The Luo are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilotic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into western Kenya, and the Mara Region of Tanzania.
The Joluo and their language Dholuo are also known as the "Luo proper", even though their dialect has more Bantu loan words than the rest.
he level of historical separation between these groups is estimated at about eight centuries. Dispersion from the Nilotic homeland in South Sudan was presumably triggered by the turmoil of the Muslim conquest of Sudan.
The migration of individual groups over the last few centuries can to some extent be traced in the respective group's oral history.
Their Luo languages belong to the western branch of the Nilotic language family.
LUO PEOPLES DISTRIBUTION |
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South Sudan |
Uganda |
Kenya |
Tanzania |
Ethiopia |
DR Congo |
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Fifty years ago they were called "the people of the Kavirondo" and all groups of africans living around the Gulf of Lake Victoria - today the site of the town of Kisumu - were so named. Later on, they were briefly called the Kavirondo, as if to indicate the existence of a big tribe called Kavirondo.
Nowadays they are called LUO: once an ethnic block made up of more than forty autonomous groups, occupying their own small territory, but now strongly united into a flourishing tribe, which according to 1979 Kenya Census, numbers two million in Kenya (after the Kikuyu and Luhia). The Luo did not originate in Kenya. Once they were joined with the Maasai, or better with the ancestors of the Maasai tribe and lived on the vast and fertile inlets of the Nile in Southern Sudan. Tradition suggests that they were related to the Dinka and Nuer, still living today in the region of Wau (Sudan). History refers to at least four Luo migrations at definite intervals of time. The first to migrate from their motherland became entirely absorbed into the numberless groups and sub-groups, then living around the northern region of Lake Victoria.
The second wave of Luo to migrate seems to have encountered the Ateker or Itunga (related to the Karamojong) and thus began a kind of new Luo-ltunga culture. The third migration was fully absorbed into the Teso and Karamojong tribes. It is the fourth migration which actually sets the origin and stages of development for the present Luo people. This migration moved slowly towards the South-East, through Uganda. By the beginning of the 1400s, they occupied the coastal territory of Lake Victoria and gradually moved into present day Tanzania, as far as the Musoma District. During their contacts and armed clashes with the Bantu tribes, (such as the Samia and Yimbo), who lived in the territory they were gradually occupying, the Luo did not hesitate to intermarry, to accept ceremonies as well as some cultural elements and new agricultural systems. However they always imposed their own language - dholuo - preserving at the same time many of their Nilotic characteristics. Modern anthropologists, mainly relying on the study of the language, habits and customs, classify the Luo as a special group of Nilotics: Western Nilotics, thus assigning the term "Southern" to the Kalenjin and Omotik groups; while the term "Eastern" is assigned to the folkloristic group of the Turkana, Teso, Maasai, Samburu and Njemps. Today the Luo are divided into four major sub-groups according to their territorial and ancestral origin: JOKA JOK (a name derived from their great chief Jok), JOKA OWINI (they carne from the ethnic group Adhola, in Uganda, and were led by Owini), JOKA OMOLO (of northern Uganda origin) and JOKA SUBA (a blending of Luo and Bantu who have accepted dholuo). Among the greatest leaders who led the Luo in the conquest of the territory they now live in, we must remember the great Ramogi Ajwang (he led his warriors to conquer the pastures held by the Gusii and other Bantu groups and defeated them after fierce fighting on the hill today called Got Ramogi - the Hill of Ramogi) and also a leader known as Gor Mahia. The Luo never adopted the circumcision custom from their neighbours, neither for male or female: there is no circumcision among the Luo. In its place the Luo followed their own particular custom - today almost extinct - of uprooting or breaking some incisor teeth: in some places four or even six lower teeth, in other places some upper teeth also.
This operation, a rather bloody one, used to take place in an atmosphere of preparation for full manhood or womanhood as a test of initiation to true life. There was a second reason behind this kind of custom: the land inhabited by the Luo was widely infected by all kinds of diseases and it was an ideal place for the breeding of germs. Tetanus was common among the Luo. A person affected by this grew stiff, tightly closing the jaws, and thus was unable to receive any nourishment. In order to forcé something through the mouth, they thought of a special solution i.e. the breaking of the teeth, and so by means of a small reed set betweeri the empty space, to be able to give either food or drink. Some young people however, living amongst the Bantu, consider circumcision a sign of manhood, and have adopted it.
Ethiopia is located in Eastern Africa, west of Somalia, at between 8 00 N, 38 00 E coordinates. Ethiopia is about 1,127,127 sq km, with a population of 73,053,286. The Luo ethnic group in Ethiopia are about 45,646 of the total population. Its climate is classified as tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation.
The Luo in Ethiopia are known as Anuak as well, and are in fact no any different than the Anuak of the Upper Nile in Sudan.
Moreover, the Luo Anuak in Ethiopia indeed are the continuation of the Anuak of the Upper Nile Region in Southern Sudan whom are the descendants of Gilo, the younger brother of Nikango and Dimo as far as the ancestry linkages are concerned (Ogot, Bathwell (1967).
The Anuak Luo of Ethiopia are found in the Gamella region of south western Ethiopia. They are classified as Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotics, Luo and Anuak. They are numbering 45, 646 according to (1991) census (Gilley, Leoma: 2004).
Their main sources of economy are fishing, agriculture, mining and hunting. Their source of economy has a distinct link between with the other Luo groups in Southern Sudan and neighbouring countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, DRC, Uganda and Tanzania)
The Luo ethnic group in Kenya are part of the central arguments among the Luo groups all over Africa. Some Luo’s mythical and oral history in Sudan refer to Kenya as the home of origin before the migration Luo people to Sudan and other parts of Eastern Africa.
On the contrary, Luo in Kenya assume that Sudan is the central point of migration and their home of origin, the fact that has been proven by many ethnologists and historians to be the actual point of origin of the Luo people (Atieno-Odhiambo: 1999).
Most ethnologists and scholars who tried to study Luo ethnic groups in the 21 century have cited the same assumptions in which they refer to Southern Sudan as the home of Luo ethnic groups.
Furthermore, Kenya remained the most populated country with Luo ethnic groups in Africa. Kenya also appeared to be unique in the sense that Luo group has maintained its culture, Language and sustained the unity and prevented further separation and migration (Atieno-Odhiambo: 1999).
According to Adamson (1967), the migration of Luo ethnic group to Kenya started some hundred and fifty years ago. Adamson further stated that Luo are the only Nilotic groups in Kenya as far as Kenyan ethnic classification is concerned. They have “… cross [ed] lake Victoria after pushing Bantu ethnic population and the first inhabitants of the Lake Victoria (1967: p157).
The Luo have chosen Nyanza province on the Banks of Lake Victoria as their home and settled there since. They (Luo) have migrated to Kenya from eastern Uganda in four waves which consisted of (1) The Joka-jok as the first group to arrive from the Acholiland, and the largest migration of the Luo recorded to Kenya (2) migration from Alur (3) The owiny whom are actually part of the Padhola and (4) the Jok’omolo who migrated from Pawir.
Currently, there are about 12 Luo clans found in Kenya, and consist of Jo-Alego, Jo-Gem (Gum), Jo-Ugenya, Jo-Seme, Jo-Karachuonyo, Jo-Nnyakach, Jo-Kabundo, Jo-Kisumo, Jo-Kano, Jo-Asembo, Jo-Uyoma, Jo-Sakwa and Jo-Kajulu. The term “Jo” in Luo language means "people of” (Ogot: 1997).
Apparently, the Luo ethnic tribe are considered as the third largest group in Kenya (11%) after the non-Luo Bantu of Kikuyu (21%) and Luhya (14%) of the total population. (Ogot: 1997)
Nonetheless, the Luo language is adopted and spoken by majority of non-Luo tribes in Kenya as a second language. In 1994, the Luo ethnic group’s population was estimated to be 3, 185,000. The Luo in Kenya are also known as Nilotic Kavirondo, and classified as Nilo-Saharan, Eastern sudanic. The Luo however, simply refer to themselves as Jo- Luo, which literary means; (the people of Luo) (Ogot: 1997).
The Luo of Kenya are known as agriculturist, Fishers and miners. They have adopted Christianity as their traditional religion, and also believed in ancestors and life after death (Gray, Richard: 1961).
There are similarities noted between the Luo ethnic groups of Tanzania, and the Luo of Kenya. Both are being classified as Nilotic Kavirondo, Nilo-Saharan, Luo, and Eastern Sudanic.
Nonetheless, by paying a closer look at the Luo Settlement around the Lake Victoria (Re: Map figure) in Kenya, it gives a clear indication of continuation of the same Luo ethnic tribe of Kenya up to eastern bank of lake Victoria, crossing the border of Tanzania and Kenya. The Luo in Kenya are found in Mara Region (Ogot: 1997).
The population in Tanzania was estimated at 280,000 according to the year 2001 government census. The migration of the Luo ethnic to Tanzania is cited around 1800. The Luo ethnic group in Tanzania crossed over form Kenya, as such they are not any different than the Luo in Kenya.
The Luo group in Tanzania are also known as Luo Kavirindo; the same name that applies to Luo groups in Kenya (Wild J.V. (1954).
Uganda is home for Luo ethnic groups of (1) Acholi, (2) Adhola, and the assimilated Luo groups of (3) Lango and (4) Kumam.
It is also assumed to be the possible first entrance that Luos of Sudan used to further migrate to Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic republic of Congo.
The Luo population in Uganda was estimated at 994,373, in which 746,796 according to (1991 census) were Luo acholi, that are found in North central Acholi district, and 12,089 speakers of Chopi, (1972 Ladeoged et al,). This statistics also includes 247, 577 (1986) Luo Adhola in Maple District (Ogot: 1997).
Both Luo Acholi and Adhola are classified as Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotics, Luo or Lwo. In addition to Acholi and Adhola in Uganda, there are also Alur, Jo-Nam, Thur, Lango and Kumam. In this context, it was noted that Lango and Kumam are not Luo by their origin; rather, they have been assimilated through intermarriages and socio-cultural interaction. According to T.T. S. Hayley (1947) the Lango were in close contact with the Nilo-homitic such as Shilluk, Luo, Anuak, Alur and Jopaluo.
These groups seem to occupy the areas that passed round the north of Lake Rudolph and cross to the north of Lake Albert. The groups split up, and migrated northwest, and southwest to form what is known today as nilotic group of eastern Africa, as a result of inter ethnic conflict between an alliance of Bari and Madi against the Acholi. In this segment, Lango continued its migration to settle southwest towards the Nile about A.D. 1700..
DR Congo, or The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of central African Countries that hosted large number of Luo ethnic tribe known as Alur. The Luo Alur are about 750,000 in the democratic Republic of Congo (2001Johnston and Mandrake), and are found in Oriental Province, Mahagi Territory and Northwest to Djalasiga area. (Hayley: 1947)
The Luo Alur in Congo are also known as Lur, Aloro, Alua, Alulu, Luri, Dho Alur and Jo-Alur. Furthermore, They are classified as Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotics, Luo-Acholi, Alur-Acholi or Alur.
The Luo Alur in the Congo were the pioneers of African Music’s, which is adopted later by most African countries in the modern history. (Atkinson, Raymond: 1994).
The Luo Alur according to Peter George Murdock (1959) subsists primary by agriculture, the profession that many Luo groups’ masters. The Luo Alur inhabit northern Uganda, and extended into Belgian Congo and Kenya. (1959).
The ancestor of Alur groups according to Partitioned, Francis (1985), were part of the long term movement of the Luo speaking people from Southern Sudan to what is known now as Uganda and Kenya.
The Luo, in their long migration process, have naturally become nomads, great owners of livestock, used to warfare. During the last century, however, they began to settle down to a more stable kind of life, getting some subsistence from land cultivation, without giving up cattle rearing. The family structure of Luo is patrilinear, whereby ownership and power come down from the father or grandfather to male children only. The family nucleus is constituted by the family head and his wives, (polygamy is very common among Luo), with their sons and daughters and, if the sons are married, also their wives and children . The daughters of the family head, when they get married, definitely leave the family of origin and join their husband's line. The wealth of a family head has an influential weight on the stability of his family group: a wealthy man must have more wives and many children in order to defend, protect and care for the property and look after the cattle. It was a common occurrence to register a nuclear family with up to fifty wives, mainly among great chiefs and witchdoctors. According to the Luo mentality, there is strength in numbers, so that the bigger a nuclear family is, the more powerful it is. Besides, it needs to be pointed out that, as a result of tropical diseases and epidemics, mortality was high and the greater number of wives was considered as the most solid means to uphold the perpetuity of family life.
Each Luo family belongs to a clan (dhoot): clan means a group of people or families belonging to the same ancestor. Several clans inter-related and gathered in the same geographical area make up a people (oganda), under the leadership of a chief (ruoth). Several peoples (ogendini) together constitute the Luo tribe. When the English Colonial power occupied the región of the Gulf of the Kavirondo, it found thirteen ogendini, which gave rise to the thirteen locations, into which the present territory is divided. Each ruoth had its own Council (buch pini) made up of the elders of the most renowned clans, for, according to the Luo and also to all Bantu people, wisdom is a characteristic of oíd age. This Council judged questions and cases of greater importance, such as serious crimes, raids, land problems, inter-clan wars... Besides this there were Regional Councils and Clans'Councils. The family head was entitled to judge only minor crimes within his own intímate family.
The typical Luo family (or nuclear family) lived and still lives in its own enclosed place (pacho), together with its cattle. The pacho consists of a stretch of land enclosed by a fence of euphorbia tree (ojuok); it has a main and a secondary entrance. In the centre of the pacho, close to the smaller kraal reserved for cattle, there is the traditional circular hut of the family head. In this very hut, guests are welcomed and meals are taken together by all the male members of the family. Right behind this hut and in front of the main entrance, there stands the hut of the first wife (mikayi); the hut of the other wives are located beside it. By the sides of the main entrance there are the huts of adult male sons, whether married or not. A deep mark of distinction between the Luo and other Bantu and Nilotic tribes - which themselves greatly value hospitality - is the well known custom of honouring guests with the highest esteem and respect. It reaches its most concrete expression in the building of a beautiful guest hut, peculiar in shape. The entrance to it is high and comfortable, but soon one faces a low ceiling about one metre high and one needs to crouch low in order to reach a welcoming bed-sofa (or skins laid on the ground). The guest who enters this hut, where the family head is already waiting for him, must feel at once at ease, rest and take the food prepared in advance for him. A most honoured reception for those not affected by rheumatism...
Marriage is one of the most important ceremonies of the Luo society. It is not a matter of an actor of a day, but it completes itself through a long period of time. Few Luo people actually really know the most intricate ritual of marriage. It consists of a long gradual process of agreements, of offerings, of sacrifices, of feasts etc... each having a crowd of leading and minor characters roaming around the bridegroom's family and around the groom's father, who will help his son draw up the required dowry in order to marry. A most expert master of ceremonies will lead the marriage celebration according to old Luo traditions. Marriage negotiations can last for months. They are carried on by the parents of the two "promised", through intermediaries. Once the marriage has been agreed on, it was a past custom - performed even today in some places - to devise a kind of "bride-snatching" (such a custom is found also among some Bantu people in Kenya): the girl was carried off to the boy friend's hut. After a certain period of living together, the couple will go to the girl's parents' house, where the boy friend will express his respect to the mother and then will start to pay part of the agreed dowry. A great feast will then follow.
The fiancé-husband will comply with his duty to pay the rest of the dowry, but ¡n the meantime, the girl will remain with her parents paying only brief visits to the "promised husband", on the occasions of additional dowry payments, such as a new cow.
Only when the girl's father is fully satisfied with the number of cows paid, will the final marriage feast - called riso - take place, being the ceremony of definitely handing over the bride to the husband. Among Luo there was no room for unmarried women or men. An unmarried person was considered neither an adult nor a full member of the clan.
The Luo believe in the existence of God - Nyasaye - Supreme Being, creator of the universe. The name Nyasaye (or Nyasi) is not of Luo origin, but ¡t has been borrowed from neighbouring Bantu tribes. According to some people it means only "good spirit". Next to the Supreme Being is the figure of Chieng, the sun. It is the elders 'duty to pray to God and plead with him for help, or for rain, through the ancestors' mediation. Traditional Luo nourish a strange sacred respect for serpents. When they meet them on their way or in any place of work, they prefer to move away in awe without disturbing them. If they discover a serpent in their hut, they tactfully invite it to go out, thinking that such a serpent is a reincarnation (or nearly) of the spirit of one of the ancestors, who has come to make sure things in his old house still function well. Trees, rocks and tops of high hills, are considered sacred places where animistic people offer sacrifices of animals and implore god's blessings for the harvest and homesteads. The Luo also believe in the presence of the spirits (juogi); these can take possession of a person, conferring on him certain healing powers. Such a possessed person becomes a witchdoctor - ajuoga - or a medicine-man. As a matter of fact, such a person is quite conversant with herbalism and can cure diseases, thus strengthening the credibility of his trade.
The Jabilo is a sacred or quasi-sacred person; he is a kind of great priest: he foretold or foreboded successful results of battles, laid "magic" on the warriors that they might not die in war... and, not least, was a "rain-maker".
Generally Luo have a quiet and jovial character. Intelligent and enterprising. Deriving from nomadic ancestors, modern Luo still have in their blood a need of adventure: they easily wander far from their home, but they are firmly rooted in their country of origin. Their traditional life was hunting, fishing, rearing animals and only recently, cultivation. Hunting of wild animals provided the daily necessities of the group, while the domestic animals were reserved for special solemnities, marriages, sacrifices and funerals. Hunting was a community affair and the division of the meat formed a special ceremonial which even today applies in the division of the domestic meat. Luo were, and still are, the champions at fishing, among all the tribes of Kenya. The new fishermen have adopted nets and modern fishing-lines instead of the oíd wicker net. But even nowadays, mainly on the tiny deltas of the rivers flowing into the Lake Victoria, you may admire groups of fishermen busy with their oíd traps. The most renowned fish they like is the Tilapia (ngege), but the kamongo (lung-fish) is also a favoured catch. The presence of numerous hippos in Lake Victoria was a good chance for the Luo to become courageous hunters and eaters of hippo meat. From the hippo, besides the meat, they used to obtain fat, hide for their shields, ornamental tusks for their ritual masks (particularly for the ritual funeral masks). Land cultivation is a relatively recent activity of the Luo. Finger millet (eleusina), cassava, cotton, sorghum, sugar cañe, bananas and pumpkins are the usual crops which may be cultivated in the hot, humid climate of the Lake Basin. Joviality among the Luo may be expressed in many ways: banquets with copious beer drinking, dances, extempore thrumming of citharists, strenuous smoking by aged grandmothers. The picture of the Luo eider peacefully smoking her big clay pipe is almost classic! The characteristic Luo musical instruments used for pacing the rhythm of a dance or of a song, are the nyatiti, a sort of guitar or zither with many strings, not necessarily arranged in order to make a diatonic scale (it is enough to strum), the abu (horn of an ox or other large animal); the orutu, a kind of violin with a single string which is made to vibrate by means of a tiny bow. In some places you may find people blowing into a gigantic horn-plus-pumpkin (see the picture), called bu.
The birth of the first born - as among all tribes of Kenya - is greeted with particular joy: all the clan must take part in the solemn ceremonies and dances. If the first born is a male, the solemnity will be at its peak, but also for the first baby girl there will be feasting and joy. A birth of twins however, in the past was considered a bad ornen and among some groups of Luo the twins were suffocated. If births and marriages were regulated by sumptuous ceremonials, we must say that the funeral rites surpass all others.
Some would derive the funeral rites of the Luo from the pharaohnic rites of the Egyptians. Luo funerals, particularly the ruoth's (chief) funeral, have an impressive and communitarian significance. The death is celebrated with laments, songs and dances. All parents, closely or distantly related, together with friends and acquaintances, will gather in the pacho and deeply mourn the death. The successor of the head of the family must do his utmost to please all guests properly: food and beer must be in plenty for everybody if he would not be shamed. Celebration will go on for days and weeks even after burial. The burial place of the head of the family is in front of the first wife's hut, in the pacho. The grave of the first wife, should she be the first to die, is in front of the husband's hut. While assisting at Luo funeral rites, one may note people solemnly dressed in pharaohnic attire, pushing a big ox. The animal will be sacrificed for the benefit of the participants in the funeral rites and in honour of the deceased in order to gain his favour as an "ancestor". Succession and division of the deceased's property must scrupulously follow his last will. Rich heads of the family seldom leave this world without an oral testament for the family and the clan. One main point is taken for granted: the daughters will not inherit from their father. The Luo culture, especially recently, has undergone rapid and deep changes. The Luo have adapted to a more sedentary life. They have specialized in the cultivation of more profitable crops, small industries, different professions and commercial life, and last but not least, they have entered politics. All these changes have made the Luo people - compared to other tribal groups - a prominent tribe not only in their own territory but all over Kenya as well, mainly in the big cities, where the Luo now share their ability with the Kikuyu, Luhia, Kalenjin etc... in all aspects of national life: politics, the legal profession, medicine, engineering, journalism.
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