MAGUMONI MUSINGS: House blessings in Jumias

House Blessings and Jumias

This is something I did last month, in the very first week of December. I thought of writing about it because some of you might be interested to read. As part of the parish visit by the priest in charge, family units called as Jumias are visited and houses are blessed. It was very often quite a walk because of the landscape. From one hill to the next, up and down through valleys, tea plantations and trees, exciting and tiring. A group of kids and adults gathered in the first house where we started each day. They followed, singing songs and sharing the grace of God. The number increased as we walked along.

The blessing involved blessing of people, the house, their cattle (cows, pigs, chicken, goats etc.), farming, and tombs (if someone is buried within the property). The burial customs are little different, as people are often buried in their own backyard, the graves often marked with plants, and trees or even cement barricades (if they can afford).

The house blessings concluded with a mass; outdoor under a tree, or inside the house, wherever we could all gather. We sang and prayed. After hours of walking, the ‘Christians’ (as they call the faithful) were never tired for another processional dance and singing. The church is vibrant. People may not know much of deep theology, but they have strong roots in faith.

Another interesting thing about mass is the gift processions. Apart from offering money, people offer produce and animals. For most of the masses we had bunches of bananas, sugar canes, greens, beets, potatoes, chicken and so on; quite different from Canadian church.

Jumias: The parish is divided into Jumias or small Christian communities. Neighbouring families are grouped together as a jumia; the members gather once a week to pray and discuss faith. This is a very active system I have seen in Kerala, India. They call it family units. The house blessings were done in Jumias, sometimes couple of them clubbed together. This was an opportunity for me to see in person how people lived. Most of the houses had small huts built around. As soon as the oldest son reaches puberty, he moves into his new hut, though the mother cooks for him until he finds his bride. These huts are often made with sticks and mud with tin roofing.