Gatwa

Gatwa, eponymous ancestor of the Twa and the son cast to the margins (in the Kazikamuntu variant cursed for killing a brother). Authored as a son (parentId) of banyaruanda_kanyarwanda and sibling of banyaruanda_gatutsi and banyaruanda_gahutu (reciprocated in-batch). VARIANT: a parallel tradition makes the three the sons of the first man Kazikamuntu (banyaruanda_kazikamuntu) instead of Kanyarwanda (still others name Gihanga or the celestial Kigwa); documented here but only the cluster parent Kanyarwanda is wired in parentIds. Type = mortal: an eponymous TRIBAL FOUNDER (authored mortal by rule), descent otherwise computing to scion (quartigod father 0.25 + mortal unregistered mother 0, /2 = 0.125) with a parallel strand of mortal descent from Kazikamuntu — lower tier chosen. era heroic-age = the cluster era. A lifecycle 'transform' stage records the curse/expulsion.

Parentage

• father: Kanyarwanda

Domains

• ancestral eponym
• the margins and the forest

Powers

• Founds and gives his name to the Twa
• Breaks the trust and is cast to the margins

Epithets

• the cursed and cast-out brotherOrigins of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa (Rwandan oral tradition); Jacques J. Maquet, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda (1961). (secondary)

Relations

• sibling: GatutsiBrother and fellow son of Kanyarwanda; Gatutsi was made chief over the threefold order from which Gatwa was excluded.Jacques J. Maquet, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda (1961). (secondary)
• sibling: GahutuBrother and fellow son of Kanyarwanda; in the Kazikamuntu variant Gatwa is cursed for killing one of his brothers.Jacques J. Maquet, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda (1961). (secondary)

Sources

• Gatwa, son of the eponym Kanyarwanda Gahima (variantly of Gihanga, Kazikamuntu or Kigwa), is the eponymous ancestor of the Twa; in the origin tale he drinks the entrusted milk (and in the Kazikamuntu variant is cursed for killing a brother) and is therefore cast to the margins of society.: Jacques J. Maquet, The Premise of Inequality in Ruanda: A Study of Political Relations in a Central African Kingdom (Oxford Univ. Press / International African Institute, 1961). (secondary); Jan Vansina, Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 2004). (secondary); A. C. Werner, Myths and Legends of the Bantu (London: Harrap, 1933), ch. VIII; Origins of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa (Rwandan oral tradition). (secondary)