offering is made at the Ori ancestor shrines, then
food must also be placed within the tali shrine.
Another type of shrine is the abego shrine.
This is placed for a man or woman who had been
dead about a year and who died old and helpless.
This shrine consists of one small flat granite
stone and is placed under the main granary for
the case of the agnatic ancestors and under the
veranda of the senior wife’s house for the case of
the mother’s lineage ancestors.
An important category of shrines that must be
considered in any study of Lugbara religion are the
matrilineal shrines. These consist of the adroori
shrines, which are for the mother’s brother’s lineage
ancestors and usually are located under the veranda
of the senior wife’s house. Then there are the okuori
shrines, which are utilized by women to
contact the souls of the recently dead and are also
located under the veranda of the senior wife’s house.
There are also the matrilineal tali and abego shrines,
which are located in the same place. Last are the ridi
and tiri fertility shrines as well as the eralengbo
fertility shrine and the ambao matrilineal shrine, all
of which would be located in the compound hedge
or cattle kraal of the Lugbara settlement.
Last but not least are the external lineage shrines,
which are the biggest (and perhaps the most sacred).
These are hidden away in the long grass and bushes
at the periphery of the compounds, where only the
elders who hold rights in them may see them. There
are a variety of names for these shrines. They are
known as rogbo or rogboko in the south, as
kurugbuin the west, and asorijoin the north and
east. Unlike an internal shrine, which is erected for
a particular Ori and remains his over several gener-
ations (until it is finally discarded), an external
shrine may change its incumbent ancestor within a
comparatively short time.
Generally speaking, the rituals connected with
the Ori ancestors are large, whereas those to do
with the ordinary (A’bi) ancestors are smaller. The
congregation that attends the Ori sacrifice is larger
and consists of a wide range of kin, whereas those
at theA’biancestral sacrifices are smaller, with the
lineage-kinship element being a lot less important.
ShrinesandTheirAssociatedStatus
In the Lugbara societies, there are few distinctions
of rank and wealth, and there are little differences of
authority other than within the family cluster. Thus,
men actively compete for the ownership of shrines
because a shrine is a symbol of status, as well as a
mark of ancestral approval for exercising the author-
ity associated with that status. The status of the
owner of a compound therefore is assessed not so
much by the size or the number of houses he may
have, but by the number of shrines that are located
on his compound. Signs of material wealth, espe-
cially if predominant, may enhance one’s status, but
ultimately count for little compared with the number
of shrines that one has. The more numerous one’s
shrines are, the more contact that one has with the
Dead (it is presumed). The more contact one has
with the Dead, the greater will be one’s status. In
other words, the ownership of a shrine confers
certain rights and obligations on the owner toward
both the Dead and the living.
Most Ori ancestor invokers are heads of family
segments. To put it another way, it is mainly the
owners of senior shrines who invoke; conversely,
invokers are seen as having some accepted right to
the ownership of these shrines and, thus, the head-
ship of a family segment.Michael Antonio BarnettSeealsoAncestors; Invocations; ShrinesFurther Readings
Lugbara religion: http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/
sub/lugbara.html
Middleton, J. (1960).Lugbara Religion:Ritual and
Authority Among an East African People. Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press.LUO
The Luo (Jaluo and Joluo) are an important ethnic
group in Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern
Tanzania. They were once called Nilotic
Kavirondo. However, the people refer to them-
selves as Luo. They are the third largest ethnic
group in Kenya, after the Kikuyu and the Luhya.
The Luo constitute about 11% of the population,
compared with 22% by the Kikuyu and 14% by
the Luhya. The total population of the Luo390 Luo