Cultural Symbols
Clan taboos (kwer) and totems
Every Lango clan keeps its own prohibitions; a few clans are named after the animal they protect.
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The personal whistle motif
Every man had a tune of his own on the war whistle, and nobody else could play it.
Every Lango man had his own whistle motif, called his nying (“name”), played on the bilo, the small horn whistle. It could be remembered by a few words of a private song, much as bugle calls are remembered by words.
- Nobody else might play it. Taking another man’s motif led to a bitter quarrel and could lead to bloodshed.
- A man blew it in war and in the hunt to announce a kill, and to make himself known from far away to his loved one, his family and his friends.
Source: J. H. Driberg, The Lango: A Nilotic Tribe of Uganda (London, 1923), pp. 124–125; 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.