Pare people


The Pare people are members of an ethnic group indigenous to the Pare Mountains of northern Tanzania, part of the Kilimanjaro Region. Historically, Pareland was also known as Vuasu and Vughonu to its inhabitants. The location lies on one of the northern routes of the historic East-African long-distance trade, connecting the hinterland with the coast of the Indian Ocean.
The people of Vuasu are referred to as Vaasu and they speak a language known as Chasu or Athu. The people of Vughonu are referred to as Vaghonu and they speak a language known as Kighonu.
Although once constituting a single, greater Vughonu area; current residents of northern Pare recognise two sub-areas based on ethnolinguistic differences: Gweno-speaking Ugweno to the north and Chasu-speaking Usangi to the south. The general interaction of the Pare people with the Ma'a or Mbugu people has also led to one of the few genuinely mixed languages, reputedly combining Chasu grammar with Cushitic vocabulary.

Recent history

The Pare were the main producers of iron for which there was considerable demand by the Chaga and Maasai people, as well as other adjacent populations. Notable Pare blacksmiths include the Shana clan who have maintained the tradition to this present day.
The Pare are traditionally highly organised in terms of compulsory community work towards sustainable and inclusive development through a philosophy referred to as msaragambo.
The Usangi Kingdom between Ugweno to the north and Mgagao in the South was ruled by Mfumwa Sangiwa I who died in 1923, Mfumwa Koshuma Sangiwa up to 1928, Mfumwa Sabuni and finally Mfumwa Shaban Mtengeti Sangiwa up to the abolition of traditional rule following the independence of Tanganyika.
In Ugweno, a chief was referred to as Mangi, the term also used by the Chaga. At the peak of its power, the Ugweno state had at its head a Mangi Mrwe who was assisted by governing councils, ministers and district chiefs.
The Pare were also known as rainmakers, one notable exponent being Mfumwa Muhammad Kibacha Singo, a local ruler of Same who died in January 1981. In these rituals, spiritual figurines were often used that had been artistically sculptured out of clay or wood, and wrapped in either cloth and/or leather. Recent interest in such artefacts from collectors and researchers have unearthed them throughout the western world.

Pre-colonial

This region has historically received a substantial population of people from the Taita region of present-day Kenya. The Pare area was also inhabited by Cushitic groups like the Mbugu in Ugweno who were eventually assimilated into the Pare communities.

Shana Dynasty (pre 16th c.)

This era can be categorised as the ‘age of skill’ for the North Pare communities. Although little evidence remains about this era due to ‘the great Shana disruption’, records show that the Ugweno area was known throughout the region. It was ruled by the Shana clan for centuries and became known as the "Mountains of Mghonu", after an early notably famous Shana ruler, from whom it got its name.
It is the skill of the blacksmiths and the resulting valued iron products that made the area popular, that eventually led to the influx of foreign groups. Archaeological evidence of iron smithing activities include items collected by Hans Fuchs in the early twentieth century in North Pare, held in the ethnographic collections of the Náprstek Museum, Prague - refer to link: .
In addition, remnants of a specialized irrigation system exist exposing hundreds of irrigation intakes and furrows that were constructed during this era. Only when the responsibility for irrigation management shifted from patrilineages to village-level committees were these systems negatively impacted towards near collapse..
It is the disruption of the Shana rule that led to the miscommunication of history from modern-day communities, and the misinterpretations of the region and its inhabitants amongst early European adventurers and historians. Notably, in characterising the skill of the iron smiths based on post “civil war” communities.

Suya Kingdom (post 16th c.)

This era can be categorised as the ‘age of discipline and expansion’ of the North Pare communities. The Suya overthrew the Shana and instituted a number of reforms that included a strict initiation system and 'one of the great centralized political administration systems' for indigenous communities in Tanzania. This allowed the Ugweno kingdom of northern Pare to expand and come into its own up to the 19th century.

South Pare

In South Pare, where the dry foothills and plains were populated by Cushitic-speaking peoples and small Bantu-speaking groups before the 1700s, saw an influx of immigrants from neighbouring communities that included Taita people as well as those escaping civil war from North Pare. This region had a separate rule from the north, and its own evolution of political systems.

Colonial

The Germans imposed an administrative rule over the area, then the British colonial era lasted until 1963 when the chiefdom was abolished by an independent Tanganyika government.
At the start of the 20th century, the population of South Pare was estimated at 22,000 comprising an ethnic group called Asu or Pare who are speakers of Chasu or the Pare language. They are patrilineal and were in several areas organized into small chiefdoms.

Independence Movement

The Pare Union formed in 1946 was one of Tanzania's first ethnic-based nationalist movements to begin activism against the colonial system. Among many grievances, was the exploitation through the production of export crops particularly Sisal and Coffee. Like many other ethnic-based political groups in Tanganyika, The Pare Union then became part of the Tanganyika African Association which later became the Tanganyika African National Union in 1954. This avoided groups like the Pare Union forming into full political parties that were ethnic in orientation.
Moses Seenarine writes of the contribution of Pare women in the struggle: 'The Pare women's uprising in northwest Shambaai, Tanzania, occurred in early January 1945 and continued with demonstrations into 1946, involving thousands of women. It began in Usangi, one of the chiefdoms, when the district commissioner arrived for discussions with the local chief. A crowd of hundreds of women appeared, demanding an explanation of mbiru, a system of graduated taxation. When the commissioner tried to leave without addressing the women, they became enraged and mobbed the assembled officials. Two days later, women surrounded the chief's house singing songs, and ultimately stoned officials and battled police.' The Mbiru protest by the Pare people refusing to pay colonial tax was eventually led by Paulo Kajiru of Mamba. The Pare eventually managed to defeat this tax system, and went back to the flat rate of tax in 1947. This remains as an important historical event in Tanzania.

Post-colonial

The disruption of indigenous practices based on historical knowledge during the colonisation-era failed to appreciate the cultural sustainability of Pare communities. As documented on archival sources and oral histories, the altering of post-colonial land management in the North Pare Mountains had an effect on environmental conditions. Colonial forest management and water policies were all abandoned, affecting villagers in many aspects including environmental degradation and a drop in management capacity. It has been argued that the symbolic meaning of cultural practices, in the management of trees for instance, were more than rooted in local beliefs. But they also had a wider political and economic influence as well as knowledge dissemination for cultural preservation.

Economy

From the 1940s, the Parelands flourished from the growth of the coffee economy. Consequently, modern Parelands are by Tanzanian standards, quite prosperous as its infrastructure of roads, electricity, telephones, and piped water supply attests. The area's chief produce is tea, coffee, sisal, and cinchona. Rice is grown in the swampy plains.
An older infrastructure of irrigation furrows, stone-lined terraces, and sacred forests lies alongside these newer technologies and shows that the Pare landscape has been carefully managed for centuries. In 1890, for example, a German geographer praised the area's stone terraces as being similar to European vineyards and stated that the North Pare irrigation system was a "truly magnificent achievement for a primitive people" It has been argued that the establishment and management of the irrigation infrastructure system depended on institutions which could contribute to knowledge of the development of irrigated agriculture.

Culture/Tradition

Traditional Food

Makande is a typical dish of the Pare tribe, who live in the Pare Mountains, and is popular throughout Tanzania. The dish is a kind of stew of maize, red beans, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and chicken stock, and it’s normally prepared on Friday and lasts through Sunday evening, which gives people more time to socialize during the weekend without worrying about cooking—the food is kept in a big clay pot on the damp ground so it stays cool.
Kishumba is another traditional food, it is a kind of banana cooked with red beans and crushed to make a hard porridge.
Vughai is yet another traditional food, it is kind of hard porridge prepared by banana, cassava or maize flour. It is served with either vegetable, beans or meat/fish/chicken stew. When served with meat/chicken, it is considered as a welcoming dish for guests.
There are also special foods given to women after delivering, to assist in their quick recovery.

Traditional Medicine

Before the introduction of western medicine, there were certain diseases that were cured using traditional medicine. When Lutheran missionaries were actively introducing Christianity and western style medicine in north Pare and later in south Pare from the early 1900s, it was acknowledged: “The Pare people did not embrace the modern institutions introduced by the missionaries as readily as the Chaga. The stronger position of local healers meant that traditional medicine was never rejected as an inferior or backward tradition …”.
Children used to suffer Wintu a fungal ailment thought to come from the mother’s breast. It was treated by giving the child sheep’s milk instead of breast milk.
Kirumu, kirutu, and kinyoka. This may be neonatal conjunctivitis. The juice of leaves from a plant called mwore was used as a cure.
Mtoro, made ‘the child as thin as firewood.’ Ash of the root of wild banana was administered orally as its medicine.
The most prominent traditional belief within the Pare community was when a baby's milk teeth grew from the upper jaw; they believed it to be a curse to the society and thus killed the baby by throwing them off a large rock with a steep slope facing down a mountain.
Pare people are known to have a variety of medicine for all sorts of diseases, largely enabled by the fertile area with natural vegetation and an unpolluted land with few people.

Traditional Appearance

Traditionally, the Vaghonu were marked by a black streak running from the middle of the forehead to the nose. The unmarried warriors were characterised as muscular and their bodies plastered with grease and a red clay. They had different hairstyles – fully shaven, cut at the crown, worn in a thatch hanging down their necks, and twisted into thin dreads. The men carried spears and shields and they wore a piece of cloth or hide hanging down across their breast.
In nearby Shighatini, missionaries managed to take a picture of the Pare men in traditional clothing, refer to link: .
The women wore a garment of hide fastened around their waist. They had spirals of iron wire as arm and leg ornaments. They also wore large earrings made of beads, thick necklaces of brass and wooden ear stretchers decorated with iron.

Traditional Housing

The Pare built two types of round houses: They used a wooden framework to create a cone-shaped house, that was likely fastened out of ropes from tree trunks, with a pitched roof made of plant fibre stretching down to the ground. Refer to link: The wooden framework covered with leaves is only used as a roof in this second model, but the framework is covered with a cementitious soil available in the Pare mountains to create round walls. Refer to link: .

Sacred Sites

The origins of a clan can be traced through the location of their sacred site. For instance, despite the Shana having migrated to other parts of Pareland, their sacred sites remain in Ugweno signifying their place of origin. Sacred sites can be referred to as Mpungi, Mshitu/Mtiru, and Kwa Mrigha or Kwa Kivia. At these sites, various tribal ceremonies, customs and/or initiation were conducted.

Cultural Misconception

In Tanzania, referring to someone as “Pare” is synonymous with calling them “stingy” or “cheap”. Even during Tanzania’s history of economic hardship, the Pare believed in making ends meet through adopting strict budget plans, albeit having insufficient funds. Given their honest and direct nature about their economic circumstances, this has been misinterpreted and stereotyped nationally. However, culturally the Pare just strive to be open and fair, hence a lack of hypocrisy in declaring their finances as modest and incorruptible is viewed as the right thing to do.

Places of interest

Politicians