The Acholi

At this point, I feel like I should provide everyone with a little background on the Acholi people, their language, and their culture. The Acholi have a creation story, like any culture. It goes a little something like this:

Long ago, there were a people led by one chief, named Olum. He was married to a woman named Nyilak, and together, they had three sons, named Tipal, Labongo, and Gipir.

Tipal, however, was insane, and unfit to lead the tribe when Olum stepped down. As such, Olum’s second son, Labongo, became chief. He had a wife named Lawina, and a son named Oteka.

One day after Labongo became chief, he and Gipir were heading out to work in the fields. Gipir had awoken later than his brother, and told Labongo to leave without him, and that he would follow shortly. As Gipir was leaving the hut, though, he saw an elephant in the garden, trampling the produce. Gipir ran back into the hut, and grabbed the ancestral spear that was passed to Labongo when he became chief. Running back out, Gipir hurled the spear at the elephant, and hit it in the side. Injured, but not dead, the elephant ran off with the spear still stuck in him.

There was nothing left for Gipir but to tell his brother what had happened. When he did, Labongo was furious. He demanded Gipir leave the village and not to return until he had found the spear. Gipir protested, arguing the task was impossible, but Labongo refused to change his mind. Dismayed, Gipir packed supplies, and left the village.

He traveled for three months, tracking the elephant through excruciating heat and torrential downpours. He burned during the day, and froze at night. Mosquitoes feasted on him. Still, there was no sign of the elephant or the spear.

About to give up, Gipir came upon an old woman. She fed him and cleaned him, and gave him a comfortable place to sleep for the night. In the morning, Gipir told her about his impossible task. She reassured him, telling him he would soon find what he was looking for and his journey would soon come to an end. She also gave him a small bag of tiny white glass beads.

Heartened, Gipir carried on. Soon enough, just as the woman had foretold, he found the elephant, dead from the wound the spear had caused. Gipir pulled out the spear, and returned to the village. He returned the spear to Labongo, who was joyous at seeing his brother once more.

As they feasted together on the night of his return, however, Labongo’s young son, Oteka, found Gipir’s bag of glass beads from the old woman. As he was playing with them, he accidentally swallowed one.

Gipir, still angry about being cast from the village for three months, demanded the return of his bead. Labongo bid him to wait for allow the bead to pass. However, afters days of waiting, Gipir demanded something more be done. Labongo pleaded with his brother, offering to buy him another bead to replace the one that Oteka had eaten, but Gipir refused. So, Labongo unwillingly dug a grave, and then sliced open his son’s belly, searching through the intestines until the bead was retrieved. He returned it to Gipir, but was furious at having to kill his only son.

The village became divided; half supported Gipir, and half supported Labongo. Each side was ready for war when the village elders intervened. They forced the brothers to sit down and perform mat oput, the drinking of the bitter root. The roots of two trees that have grown together are cut and boiled, producing a liquid that is blood red and incredibly bitter. Each offending party drinks from a cup of the liquid three times, and the bitterness taken in by each drinker causes them to forget their own.

The brothers drank the root, and the village was reconciled. Gipir also became a leader of the people, and remained in the north while his brother traveled to the west. Gipir’s tribe became known as the Acholi, and Labongo’s were the Luo – two tribes which are inextricably linked today. Their languages are incredibly similar, and their cultural practices are reminiscent of the time when each tribe lived together.

The Acholi originate from Sudan, but gradually moved south. The groups kept splitting apart and settling, and now tribes from South Sudan, northern and western Uganda, and the Congo can all trace their origins back to a single Acholi tribe.

Historically, Acholi households are headed by a man who had several wives, each of which would have several children. Babies are born in the home. Baby boys are kept in the house for three days, baby girls for four, and then they are brought out in the morning sun to be admired. Twins are considered sacred; dances are organized for them, and certain animals are slaughtered. Their umbilical cords are kept. The second twins are born, their Acholi names are designated: The first twin born is named Opio, if it’s a boy or Apio, if it’s a girl, meaning first. The second twin is named Ocen (boy) or Acen (girl), meaning after.

The man was charged giving the household direction, and at night, the entire family would come together before the fire. The boys and girls would be divided, and here they would receive their informal education; boys would learn or animals and farming, and the girls would learn traditional cooking and other domestic and familial responsibilities from their grandmothers.

Death and the dead are hugely respected in Acholi culture. When a family member dies, the body is cleaned and prepared by the women. After family members travel from all over to visit the deceased, the dead are buried in the afternoon on family property, close to the home. Families are never far from one another, even in death. Then, food is prepared, and there is dancing. Another ceremony is held three days after death for men, four days for women. Final rites for the deceased are given after a year, when there is again another celebration.

The Acholi language has just as five vowels, just like in English, but with different pronunciations:

A (ah)

E (ay)

I (ee)

O (oh)

U (oo)

There are several letter combinations that make sounds not found in the American alphabet. The most common of the are ‘pw’, which sounds like an American ‘f’, and ‘ny’, which sounds like ‘nee’ or ‘na’, depending on the following consonants. The letter ‘c’ sounds like ‘ch’, as only ‘k’ makes the ‘kah’ sound, and the letter ‘g’ is swallowed and nearly indistinguishable in a word.

There are different greetings you use for different times in the day:

Morning:

Ibutu maber? (Have you slept well?)

            Eyo. (Yes.)

Ico maber? (Did you wake well?)

            Aco maber. (I woke well.)

Daytime:

Irii Maber? (Are you well?)

            Eyo, arii maber. (Yes, I am well.)

Nighttime:

Dong ibut maber. (Sleep well.)

            Apwoyo. (Thank you.)

To introduce yourself to somebody after they’ve greeted you, you would say Nyinga and then your name.

Some words for common Ugandan food:

Cukari (Sugar)

Cak (Milk)

Murango (Beans)

Cai (Tea)

Tongweno (Egg)

Ful (Groundnut [peanuts in America])

Muyembe (Mango)

Guana (Cassava [Fun fact: In large quantities, cassava is a carcinogen. Good thing I don’t like it, I guess.])

Mugati (Bread)

Labolo (Banana)

Ringo (Beef)

Kado (Salt)

Matonda (Passion fruit)

Moodek (Cooking oil)

Bel (Millet)

Layata (Sweet potatoes [different from American sweet potatoes])

Layatamunu (English potatoes)

Munu is the Acholi word for a white person, or a European. It’s commonly interchanged with muzungu, the Kiswahili word meaning the same thing.

Words in Acholi are often recycled, and can have two meanings. For instance, the word cam can mean food, or to eat. Myel can mean a dance, or to dance. However, it is uncommon for the words to be related, like the previous two examples. Much more common are instances like the word coo, which either means men or to wake up, depending on the pronunciation.

Numbers:

0 – Jero

1 – Acel

2 – Aryo

3 – Adek

4 – Angwen

5 – Abic

6 – Abicel

7 – Abiro

8 – Aboro

9 – Abungwen

10 – Apar

11 – Apar wiye acel

12 – Apar wiye aryo

13 – Apar wiye adek

…

20 – Pyere aryo

21 – Pyere aryo wiye acel

22 – Pyere aryo wiye aryo

23 – Pyere aryo wiye adek

…

30 – Pyere adek

40 – Pyere angwen

50 – Pyere abic

…

100 – Miya acel

1,000 – Alip acel

Days of the Week:

Ceng Cabit (Sunday)

Ceng Baraja (Monday)

Ceng Aryo (Tuesday)

Ceng Adek (Wednesday)

Ceng Angwen (Thursday)

Ceng Abic (Friday)

Ceng Abicel (Saturday)

Months of the Year:

Dwe me acel (January)

Dwe me aryo (February)

Dwe me adek (March)

…

And so on and so forth.

Acholi really isn’t a difficult language to learn. It helps that a lot of their words are anglicized, which makes sense, since Uganda was a British protectorate for over fifty years. I’m by no means fluent, but I can manage day to day pleasantries, and I can ask how much something is, which endears a lot of people to me, separates me from NGO workers, and will make getting research done a whole lot easier.

In other news, my home stay time is over. I didn’t want to leave, but it’s not the end; I have an open invitation back during research time, which I definitely plan to take my family up on. This week we’re in Kampala, the capitol city, where I’ll probably get a lot of my Christmas shopping done. Then, next week, we’re off to Kigali, Rwanda, to take a break from the LRA and spend two weeks with the 1994 genocide (not to mention hot water, paved streets, and crepe chefs). Sounds heavenly.