4.2 LUO RELIGION
The Luo traditionally worshiped a single God, understood as being manifest in many everyday things including the sun, moon, the lake and some wild animals such as the python. There were traditional healers, witchdoctors and sorcerers, all of whom were concerned with the powers of spirits. These spirits ( juogi ) were considered to possess people to the extent that they became followers of that sprit. A good example was the spirit of mumbo , supposed to live in Lake Victoria. Mumbo became a religious cult and its followers, possessed by its spirit, were characterized by outbursts of hysteria and wearing forest shrubs.
1998.204.14.19
A Luo witch doctor
Missioni della Consolata, about 1920
1998.349.63.1
A Luo man dressed like a witchdoctor or one possessed by spirits
Evans-Pritchard, 1936
1998.209.43.2
A Luo man from Ugenya, dressed in the elaborate
costume of someone possessed by spirits
Charles W. Hobley, about 1900
1998.209.43.6
A Luo man from Nyakach dressed in the elaborate
costume of someone possessed by spirits
Charles W. Hobley, about 1900
1998.349.31.1
A Luo man possessed by the spirit of Mumbo and
therefore called Jamumbo. His headdress is decorated
with a shrub called buombwe.
Evans-Pritchard, 1936
1998.209.43.5
A Luo man from Alego dressed in the elaborate
costume of someone possessed by spirits
Charles W. Hobley, about 1900