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Though there are conflicting issues about these people in Uganda,historians assert that the Acholis are a product of intermarriages between the Luo and the Madi.

They are Lwo in language and custom.

These people are closely related to the Alur of west Nile, the Japadholaof eastern Uganda and the Joluo of Kenya. They inhabit the districts of Gulu and Kitgum which formerly constituted the Acholi district.

Their southern neighbours, the Banyoro and the Batooro, brought the Nilotic tribes wandering south to a halt. Their easternward migration was also stopped by the Elgumi people, themselves probably of Nilotic origin (around the Elgon mountains). The Elgumi and the Acholi are physically fine, with the Nilotic people appearing more virile than the Bantu people.

The Acholi had a central government with a representative who was called Rwot (leader). He ruled and held court over life and death for his subjects. He was also the mediator between ancestors and the people.

Their being only scantily-clad is a rather characteristic tradition. Married men wear a small piece of goat-skin, which, though practically useless as a covering, is worn according to the tribal etiquette. Women prefer nudity or wear the tail, but dispense with the fringe in front.

For "dandy", they wear a goat-skin slung over the shoulders. Married women wear a short fringe of black strings in front and a tassel of banana fibres suspended from a girdle behind. On their ears they wear ornamented small beads attached to pieces of brass. These were not produced by themselves.

They are usually held in the colours blue, yellow or green (dyed by oxidation). They are in shape and colour similar to that of the ancient Egyptians or from Baluchistan (Persian province).The Acholi practise no circumcision. Patterns with ornaments are tattooed on chest and stomach.

For all men, even husbands, it is forbidden to touch the women's tails. Women are very respected for their independence and pugnacious nature, their honesty and their sexual morality. There are more women than men, and thus they are naturally inclined towards polygamy. Practically no woman lives unmarried her whole life. When she has lost her husband, she offers herself to a new one to get married.

The Nilotic marry normally outside of their clan. Girls are betrothed at the age of six or seven, and their selected future spouse continually makes small presents to his father in-law until the bride becomes of nubile age. It is regarded as shameful if the girl is no virgin on her wedding day.

The groom will then send her back to her parents, who then have to return the brideswealth and have to pay a penalty. The wife's adultery was formerly punished with death, and the capital penalty was also inflicted on young men and girls guilty of unchastity.

They had to pay twenty sheep and two until six cows in total; the husband elected can claim his bride when he has made half of the payment. If a women cannot give birth to children in her life, the amount of her purchase is returnable by her father, unless the widower consents to replace her by another sister.

The women are prolific, and the birth of twins was considered a divine miracle. This is considered a lucky event, and this occasion is celebrated by feasting and dances. The parents of the infants must stay in the hut for a whole month.

The act of naming a baby was of essential importance after birth. Names are not male or female, and a daughter often bears her father's name. The details or situation of the birth were therefore substantial.

Otto means that many sisters and brothers have died. Oketch means giving birth during cultivating the land. The name Odoki was given when the mother has returned to her parents. Bongomin means that there are not brothers or sisters. Olanya states that the mother has left the child.

If a woman gave birth to twins, this was seen as a "divine" sign. Normally, an elder woman (Lacol – midwife) helped with the birth. In case of an emergency, the medicine man (Won Yat) was called to help. Deformed children, who did not have a chance to survive, were drowned in the river, with this being presented as an accident.

If the first wife of the deceased is still alive, he will be buried in her hut, if not, beneath the veranda of the hut in which he has died. A child is buried near the door of its mother's hut. A sign of mourning is a cord of banana fibres worn round the neck and waist. A chief chooses, sometimes years before his death, one of his sons to succeed him, often giving a brass bracelet as insignia. A man's property is divided equally among his children.

They erected shrines (Avila) for the representative of the people, the so-called Jok. All rites as well as spiritual acts and worships were performed in the immediate surrounding of such shrines.

They also worshipped this Jok as god and father of the people, who has come down from heaven and turned into a man. Additionally, they also worshipped the Dark Power, the devil, who was called Lubanga. Unfortunately, the Christians have used this name for the translation of God.

The legend says that the first man was called Luo; his father was the god Jok and his mother was Earth. In the family, there was a son with the name of Lagongo. He carried bells around his hips and ankles. His hair was decorated with feathers, he used to dance the whole day long.

He had magical power. As his mother did not know who his father was, the story went that she had been made pregnant in the bush by Lubanga, the devil.

Neighbouring tribes to the southern are suspects, totemically. The religion appears to be a vague ancestor worship. In general, the Acholi have two other gods, called Awafwa and Ishishemi, the spirits of good and evil. To the former, cattle and goats are sacrificed. Similar to their neighbours, the Bantu, they have great faith in divination from the entrails of a sheep.

Nearly everybody and everything is similar ominous of good or evil. They have few myths and traditions, with the ant-bear being the chief figure in their beastlegends. They believe in witchcraft and practise trial by ordeal. This is due to their fecundity and morality.

Those who live in the low-lying lands suffer from a mild malaria, while abroad they are subject to dysentery and pneumonia. Also epidemics of small-pox have occurred. Native medicine is the simplest. They dress wounds with butter and leaves, and in the case of an inflammation of the lungs or pleurisy, they pierce a hole into the chest.

There are no medicine-men - the women are the witchdoctors. Some of the incisor teeth are pulled out. If a man retains these, he will, so it is thought, be killed in warfare. Among certain of these northern tribes, the women also have their incisor teeth extracted, otherwise misfortune would befall their husbands. For the same reason, the wife scars the skin of her forehead or stomach.

Before starting on a perilous journey, even the Bantu husband cut scars on his wife's body to ensure him good luck, and he arranges a ceremony in the sacred burial place of the tribe. The grave is dug beneath the veranda of the hut.

Both men and women work in the fields with large iron hoes. In addition to planting sorghum, eleusine and maize, tobacco and hemp are both cultivated and smoked. Both sexes smoke. But the use of hemp is restricted to men and unmarried women, as it is thought that this might injure child-bearing women. Hemp is smoked in a hubble-bubble.

They cultivate sesam and make an oil from its seeds which they burn in little clay lamps. These lamps are of an ancient saucer type. They make salt, effected by burning reeds and water-plants and passing water through the ashes; furthermore they practise the smelting of iron and ore (confined to the Bantu tribes); pottery and basket-work.

They live in strong stone-walled villages. Some huts are partitioned off to provide for a sleeping-place for goats, and also the fowls sleep indoors in a large basket. Skins form the only bedsteads. In each hut there are two fireplaces, about which a rigid etiquette prevails.

Strangers or distant relatives are not allowed to pass beyond the first fire, which is near the door and is used for cooking. At the second, which is nearly in the middle of the hut, sit the hut owner, his wives, children, brothers and sisters. Also the family sleeps around this fireplace.

Cooking pots, water pots and earthenware grain jars are the only other furniture. The food is served in small baskets. Every full grown man has a hut to himself, and one for each wife.

Father and sons eat together, usually in a separate hut with open sides. Women eat apart therefrom, and only after the men have finished. They keep cattle, sheep, goats, fowls and a few dogs.

Women do not eat sheep, fowls or eggs, and they are not allowed to drink milk except when mixed with other things. The flesh of the wild meat and leopard is esteemed high by most of the tribes. Beer is made from eleusine.

The Acholi were excellent hunters, with the prey enriching the daily menue. They lived on a mixed economy, land cultivation and livestock breeding. They hunted in different ways: either as a group or alone as trappers (Okia); they used nets, pits, or they hunted the animals into the water and subsequently killed them with their spears.

The Acholi are considered to be peaceful people, but good fighters. Their weapons are mostly spears with rather long flat blades without blood-courses, and broad-bladed swords. Some use slings, and most carry shields.

Bows and arrows are also used; firearms are, however, displacing other weapons. Warfare was mainly defensive and intertribal, this last a form of vendetta. If a man had killed his enemy in the battle, he shaved his head on his return and he was rubbed with "medicine" (generally goat's dung), to protect him from the spirit of the dead man. The young warriors were made to stab the bodies of their slain enemies.

Acholi folk music is, like most Ugandan music, pentatonic. It is distinctive with choral singing, in parts with a lead voice. Songs are also accompanied by a string instrument, the harp-like adungu, and numerous percussion instruments.

The vocal lines of the songs of men and women are in polyphonic style, and they tend to create a counter-point effect. Songs are performed at various occasions. The singing is melodic, and dances are performed collectively. Solo dancing is rather rare. The Acholi have various kinds of dances:

Various dances are performed on certain occasions like, for example, birth, funeral, wedding, rituals (ancestral worship, beginning of a hunt, victory over enemies) and the celebration of the seasons (for example, thanksgiving).

- Apiti Dance was only danced by girls. The men were not admitted. The girls danced in a line and sang. It was a dance which was danced in the middle of the year, when it was raining.

- - Atira Dance was a war dance. Fighting scenes were performed with spears and shields.

- Bwola Dance is a court dance (in the king's palace) of the Acholi, who live in the north of Uganda. This is a circular dance that is performed by the older men and women, and the circle represents a fence that surrounds the palace court. Many events and conversations take place during this dance, so it may last for many hours.

The main dancer is mostly dressed in a leopardskin and conducts the scenes. The men carry and beat the drum. This dance is a very rhythmic one.

- - Ding-Ding Dance dance is performed by the young girls of the Acholi, and their movements are meant to imitate birds. The girls dance to attract the young boys, so the dance is usually held on bright days, when the sun is out.

- Ladongo Dance was danced after a successful hunting event. Men and women danced in one line facing each other, with clapping of hands and running up and down while jumping.

- Larakaraka Dance is a ceremonial dance of the Acholi, who have borders with the Sudan. It is primarily a courtship dance that is performed during weddings. When the young people in a particular village are ready for marriage, they organise a big ceremony where all potential partners meet.

As a sign of friendship, food and alcoholic drinks are served during this ceremony. Only the best dancers will get partners, so there is a lot of competition during the dancing. In Acholi, if you are a poor dancer, you are likely to die as a bachelor.

- Lalobaloba Dance is performed without drums. The people dance in a circle, with the men building up the outer circle and putting their hands on the girls' heads. The men held sticks in other hand.

- Myel Awal Dance is a funeral ceremony, in which the women dance around the burial site and the men make up the outer circle with spear and shield.

- Myel Wamga Dance: Men set in circles on the floor and played the harp (ennanga), while the women danced the Apiti. This dance was performed on the occasion of weddings or beer festivities.

- Otiti Dance: Dance in which the men carry spears and shields. The drummers are arranged in the middle, and the people dance more than they sing.

Origins of Acholi People

Like other Luo groups, they trace their origin to Rumbek in southern Sudan.

It is believed that the major group of the Luo moved down wards under the leadership of Olum and settled at Pubungu near Pakwach.

Legend asserts that the Luo was the first man. He had no human parents. He is said to have sprung from the ground.

It was taken that his father was jok (God) and that his mother was the earth.

Legend adds that Luo’s son jijpit, whose mother was unknown, had a daughter called Kilak.

Kilak was not known to have a husband. Then one time she got lost in the Bush form where she later emerged with a male child.

It was believed that the father of this child was the devil, Labanga.

The child was named Labongo. He was born with bells around his wrists and ankles and he had feathers in his hair.

There were defiantly magical elements in Labongo.

It is said that he was found of dancing and as he danced, bells jingled.When Labongo grew up, he married and had a child in a normal way inspite of his peculiarities. Luo‘s home is said to have been at Bukoba, near Pakwach.

He possessed an axe which he is said to have driven in the ground and out came the chiefs of many Luo groups.

Labongo became the first in the line of the Rwots (chiefs) of Payera. The same Labongo, whose full title was Isingoma Labongo Rukidi, is also remembered as being the first in the line of the Babiito Kings of Bunyoro-Kitara.

He is said to have been the twin brother of Kato-Kimera who is remembered in some quarters as the first in the line of the Kings of Buganda.

The first Namuyongo of northern Bugerere is also said to have been a son of Labongo.

Whether true or false, this legend brings forward the complicated interrelationships between the various peoples of Uganda. It is quite interesting that the Banyoro and the Acholi people differ as they claim common origin.

Some groups in Acholi people such as the Pajule trace their origin directly to the Bagungu of Bunyoro.

It is said that after settling in Pawir, while some Luo (Biito) moved southwards, others also moved northwards and settled in Pajule.Click here to read more about the Luo people

Acholi People and their Culture Part 2

Acholi People and their Culture Part 3

Acholi people and their Culture Part 4

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