Myths and Religions of Uganda

Uganda has many myths and legends about its people and culture. There are also many religions that make up this African nation. One of the myths is about the Luo people. These people spoke the language of Nilotic and were mainly located in Southern Sudan, northern Uganda, and all throughout Kenya. A well-known myth of these people is The Spear and The Bead and has been retold by missionaries and Ugandan scholars. There was a women name Nyilak and she had three sons named Nyabongo, Gipir, and Gifol. Gifol had a special spear he used for rituals and one day Gipir used it to scare away an elephant forgetting how important it was. The spear stayed stuck in the elephant when it ran away.  Gipir had to search for the same spear in the woods and on his journey, he stayed with an old woman in the woods. An elephant showed him where the spear was, and the old women gave Gipir a bag of special beads. Gilof’s son accidentally ate one of the beads and Gipir gave the child three days for it to naturally reappear. The bead never passed through so the child was killed and the bead was returned. After this the brothers separated and claimed different territories. There have also been many religions in Uganda such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Baha’I religion. Islam and Christianity also impacted this nation. Islam came in the 1800s followed by Christianity. Muslim practices included Sunni, Shia Ahmadiyya, and others. The King of Baganda heard Christian teachings from European explorers and requested that protestant missionaries be sent to Africa. In 1877 protestant missionaries came from England and in 1879 French Catholic missionaries arrived. Both denominations were spread all throughout Africa. Uganda is made of many religions as seen in the chart below. I hope you have enjoyed learning the myths and religions of Uganda.

 

Pariona, Amber. "Religious Beliefs In Uganda." WorldAtlas. October 11, 2016. Accessed February 07, 2018. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/religious-beliefs-in-uganda.html.

Ingham, Kenneth, and Maryinez Lyons. "Uganda." Encyclopedia Britannica. September 18, 2017. Accessed February 07, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/place/Uganda/Religion.

Belcher, Stephen Paterson. African Myths of Origin. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2005.