The Abiru (
Kinyarwanda
Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the ...
for ''royal ritualists'') were the members of the
privy council of the
monarchy of Rwanda. They were
oral repositories of the ''
ubwiiru'', an
esoteric
Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...
code of kingship. Due to the mythopoetic nature of accounts of the early history of the Abiru and the Rwandan monarchy, an accurate history of the Abiru is difficult to codify or study.
[
The council as a whole can be described as a priestly body that elected, advised and/or deposed Rwandan kings. Debate continues over the pre-colonial functions of the body, which makes definite statements on the subject needing further research.
The wider ethnic community that was traditionally expected to provide the membership of the council was known as the Abiru.
]
An Excerpt From The Oral Records Of Rwanda
[p.50. Adekunle, Julius O. 2007. Culture and customs of Rwanda. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.]
Functions
The Abiru functioned as advisors to the king in political matters, and may or may not have a political role assigned to them. Their primary function as a group was to determine the continuing suitability of the king in terms of ritual and political function. Historically, the Abiru deposed 'unworthy' kings and proclaimed successors based on secretive ritual practices, acting as a fons honorum for Rwanda.[History of Rwanda. GlobalSecurity.org]
/ref>
When thought of as an ethnic group, the class of elite families that has provided members of the Royal Council of Abiru for centuries on a hereditary basis was also referred to as ''Abiru''. Although sometimes thought of as being a distinct community, the Abiru were traditionally considered to be part of the wider Tutsi
The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...
ethnicity. A Burundi
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...
an near-analogue would be the Ganwa
Ganwa is the name for the princely group that traditionally ruled Burundi. They formed a distinct social class that was neither Hutu nor Tutsi
The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great ...
.
Famous Abiru
* Alexis Kagame
* Boniface Benzinge
See also
*History of Rwanda
Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 11th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century, ''Mwami'' (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted ...
*Kingdom of Rwanda
The Kingdom of Rwanda (also known as the Nyiginya Kingdom or Nyginya Dynasty) was a Bantu kingdom in modern-day Rwanda, which grew to be ruled by a Tutsi monarchy. It was one of the most centralized kingdoms in Central and East Africa. It was ...
*Rwandan Revolution
The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction (), was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda. The ...
References
{{Heads of state and government of African states
Rwandan monarchy
African traditional governments
Nobility in Africa