a man (usually an elder) takes responsibility for
causing sickness, whereas in ancestral vengeance, it
is the Dead who are believed to be directly respon-
sible for the sickness. An important thing to note is
that the Ori ancestors are the only ones who can be
invoked by elders to bring sickness to one of their
kin, whereas both the Ori and the A’bi ancestors
may be involved in orily vengeance.
ShrinesThe shrines of the agnatic (patrilineal) oris are
called Ori houses (orijo) or merely Oris (Ori).
Their construction varies considerably, but they
are always made of small granite slabs. These may
be placed flat on the ground so as to form a kind
of paving, or each shrine may be built as a
“house” of five stones carefully fitted together to
form four walls and a roof. Sometimes they are
built as miniature round houses with roofs of
stone or even thatch. The differences in the shape
of these shrines are not significant except as an
index of the degree of cultural variation among
the Lugbara people.
Usually each shrine is for a particular Ori.
Often especially in the Southern Lugbara region,
one shrine may house two Oris, either brothers or
a father and son. The actual means by which the
Ori ancestors use their shrines and take the sacri-
ficial offerings made to them there is not consid-
ered important by the Lugbara and not known.
An Ori is always considered to be at the shrine, in
the sense that he is believed to know what goes on
near the shrine at all times. An Ori may have more
than one shrine in different compounds so that no
single one is considered to be his exclusive home.
Oris are also considered to live in the ground,
but they may be contacted at their shrines. These
Ori shrines are placed for lineage ancestors that
rarely go back further than the inner lineage
founder; in other words, the recently dead, the
fathers, the grand-fathers, and their brothers.
More distant Ori ancestors are not so troublesome
and do not bring sickness. As such, these more
remote ancestors have other shrines—the external
lineage shrines outside the compound.
More orily sickness is said to come from a
man’s own dead father than from other dead kin.
The father’s Ori is preeminent. Just as a living
elder is the living representative of his juniors and
an intermediary between them and the Dead, the
father’s Ori represents the youngest dead ancestor
and thus acts as an intermediary between the
Dead and the elder. Additionally, the more senior
Oris are said to bring less sickness than the junior
Oris because they delegate to their juniors the task
of watching over the living.CollectiveShrines
Besides the internal Ori shrines placed under
the main granary, there are other shrines that are
erected for ancestors as collectivities. These are
found in all compounds and are known asa’biva
andanguvua. A’biva is the name for both shrines
and their incumbents and literally means “the
ancestors beneath.” This refers to the ancestors
who live beneath the houses of their descendents.
The A’biva, who are considered to be a collectiv-
ity of the souls of male ancestors who have begot-
ten children, stay in or near the dwelling houses of
their descendents and at night are said to be heard
grunting as they talk with one another. A special
shrine is placed for the A’biva on the veranda of
the senior wife’s house. It consists of two flat
stones, one upright and the other flat. It is said to
bring sickness of its own account in the form of
swellings to the body.
Those who die childless become neither Ori
ancestors nor A’biva. They join a collectivity of
childless ancestors known as theanguvua. Anguvua
are similar to A’biva, and the Lugbara usually speak
of them being together. They usually bring sickness
to children because they wanted children and had
none. There is no actual shrine for the anguvua, but
they are assumed to be in the ground. The offerings
for them are placed just inside the doorway of the
senior wife’s house (on the ground).OtherTypesofShrines
A third type of shrine associated with the dead
is the tali shrine. These shrines are placed for the
collectivity of personalities of those male ances-
tors who have left male children. Although in real-
ity every man has his own personality, only one
tali shrine is placed under one granary. Thus, the
collectivity of personalities of the lineage comes
into contact with the living at a single shrine. If anLugbara 389