Acholi people
Acholi is an ethnic group with more than one million members, who lives east of the White Nile in northern Uganda in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader, and in southern Sudan. The region is therefore also called Acholi land. The members of the Acholi speak Nilotic Acholi language. The most closely related groups are the Lango, Alur, Luo and Shilluk.
Their religion is now mostly Christianity ( Protestant or Catholic), partly also of Islam. It also strong elements of the old religions have kept up with guardian spirit and ancestor worship, found the entrance to the new religions. In 1986 by the ethnic Acholi Alice Lakwena justified war movement Holy Spirit Movement, many religious hybrid forms of Christianity, ancestral worship and Islam go.
Traditionally, they acquiesced decorative wavy or zigzag scars on her temples and cheeks as well as snail-shaped on the legs too. They settle in round huts with pointed roofs. The interior walls are plastered with clay and decorated with red, white and gray trim. Proceed with nets and spears to hunt and keep goats, sheep and cattle. In the battle spears and long, narrow -covered giraffe or ox skin shields were used. Many, however, have given up their traditional way of life, especially since the beginning of the struggle of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army under Joseph Kony, an Acholi. Many Acholi were expelled and went into the numerous refugee camps.
During the British colonial rule over Uganda, the industrialization focused on the south of the country, while the north to the field of Acholi received relatively little attention. However, the Acholi accounted for a majority of the members of the military. The growing opposition led to a coup d'état of Acholi General Tito Okello below. This was however crushed by the National Resistance Army under the current president, Yoweri Museveni. The majority of MPs from Acholi are members of the opposition.
A famous Acholi is the writer and ethnologist Okot p'Bitek (1931-1982), as its main work Lawinos song applies.