Lugbara people

Last updated

Lugbara
ryqvd msvrty SHl bny hlvgbrh.jpg
Total population
2,091,000 [1]
Regions with significant populations
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 1,099,733 (2014) [2] [3]
Flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.svg  DR Congo 646,000
Flag of South Sudan.svg  South Sudan 10,000
Languages
Lugbara language, English language
Religion
Christianity, Islam, Lugbara mythology [4]
Related ethnic groups
Avukaya, Logo, Aringa, Kaliko, Omi, Olu'bo, Madi and other Central Sudanic peoples

The Lugbara are a Central Sudanic ethnic group who live primarily in the West Nile region of Uganda, in the adjoining area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with a few living in South Sudan. They speak the Lugbara language, a Central Sudanic language similar to the language spoken by the Madi, with whom they also share many cultural similarities. [5] [6]

Contents

Traditions and culture

A group of Lugbara women harvesting groundnuts. A group of women harvesting groundnuts.jpg
A group of Lugbara women harvesting groundnuts.

Traditionally, the Lugbara are farmers who rear some livestock and poultry, mainly guineafowl locally known as ope; they are the predominant keepers of guineafowl in Uganda. Lugbara occupy the West Nile region of Uganda (Arua City, Arua, Maracha, Terego, Madi-Okollo, Yumbe and Koboko districts of Uganda to be specific). The Lugbara are divided into many dialects which are easily understandable to each other. These include: Ayivu, Maracha, Terego, Vurra and Aringa. Tribes related to the Lugbara in language include Madi and Keliko in South Sudan. The Lugbara also have a special name-giving ceremony called Cikiri every time a child is born. [7]

In the early days, the Lugbara were a mainly chiefdom-based community. They did not have kingdoms and kings presiding over them like other ethnic groups in Uganda. They mainly had chiefs who were their leaders. They formed friendly alliances with neighbouring tribes so as to ensure their security against attacks from other ethnic groups. The earlier Lugbara did not have soldiers or a standing army in their chiefdoms. Every able-bodied man had the duty to protect his village hence all able-bodied men were automatically considered a soldier though this was not a permanent duty. The Lugbara were originally animists as their mythology attests. However, Christianity [8] is now the predominant religion amongst them with Islam another major religion. According to the 2002 Census of Uganda, the majority of Lugbara people at around 48.6% are Roman Catholic, while 21.4% are Anglican and 29.1% are Sunni Muslim. [9]

They are settled subsistence farmers. Cassava is now the traditional staple. They also grow millet, sorghum, legumes, pigeon peas, beans and a variety of root crops. Before cassava was introduced to the Lugbara to manage famine when the cereals millet and sorghum failed due to drought in the 1960s; millet and sorghum used to be their staple food. Chicken, pigs, goats, and at higher elevations, cattle are also important. Groundnuts, simsim [sesame], chick peas and sweet potatoes are also grown. Maize is grown for brewing beer, and tobacco is a very important cash crop. Emerging cashcrops are avocado, pineapple, and mangoes.

In early days of 1874 the North Eastern side of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a faction of the Lugbara were called "The Naked People", due to their attitude towards clothing. Most women did not wear shirts and many of them did not wear even dresses, but they were covered with grass skirts or leaves. Taller than many Congolese, the Lugbara men are great hunters as well, using powerful bows with long arrows that have fishing hooks type tips.

This ethnic group straddles the common border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the majority of their population in the Congo side of the border. Some live in South Sudan.

A collection of the proverbs of the Lugbara have been published, and also a description of how their proverbs relate to ethics. [10] [11] The same author has described other parts of traditional Lugbara customs and society. [12]

Famous and well known Lugbara include Dorcus Inzikuru, the 3000-metre steeple chase world champion in Helsinki 2005 and Jackson Asiku, the previous Commonwealth boxing light-weight champion. Another important Lugbara is John Munduga, an international boxer plus Idi Amin Dada, former president of Uganda mostly remembered/ known for expelling the Asians. [13]

The cultural symbol of the Lugbara is a leopard with 300 spots.

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idi Amin</span> President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979

Idi Amin Dada Oumee was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern world history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kakwa people</span> Ethnic group native to Africa

The Kakwa people are a Nilotic ethnic group and part of the Karo people found in north-western Uganda, south-western South Sudan, and north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly to the west of the White Nile river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arua District</span> District in Northern Uganda, Uganda

Arua District is a district in the Northern Region of Uganda. Like many Ugandan districts, it too shares its name with its administrative center of Arua. The name Arua is said to be derived from the Lugbara name for prison (Arujo) and prisoner (Aru), since the white settlers had a detention center at Arua Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yumbe District</span> District in Northern Uganda, Uganda

Yumbe District is a district in Northern Region, Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Yumbe, where the district headquarters are located.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Sudanic languages</span> Nilo-Saharan language family of Central Africa

Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Cameroon. They include the pygmy languages Efé and Asoa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Nile sub-region</span>

West Nile sub-region, previously known as West Nile Province and West Nile District, is a sub-region in north-western Uganda, in the Northern Region of Uganda.

Moru is an ethnic group of South Sudan. Most of them live in Western Equatoria. They speak Moru, a Central South Sudanic language. Many members of this ethnicity are Christians, most being members of the Episcopal Church of the South Sudan (ECS). The Pioneer missionary in the area was Dr Kenneth Grant Fraser of the Church Missionary Society (CMS). The population of this ethnicity possibly does not exceed 200,000.

Koboko is a town in Northern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial centre of Koboko District. Koboko is also the hometown of former dictator Idi Amin who ruled Uganda from 1971 to 1979.

The Aringa are a Central Sudanic ethnic group primarily residing in the rural areas of Yumbe District, located in the northwestern corner of Uganda. They are also found in other regions of the West Nile sub-region. The Aringa people are considered the indigenous inhabitants of their lands, which were later settled by a group known as the "Nubians." Their language, also called Aringa, belongs to the Central Sudanic language family. According to the 2014 Census of Uganda the Aringa numbered 494,626 people.

Bombo is a town in Luweero District in the Central Region of Uganda.

Lugbara, or Lugbarati, is the language of the Lugbara people. It is spoken in the West Nile region in northwestern Uganda, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale Province with a little extension to the South Sudan as the Zande or Azande people.

Ombaci, also Ombachi, is a neighborhood in Arua City in the Northern Region of Uganda.

The Moru–Madi languages of the Central Sudanic language family are a cluster of closely related languages spoken in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda. Moru is spoken by 100,000 people, and Ma'di is spoken by twice that number. The most populous languages are Aringa of Uganda, with close to a million speakers, and Lugbara, with 1.6 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lugbara cuisine</span>

Lugbara cuisine is one of the meals of East Africa and the ancient Lado Enclave. The Lugbara people of northwestern Uganda and northeastern DR Congo eat not only vegetable dishes, but also animals like goats, cows plus ope (guineafowls) and catch insects like onya for food which is called nyaka in the standard Lugbara language used in Arua. Cassava flour, sometimes mixed with millet or sorghum like posho or ugali, is the staple food and is called enya(sa) and accompanied with a range of soup dishes. Rice, yams, potatoes and matoke are also eaten. Below is a list of some of the Lugbara-styled delicacies found in West Nile Restaurants, Ariwara Town, Arua Park in Kampala and many homes or cafeterias that cherish traditional Lugbara cuisine.

Tara is a subcounty at the north-eastern end of Maracha District of Uganda. It is an area endowed with rocks and is neighboured in the Northwest by Koboko; to the Northeast by Yumbe; to the East by Omugo subcounty plus to the South by Nyadri. Other subcounties in Maracha include Yivu, Aiivu, Oleba, Uriama, Omugo and Nyadri.

Agofe is the noble title for the chief cultural leader among all the Lugbara people or King of Lado Kingdom which covers the regions of West Nile, Ituri, Torit, Uele and Yei. The term means 'Pillar' or 'Paramount Chief' but a king is also called opi in Lugbara; an opi is usually the clan leader of a lineage. Around 1967, President Milton Obote abolished kingdoms, then the 1995 Constitution reinstated cultural institutions but the Lugbara only chose county chiefs. In 2012, the Government of Uganda finally recognised this revised Agofe institution. The Agofe's duty will be to preserve Lugbara culture through literature and other assignments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terego District</span> District in Northern, Uganda

Terego is a district in Uganda's Northern Region. It is located approximately 360 kilometres (220 mi) northwest of Uganda's capital Kampala. The administrative centre of the district is the trading centre of Leju in Aii-Vu Sub-County. Terego District covers an area of 1,102 square kilometres (425 sq mi) and the areas now making up the district recorded a non-refugee population of 199,303 in the 2014 Ugandan census. Terego District also hosts an estimated 168,000 refugees, mostly from South Sudan, in the Imvepi Refugee Settlement and the western zones of the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in the district.

Lugbara Kari refers to the official traditional and cultural institution of all Lugbara people on Earth and headed by the Agofe.

In October 1980, Uganda's West Nile Region was the site of a major military campaign, as Uganda Army (UA) remnants invaded from Zaire as well as Sudan and seized several major settlements, followed by a counteroffensive by the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) supported by militias and Tanzanian forces. The campaign resulted in large-scale destruction and massacres of civilians, mostly perpetrated by the UNLA and allied militants, with 1,000 to 30,000 civilians killed and 250,000 displaced. The clashes mark the beginning of the Ugandan Bush War.

Ojapi is a parish in the northwestern subregion of Uganda. Originally part of Tara Subcounty, it was carved out to form Ajira Subcounty in Maracha East Constituency, Maracha District.

References

  1. ↑ "Lugbara language resources | Joshua Project".
  2. ↑ "Uganda". World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. 19 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Uganda Bureau of Statistics. "National Population and Housing Census 2014 - Main Report" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "Population Composition" (PDF). ubos.org. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  5. ↑ "Lugbara | Lugbara | West African, Culture, Language | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  6. ↑ "Lugbara | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  7. ↑ "Lugbara | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  8. ↑ Christianity
  9. ↑ "Population Composition" (PDF). ubos.org. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  10. ↑ Dalfovo, A.T. Rome: Comboni Fathers.
  11. ↑ Dalfovo, Albert T. "Lugbara proverbs and ethics." Anthropos (1991): 45-58.
  12. ↑ Dalfovo, Albert Titus. "The Lugbara Ancestors." Anthropos (1997): 485-500.
  13. ↑ Amin, Jaffar, Idi Amin : the real biography, archived from the original on 11 February 2009, retrieved 22 September 2009

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.