All you need to know about Batooro People in Uganda and their Traditional way of Greetings and Empaako naming or batooro pet names.

Besides their family names, the Batooro like the Banyoro have pet names called empaako.

These pet names are said to be of Luo origin though the Luo do not use them. Empaako was a sign of social identity.

When greeting each other, the Batooro use the empaako.when people w ho were related greeted each other, the younger would sit on the lap of the elder.

Among the Babiito, the younger would touch the forehead and chin of the elder before announcing the empaako.

Batooro and Blood Brotherhood

The Batooro, like their Banyankole neighbours, practiced blood brotherhood, but a man could also make blood brotherhood with a woman.

The main ingredient s of the ceremony included coffee berries, a new bark-cloth, a knife, two branches of a fig tree and sprouts of a grass called ejubwe.

The climax of the ceremony was the taking, with coffee berries of one’s blood from a cut made just below the navel.

Then the two blood brothers would take an oath to behave as real brothers in all respects.

Two men and one old woman would usually act as witnesses to the occasion.

The two celebrants would pronounce the following words to each other during the ceremony:

Brothers fight and shave each other; they cut each other’s nails; they beat each other and help each other.

“

If you become dishonest to me your stomach will swell.”

“When come I to you with horrible disease, you will not send me away”.

“When I come naked you will not send me away”.

“When I come to your home, I will not go away hungry”.

“We shall not do evil to each other, nor shall our children and clans

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