marcus garvey pan african university - Blackherbals.com

Continued from page 33 – Applied Afrikology, Restorative
Practices and Community Resilience in the Mt. Elgon
Area
ludito kaka – individually and in councils. This
structure was brought into crisis by the civil-war and
displacement. Many elders died, and the civil war
presented bigger problems for ‘traditional’ leadership
to resolve. The authority of this lineage-based structure
has also been undermined by the creation of the
Resistance Council/Local Council system, which has
taken over many of the conflict resolution roles
previously held by ‘traditional’ authorities. Their
disempowerment has been further intensified by NGO
initiatives which tend to favour women and youth.
Finally, displacement itself has had a significantly
negative impact on lineage-based leaders, as clans
have been dispersed; restrictions on movement have
made clan meetings difficult and land also difficult to
access, the dialogue noted.
After tea break, the dialogue then returned to the
primary subject matter and delved into the issue of
meaning, it was felt necessary to explain the words and
what they meant in Acholi in relation to their
traditional culture.
1) Ot- Lim – Bride price (where Ot means house, and
Lim means wealth).
2) Keny Atunga- this is when parents identify a
potential bride for their son.
3) Nyom Apenya- two lovers (boy and girl) agree to
marriage and decide to inform their parents about
their intentions. This process triggers a series of
investigations by both families.
4) Cuna Wat- this is a process initiated by relatives,
usually one’s aunt introduces a spouse to a boy,
following a series of investigations on the girl’s
background.
5) Alima- slave.
6) Nyom- marriage.
7) Daa- Too (widow).
8) Coo-Too (widower).
The traditional Process of Nyom
Ms Adong Lucy, a blind and elderly woman, who
identified herself as an Keny- alima (descendant of a
slave) that had been captured during the intra-tribal
wars and brought to Acholi, offered, with additional
input from other participants, to explain the stages of
Nyom (marriage). The Acholi community attaches so
much significance to the marriage ritual, that failure to
marry is considered a curse (or an abnormality) and it
is common for the elders to be called in to monitor events.
Childlessness is also counted as one of the most serious
misfortunes to befall a couple, with women typically taking
all the blame. In such cases, the marriage could be dissolved
or the husband be allowed to marry another wife. Polygamy is
regarded as a normal arrangement and as such a man can
marry as many wives as he want provided he can look after
them. For the Acholi, children are very important as they are
often considered ultimate goal of any marriage. In the past a
couple could not set up a home until their first child was born.
Until then, the newly married couple lived in the groom's
mother's house. In cases where a girl conceived before the
official marriage, the Nyom would not take place until she
had given birth, to confirm that the child belonged to the
groom. Nyom in Acholi is usually a lengthy process which
begins with a boy seeing a girl and initiating courtship. She is
typically expected to be coy and hard to get in order to protect
her morally upright reputation.
Traditional Courtship
A boy, on meeting a girl that takes his fancy, seeks the
company of a friend and visits the girl's home. The two boys
are taken to the girl's mother's house. The girl's mother
vacates the house, leaving the groom-to-be alone with the
daughter to chat, after which the girl walks the two visitors
out. Later, the mother asks her daughter to identify the
visitors, at which point the daughter announces the boy's
interest in her, and her opinion of him. If it is positive, the
mother goes ahead to inquire about the boy's clan in order to
verify that the two love birds are not related by blood. The girl
always looks out for the boy who owns plenty of cattle.
However, a young man chiefly depends upon his lineage to
get both the permission to marry a girl and the ability to
provide the material goods required to pay her OT-LIM bride
price (which is a must in the Acholi tradition culture). After
the visit, the boy satisfied with what he saw, tells his family,
who subsequently find out about the girl’s clan and her
family's status socially. The boy eventually wins her over as
several encounters lead to her finally giving in and accepting
the boy's bead or a bracelet, a sign that she has agreed to be
married to him. This pursuit is known as luk (getting to know
each other). Expression of love among the Acholi youth was
in the past mainly through 'blood packing' (making cuts on
their bodies and tasting each other's blood). This used to be a
version of cementing the relationship.
Although marriages were sometimes organized without the
consent of the boy and the girl in the past, such scenarios are
increasingly rare today, with most people embracing the
modern ideal of freedom of choice. In the past, if a father
preferred a friend's daughter over other girls for his son, it was
possible for the two fathers to’ strike a deal’ and compel their
children to get married to each other. Because it was often the
father's wealth that afforded the boy the OT-LIM, there
Continued on page 35
-34- Traditional African Clinic August 2013