamboo species including '' Bambusa vulgaris'' and '' Phyllostachys edulis''. They are used as vegetables in numerous Asian dishes a ...

s also known as Malewa in the Lumasaba language. These bamboo shoots are collected from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

trees on top of Mt. Elgon.

Origin of the name Bagisu

Maswahaba's first son with Nabarwa was Mwambu who was nicknamed Nkisu by his Maasai uncles who had stolen his father's cows from him. Masawahaba failed to pronounce the nickname of Nkisu meaning a bull in

Maasai language Maasai (previously spelled ''Masai'') or Maa ( ; autonym: ''ɔl Maa'') is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 1.5 million. It is closely related to the other Maa va ...

, given to his son his

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent, as well as the parent of the cousins. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an un ...

and he pronounced it as Mugisu. The name Bagisu originated from the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

Nkisu given to Mwambu by Maswababa's Maasai

Brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling or the sibling of one’s spouse. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred to as a brother-in-law for a male sibling-in-law and a sister-in-law for a female sibling-in-law. Sibling-in-law al ...

. The Bamasaba speak a dialect of the Lumasaba language called Lumasaba, which is fully understandable by other dialects, and is also understood by the Bukusu. The Bamasaba share a lot of things with the Bukusu from Kenya. They share culture and according to the Bukusu the Bamasaba are their real brothers its only the border that divides them.

Economy

The Bagisu communities are agriculturalists. Those who stay as far as 5000 ft above sea-level grow Arabica coffee, the biggest portion of it being sold to Bugisu Co-operative Union. They also grow other crops like cotton and tobacco, maize, beans, millet, sorghum, yams and cassava.

Religion

Ancestor

Culture

Origin of the name Bagisu

Economy

See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading