approaches 5 million. This entry looks at their
history and religious beliefs.
Historical BackgroundThe Luo have a long history as pastoralists, but
they have become agriculturalists who maintain
large cattle herds. They are found in many of the
large cities of Eastern Africa as urban workers.
They speak the Dholuo language, which is similar
to Lango, Acholi, Padhola, and Alur spoken in
Uganda. This cluster of languages means that the
Luo have close relations with other ethnic groups
that share cultural commonalities.
According to history, the Luo migrated from
Sudan near the confluence of the Sue and Meride
Rivers near Wau. It is from this area of vast plains
where scores of ethnic groups have gathered for
thousands of years that the Luo are said to have
begun their travel to the south. From this region,
they migrated to Uganda and then to Kenya
about 1400 AD.
The Wau region is known for being a cross-
roads of culture. The Dinka, Luo, and other
people are known to have met on these plains, and
in the midst of wars and conflicts many groups
were dispersed. At least five waves of Luo came
from this area before they became a firm, con-
crete, stable group identified as a separate linguis-
tic family. They migrated as the Joka who came
from Achoiland, the people from Alur, the Owiny
from Padhola, the Jok’Omolo from Pawir, and the
Abasuba who are now found in southern Nyanza.
Thus, the contemporary Luo group consists of
many subgroups that may, in turn, consist of
many subclans.
One can say that by the mid-19th century, the
Luo identity was well established as a society
consisting of ruodhi or regional kings. These
kings resisted the British intentions to remove the
people from their territory. In 1896, the British
sent an expedition with the Maxim machine gun
to fight against King Gero and his Umira Kager
clan. Allying themselves politically for advantage
with Mumia, the Wanga ruler, the British quickly
murdered 200 Luo.
Three years later, another British expedition
was led against the Luo, in which 2,500 cattle and
10,000 sheep and goats were captured. Subdued
by the British superior weapons, the Luo king
Odera was forced to supply 1,500 porters for the
British army as it fought against the Nandi people.
Many Luo objected to this capitulation to the
British because they saw it as the end of their own
culture. When the British sent Odera Akang’o, the
ruoth of Gem, to Kampala, he was so impressed
by the British settlement that he initiated a process
of forcing his own people to adopt British dress,
language, and styles. The Luo rapidly came under
the influence of British culture. By following the
British pattern of life, they avoided the wholesale
loss of their land that befell other pastoral people
in the Kenyan Highlands.Religious Beliefs
According to Luo belief, the Supreme Creator is
called Nyasaye or Nyasi. Like other African soci-
eties, the Luo traditions are grounded in the rela-
tionship of the living with the ancestors. There is
a strong belief in the idea that the ancestors can
impact the life of the contemporary person. Thus,
the rituals and ceremonies of the people are
related to this belief. The juogi, which is the
naming ceremony, is the first official act of receiv-
ing the person into the society.
The child is usually named between birth and
age 2 after an ancestor appears in a dream to an
adult member of the family. Actually this means
that the person who does good deeds and is well
respected will return in a dream to the living and
thus begin the process of reincarnation again.
When the child is named, he or she will take on
some of the characteristics of the returned ances-
tor. Thus, if the ancestor was kind, the child
becomes a kind person in life; if argumentative,
the same. The named ancestor becomes the indi-
vidual’s guiding spirit throughout his or her life.
Those who have been evil will never be
accepted as reincarnated beings. It is believed that
those who are evil are destined to a world of non-
being. The Luo are among the few groups in East
Africa that do not practice ritual circumcision of
males as initiation. However, in the past, children
have had their six lower front teeth removed by
expert initiators.
Although the Luo have become more Western
in contemporary times, they were traditionally
polygamous and deeply entrenched in the idea of
family. Matchmakers from families usuallyLuo 391