The Karamojong Culture

Cattle and Wealth

The Karamojong consider cattle royalty and it is the measure of a man whereby a man is valued according to how many cattle he has and they will do everything they possibly can to find good pasture and water for their cattle which is a difficult task considering the fact that the Karamoja region of Uganda is a very dry region. Cattle is used to establish families, acquire political supporters, achieve status, and influence public affairs. The payment of cattle as bride-wealth to a girl’s kin is an essential step in arranging a marriage. A man is only the genitor, not the father of children he engenders unless he transfers cattle in a bride-wealth for their mother.

In other words, the more cattle a man provides in bride-wealth the more kinsmen he creates. Cattle is also highly valued both in economic and social terms in that milk, blood, and meat provide sustenance; fat is both a food and a cosmetic; urine is used as a cleanser; hides make sleeping skins, skirts, bell collars, sandals, armlets, and anklets; horns and hooves provide snuff holders, feather boxes, and food containers; intestines are used for prophecy and droppings are used for fertilizer.

Roles

Roles for the Karamojongs are quite simply defined. Women carry out most of the activities related to these permanent settlements. With the exception of some milk products, the only food consumed in the permanent settlements is generally the product of women’s agricultural efforts. While the men go out to find pasture and water for the cattle, the women and children stay back in the Manyatta to take care of the homestead and tend the gardens to supplement their diet.

Language

Related to Turkana: in the Karamojong language, the people and the language have the convenient prefixes ŋi- and ŋa- respectively and lack of a prefix indicates the land where they live. (The Lango in Uganda are also ethnically and genetically close to the ŋiKarimojong, evidenced by similar names among other things, though they adopted a dialect of the Luo language).

Culture

The main livelihood activity of the Karamojong is herding livestock, which has social and cultural importance and crop cultivation is a secondary activity, undertaken only in areas where it is practicable. Due to the arid climate of the region, the Karamojong have always practiced a sort of pastoral transhumance, where for 3-4 months in a year, they move their livestock to the neighboring districts in search of water and pasture for their animals. The availability of food and water is always a concern and affects the Karamojong’s interaction with other ethnic groups. The number of cows the family head possesses is a sign of wealth, prestige and social status symbol and cows are a gifts for good character achievements, friendship after acts of valor and bravery for protecting the community, and because of this, boys start receiving cows in youths and gradually increase their stock.

Marriage

The Karamajong daughters are seen as valuable part of the family compared to the sons, the reason being that, when a girl grows up and is ready for marriage, the family gets wealthy in terms of getting cows from the boy`s family who will be marrying this girl upon wedding. As both a rite of passage into manhood, as well as a requirement for engagement, a young Karamojong man is required to wrestle the woman he desires to marry. If he is successful in winning the wrestling match against the woman, he is now considered to be a man and is permitted to marry the woman which also ensures that the man will be strong enough to care for and protect his wife and after a successful match, the dowry negotiations are allowed to commence. In an instance where the young man is unable to defeat the woman in the wrestling match, he will not be considered by his people to be a man and will often leave to marry a woman from a different people-group where a test of strength is not required. If a non-Karamojong man desires to marry a Karamojong woman, he is also required to go through this ceremony.

The karamojongs are polygamous people who are known for marrying many wives only limited by bride wealth obligations and no marriage among relatives is allowed. When the bride arrives at the home of his husband to be, she is taken through the large kraal entrance and led to her own house. The groom dresses in a leopard skin cloak with bells on his knees and zebra tail and he circles the entire village pretending to be a brave animal while tossing and swinging his tail and at the end of the day, all village people gather in the cattle kraal for celebrations. The marriage ceremonies among the life of the Karamojong in which livestock assumes a role to its status, attributes to sacrifice, during the ceremonial occasions, the Karamojong kill an ox that is chosen in advance for this purpose. The ox that is chosen becomes the connection between man and god, and this is believed by the people and recognized as a gift given to them through the ox. In this particular status that the cattle have and the role which it fulfils in the social and religious life of the Karamojong, explains also the psychological basis which each herder has with his livestock.

Religion

Unlike the rest of Uganda where most of the people have adopted a foreign religion either Christianity or Islam, the Karamojong still follow their traditional religion and believe in a god –Akuj, their traditional god who they believe gave them birthright of all the cattle in karamoja region.

The Manyattas

These are large homesteads where the karamajongs live in large families, sharing the compound which consists of thorny fences and wood encircle for protection against raids from other cattle rustlers and wild animals. Livestock kraals are located in the center of the manyatta, men set campfire and keep guard overnight and the manyatta is an institution of learning where skills pass on to generations and there, each person plays a social role basing on age, gender, skills and other fields. Women and girls are homemakers and do most of the chores in the homestead including active participation of erecting and renovating housing structures while men and boys tend to livestock, roaming the Karamajo semi-arid plains while looking for fresh pasture to graze in and watering holes.

Food

The Karamojong life rotates around livestock, cattle in particular. Raw milk, smoked meat, yoghurt, cow ghee, smoked hides, greens from trees and fresh beef. Though the area is relatively dry and does not support most plant life, still foods like millet and sorghum are grown for food consumption.

Hair style

The hair dressing is one of the most important part of the Karamojong decorations, usually men spend a lot of time or even days working on a head piece which is part of their beauty.  Hair style depends on the clan that one belongs and right from childhood, the children already participate in the head-dressing that associate them with their clans. There are different kinds of head-dress which are reserved to initiated men for example; pad of clay which the initiate receives during the “asapant” a term used for initiation, then the other called “helmets” both are made of human hair, one is considered ordinary and the other more festive, worked into the shape of a shield and decorated with ostrich feathers. Since the Karamojong hair dress indicates the clan or age group of the men from 10-15 years the male hair dress takes the form of a tiny press on the back of his head, as he becomes older gradually the head dress is enlarged until certain age and later then the whole head will be covered. Regarding to the Karamojong women, hair is shaved according to their clan that is for both women and children whereby some clans leave a strip in the centre, and others one or two on the side, others a circle on the right, others little tufts etc.

Dressing

Traditionally, making of women`s and girl`s costumes in Karamoja was mainly a female work. Every woman in the village (Manyatta) had to be involved in the dress-making. The elderly women came  together  and  co-operatively  produced  a respectful  piece  of  work,  while  the  girls  were under apprenticeship, improving their skills in the techniques and styles of making female costume. The same fashion of skirt was made all over Karamoja with just small difference among some tribes and the girl`s skirt was made differently from that of a woman with more detailed designed costume due to decency. The “Elou” was mainly made from sheep and goat skin, the preparation did not involve as many processes as those found in making of the “abwo” women’s skirt. And girl’s skirt was made from the goat and sheep skin and the two pieces were joined together in an interesting pattern while the women’s skirt were made from skins of the antelope, goat and calf due to their softness, texture and availability.

Today, this kind of organic dressing has been replaced with “Suka” skirt that came into use around 1970s. The young Karamojong men wrap a sheet around their waist, pairing it a vest called called eplan in any colour. The older men, however, tie the sheet across their bodies and over the shoulders. The bed sheets originate from Kenya among the Masai, since the Karamojong and Masai peoples have some similarities in their traditions. The Karamojong dress code is usually not complete without a stick known as “Ebela” and a stool called “Ekicholong”. Sticks are carried along by Karamojong people due to their kind of work as pastoralists, stool is used for resting when one gets tired while the cattle is grazing  on  the fields. The  shoes  or  sandals  are  made  from  car  tyres commonly  known  as “Ngatangai”. The women dress is usually made from bed sheets that is then hand sewn into skirts, it is sewn with folded pleats or hides, and it is then decorated with beads to make it attractive. The skirt is referred to as “Abwo”. The skirt that is made from hides is however, the most commonly worn by the Karamojong women as a traditional attire. The skirt is also paired with a vest that is similar to that worn by men, except that there is a variation in colour. The women wear their attire that is also accompanied with beads, made as ear-rings, necklaces waist belts and head gears and this are all called “Ngachillo”.

Tattooing

This is considered as a mark of beauty for both men and women, the bride’s brother is the one responsible for this duty before the wedding ceremony, therefore he pinches her skin between four fingers and thumb and slices up with handmade knife to ensure scar and then dirt is rubbed onto the wound. Tattooed designs are also thought by various people to provided magical protection against sickness or misfortune or they serve to identify the warrior’s rank, status or membership in a group. According to the karamojong tradition, tattooing and sacrifice goes hand in hand, this is depending on what kind of ceremony is being practiced at the moment. Therefore, tattoo is not just a mere cutting of the body but the procedure that must be followed by all the partners that are involved. In this case, the bride’s father plays a big role during the process of giving away her daughter, he as well is tattooed;  however his tattoo differs from that from that of women. The step that is done in the process of tattooing is that lines are scratched with a twig and the skin raised with a nail, then it is sliced with a crude knife. This tattoo mark is an evidence that this is his first daughter to be married.

Traditional dance

The Edonga dance is practiced by the Karamojong that repeatedly involves jumping high up from the ground and not only performed during celebrations and harvest times but also acts as a love charm among Karamojongs. Warriors need stamina and courage to overcome obstacles and thus the Edonga dance which comes in different styles and meanings among the Karamojong involves a community of girls forming a human ring singing and chanting, as the brave take to the centre to jump and show off how high they can go. The girls also jump, swinging their skirts and showcase the many beads they have. The higher you go, the more chances of winning over a lover.  When it comes to a girl choosing a lover, they get to watch boys jumping in a dance whereby a girl chooses those with enough stamina and jump repeatedly and those with no stamina are rejected. The girl then chooses one she likes and goes sits aside with him before giving him her bead which shows acceptance in the hand of marriage and boy takes the bead to their parents to show he has a ready to be married.

Why visit Karamoja?

Apart from being cheap the Karamoja region harbors a beauty of culture fused with wildlife. Its jealously protected culture is what brings people from all over to marvel at their livelihood and experience their tradition first hand. So, visit and explore this land and its secrets.

What to carry

Basically, anything to protect you from the sun like Sunscreen, a wide brimmed hat, long trousers to protect you from thorny bushes, sunglasses to protect your eyes, repellants to mention a few.

Where to find the Karamojongs

In Uganda the Karamojongs can be found in the followings Districtsl; Kaabong, Kotido, Abim, Moroto and Nakapiripirit.

How to get there

There are two routes one can choose from. One is from Kampala along a surfaced road to Mbale, then following a rougher road north to Nataba gate via Pian Upe Reserve, Nakapiripirit, Moroto, Kotido and Kaabong. The route is 473.4 km long and takes about 13 hours.

The other route involves taking the Gulu road as far as Kamdini corner and branching right to Lira, driving for 300km until you reach Nataba gate via Abim, Kotido and Kaabong taking about 12 hours.