Nyagatare District will host this year’s National Harvest Day celebrations, locally known as Umuganura, due on August 7. Julienne Uwacu, the Minister for Sports and Culture, announced this on Tuesday in Kigali at a media briefing about Cultural Policy, Umuganura and Itorero Ry’Abahanzi (a programme to train artistes in promoting culture and development programmes). The minister urged Rwandans to collectively preserve, develop and use culture to stimulate national development. Uwacu said culture was among the key areas in the long-term goals of the country and should be developed to create wealth for the country. “Tourism is not about visiting parks like Nyungwe, Volcanoes or even Lake Kivu, we need to encourage tourists to see our culture too, like the Rwanda National Museum. We all have to support tourism based on culture,” she added. Uwacu further expressed displeasure at the state of emceeing at wedding ceremonies, which are a key element of Rwandan culture, noting that the emcees do imitations of prominent figures and bring in uncultured ideas. “Let us differentiate wedding from comedy, let a wedding ceremony be a wedding ceremony and a comedy show a comedy show,” she said. Nyagatare was chosen to host the celebrations because its among the districts that had a bountiful harvest this agricultural year. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
