Clan taboos (kwer) and totems

A Lango clan is an atekere, a word that means “a state of amity or alliance”, and clan names begin with Jo, “people of”. What defines a clan is its set of kwer, prohibitions or taboos, which differ from clan to clan and are strictly kept. They concern animals (the duiker, waterbuck or leopard, for example), plants such as the fig tree ebu, and rules for pregnancy and birth.

• Three clans are named after the animal they protect: the Jo Ayom (the patas monkey), the Jo Akwaich (the leopard) and the Jo Akarawok me Jo Amor (the duiker). They do not hunt it and mourn it when it dies.
• Clans are exogamous: marriage is not allowed into the father’s or the mother’s clan. A woman joins her husband’s clan, and children belong to their father’s clan.
• Clans divide: a branch is named with me tung (“of the branch”) and the name of its ancestor, and two clans can join to make a new one.

Driberg also noted that the people are grouped geographically into four divisions: the Jo Aber north of the River Koli, the Jo Moita between the Koli and Lake Kwania, the Jo Burutok south of Lake Kwania and the Olweny, and the Jo Kidi in the east. See the clan pages for the prohibitions of individual clans.

Source: J. H. Driberg, The Lango: A Nilotic Tribe of Uganda (London, 1923), pp. 189–192; public domain. It describes life about a hundred years ago as a colonial administrator saw it, so customs have changed and some may be told differently today. Elders and families are invited to correct it and add what they know.