The history and culture of Karimojong has not changed although the whole world is changing at a breakneck speed. Karimojong People in Uganda re respected because they have maintained their culture up to present day. Very few people have little knowledge about them so for me I had to get somebody I trust to give me that knowledge and I'm happy to share it with whomever wants to get this information.

In this article, my emphasis will be put to African traditional marriage among the Karimojong People of northeastern Uganda. Although marriage in other Ugandan tribes is taken lightly, the Karimojong were serious with marriage. Before a boy could announce his intention to marry, he had to prove to the elders of the village that he was already a man.

In the early times, when lions and elephants still teemed across the southern Karamoja plains, the boy had to set out alone armed only with a spear and hunt and kill single handed one of the lions or elephants that roamed the plains.The boy would prove the achievement by reporting to elders at a formal meeting called a baraza.

He would show the blood on his spear and also present the animal's tail. The remaining problem now would be to find sufficient cattle to pay the bride wealth.Upon proving his manhood, the boy would be given a bull by his father. The Bull was then killed and shared among the boy's male friends and relatives.

Besides, the boy would smear himself all over with dung from the entrails of the bull.The boy's hair would then be cut by one of his adult male friends, leaving a tuft at the back known as input to which a short string would be tied.From then on, he was considered to have attained marriageable age and with permission of the elders he could begin to wear ostrich feathers.

The boy's father would then instruct him to look for a girl to marry. No compulsion was brought to bear on either party in a marriage but the father could reject the boy's choice if he deemed the choice unsatisfactory.

Sexual contact was a usual prerequisite for the actual marriage and cases were few in which bride wealth was paid before such a contact had taken place.

The boy would make his choice and instruct the father to pay bride wealth and this marked the beginning of negotiations between the girl's and the boy's families.The first journey of the boy's parents to the girl's home could not be under taken at the period of the new moon.

Among the Karimojong people, when the bride wealth arrangements were finalized, the bride would be brought along with the delegation that came to collect the cows and she would be left at her new home.A delegation from the boy's family would accompany the dowry and on reaching the girl's home, they wee received outside the girl's mother's hut.She would spread out hides for all to sit down on whilst she lit a pipe which was handed around and puffed by all in turn, the elders first.Thereafter, the delegation would return home.

When they reached home, the boy would remove the leopard's skin and the ostrich feathers he had been wearing.He would not sleep with his bride that night. On the following morning the boy's mother would take a calabash of cooking butter to the door of the bride's apartment and call her.She would then put a necklace and a piece of emuria grass on the bride and smear the butter all over her except the legs. She would then remove all the girl's ornaments and dress her like a married woman.The exact attire consisted of a goat's skin hung down from the waist, the hairy side outward and a calf skin slung from the shoulders and reaching the knees.

The goat's skin had to be well shaped otherwise it would cause shame to the bride among her fellow women when walking or dancing.After being dressed, the bride and three other girls would go and cut a load of firewood each to give to the boy's mother.That same night, the boy would sleep with his wife and they would continue to do so in that hut until a child was born.After that, the husband would build a separate hut for that particular wife.

The Karimojong people were polygamous. The number of wives a man could marry was only limited by bride wealth obligations.No marriage between relatives was allowed, no matter how remote the degree of consanguinity. Customarily, on arrival at the home of her husband to be, the girl was taken through the large kraal entrance and led to her own house.

Donning his leopard- skin cloak, his knee bells, he address and zebra tail, the groom would circle the entire village pretending to be a brave animal, tossing his head and swishing his tail.Finally, people would gather in the cattle kraal and the ceremony would be rounded off with a dance.

About the Author:

About the Author

Twinomugisha Charles is a Retired Tour and Travel Guide in Millennium Tours and Travel Company in Uganda and now works with E-Office Management a company that deals in Computers and Computer Accessories. More of his articles about Karimojong People in Uganda can be found at The Karimojong People and their Culture and at Uganda and its People's Culture