The Acholi People
The Acholi tribe is part of the Luo group in the northern part of Uganda, they originally migrated from southern Sudan. The Achioli tribe was traditionally organized in chiefdoms. each under a hereditary ruler known as rwot. The rwot was a link between the living and the dead and offered sacrifices to the ancestors on behalf of his people.
The Acholi believed in a supreme being called Jok and in another god, Lubanga, who was the cause of evil. The Acholi also worshipped the spirits of the dead and believed that they helped the surviving members of the family if they were treated well.
Acholi dancing is communal and they have eight different and distinct types of dance- bwola, lalobaloba, otiti, myel awal, apiti, labongo, myel wanga and atira. The bwola dance is the most important because it the chief's dance and is only performed on his oreders. The men form a large circle and each carries a drum. The movement of the feet matches rhythmically with the beating of the drums. The women dance separately inside the circle without beating drums. The dance has a leader who moves by himself within the circle and sets the time and leads the singing. He is regarded as an important person and traditionally was among the few in the community allowed to wear a leopard skin.
In the lalobaloba dance, people dance in a circle, but no drums are used. The men form an outer ring, while the women form an inner circle. ALl the dancers carry sticks.
In the otiti dance, all men carry spears and shields, and the dancers encircle drums that are usually attached to a post in the middle of an arena. The myel awal dance is a funeral dance during which the women wail around the grave while the men dance the lalobaloba carrying their shields and spears.
Labongo is a dance following a successful hunt performed while the hunters are still away from their homes. Men and women face each other in two lines and jump up and down while clapping their hands. In the myel wanga dance, the men sit down and play their harps while the women dance the apiti in front of them. The atira dance was held on the eve of a battle.
