Lugbara

Religious Beliefs

The Lugbara believe that the living and the Dead of the same lineage exist in a permanent relationship with each other. As a result, the Dead are aware of the actions of the living and care for them because they consider the living to be their children. However, in some circumstances, the Dead may send sickness to the living to remind them that they are the acting custodians for the Lugbara lineages and their shrines. The people conceive of the Supreme Deity (Adroa, the creator of the universe) as containing elements that lead to either good or bad; that is, either in a guise that is remote and far off, but benevolent (good), in which case he is termed Onyiru, or in a guise in which he is close to people (such as in the streams) and is dangerous and bad, in which case he is known as Onzi.

Adroa is considered to have created the universe and the world and then initiated the Lugbara society by creating the super-human Hero-Ancestors Gboro-Gboro (male) and Meme (female) and some domestic livestock as the first step. Many of the Lugbara traditions focus only on Meme, whose womb was filled with all living things of the world. A gazelle was the first creature to leave Meme's womb, when it ruptured it with its hoof. After this, all the animals come out, with man being the last. The first human beings are said to have been twins: Arube, a boy, and O'duu, a girl. These twins, unlike their parents Gboro-Gboro and Meme, were believed to be ordinary human beings. Meme died immediately after giving birth to these twins. It is said that when these twins grew up, they married each other and produced children who, through successive generations, multiplied to produce the Lugbara society.

Ancestors are important in the lives of the Lugbara people. For them the ancestors communicate with the living, influence their luck, and can be appeased by those in authority. As such, the authority figures in the Lubara community, who are known as lineage elders, play an integral part in the lives of the rest of the Lugbara. A lineage elder is said to “own” an ancestral shrine, and this ownership serves to reinforce his power to communicate with the ancestors. The elder can invoke a curse on a relative, and people with illnesses often consult diviners to interpret the conditions of their lives and determine which elder might have caused the illness.

These ancestral shrines are of many kinds. However, the most prominent ones are those [Page 386]erected for a spirit of an ancestor (an Orijo or spirit house). These are usually pieces of granite formed into a house. Because a spirit is believed to be capable of creating serious trouble for the living, several shrines are often made for them, at which sacrificial food and beer can be offered by his descendents. Other types of shrines include shrines for the spirits of mother's brothers, shrines for those who did not leave sons behind, and shrines built for the ancestors as ancestors.

...