The Banyole or Banyuli are a

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

ethnic group of Uganda that live mainly in

Butaleja District Butaleja District is a district in Eastern Uganda. It is named after its main town, Butaleja, where the district headquarters are located. Location Butaleja District is bordered by Budaka District to the north, Mbale District to the east, T ...

Ethnicity

The Banyole are one of the smaller Bantu ethnic groups in Uganda. They are sometimes called "Abalya Lwooba", meaning "mushroom eaters". They speak the Nyole language. They are mostly polygamous, and are divided into many clans. They have similar language and traditional customs to the Bagwe people, and like the Bagwe claim origins with the

Banyala Banyala (ethnonym: ''Banyala''; singular ''Munyala''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. They stay in an area called Bugerere in Kayunga District,. They share a common ancestry with the Baruuli. ...

of Kenya. The traditional founder of the Banyole came from near the point where the

Yala River {{Infobox river , name = Yala River , image = YalaRiver.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = Yala river within Kakamega rainforest, western Kenya , image_alt = , map = , map ...

enters

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...

. He was named Omwa and lived west of their present location. They were forced to move east due to pressure from Nilotic people. According to a 2014 report by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics the Banyole population is about 300,000. Possibly there is confusion with speakers of the related Nyole language of Kenya. In September 2019 the clan leaders of the Banyole elected their first cultural head. At least 148 clan leaders participated. There was controversy because one of the two candidates was not a resident of the district.

Location and economy

The Banyole were one of the ethnic groups in the plains between

Lake Kyoga Lake Kyoga or Lake Kioga (literally 'the place of bathing' in Runyoro language) is a large shallow lake in Uganda, about in area and at an elevation of 1,033 metres. The Victoria Nile flows through the lake on its way from Lake Victoria to Lake ...

to the west and the slopes of

Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

to the east when the British established the Bukedi District in this area at the start of the 20th century. Bukedi district also contained

Gisu people The Gisu people, or ''Bamasaba'' people of Elgon, are a Bantu peoples, Bantu tribe and Bantu-speaking ethnic group of the Masaba people in eastern Uganda, closely related to the Bukusu people of Kenya. Bamasaba live mainly in the Mbale District of ...

in the populous and mountainous northeast, and several other ethnic groups in the western and southern plains including the

Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are peoples Indigenous people of Africa, indigenous to South Sudan and the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan and the Gambela Region of Ethiopia, while also being a large minority in Kenya, Uga ...

Teso people The Iteso (or people of Teso) are a Nilotic people, Nilotic ethnic group in Teso sub-region, eastern Uganda and Busia County, western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and ''Teso language, Ateso'' is their language. ...

and the

Gwere people The Gwere people, also called Bagwere, are a Bantu ethnic group in Uganda. They are among the 65 ethnic societies of Uganda. ''Gwere'' is the root word, and the people are referred to as Bagwere (endonym) or Mugwere (singular). According to the 20 ...

. The plains peoples were mostly acephalous. The Banyole today live mostly in

in the east of Uganda. They also live in the nearby Budaka,

Mbale Mbale is a city in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Mbale District and the surrounding sub-region. Location Mbale is approximately northeast of Kampala, Uganda's capital city, on ...

Tororo Tororo is a town in the Eastern Region, Uganda, Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial center of Tororo District. History Tororo was garrisoned by the Uganda Army (1971–1980), Uganda Army's Air an ...

Bugiri Bugiri is a town in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the chief town of Bugiri District, and the district headquarters are located there. The town was elevated to Municipal Council status in 2019. Location Bugiri is located approximately , b ...

Namutumba Namutumba is a town in the Namutumba District of the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the main municipal, administrative, and commercial centre of the district. Location Namutumba is approximately , by road, northeast of Jinja, the largest city ...

and

Pallisa Pallisa is a town in Pallisa District of the Eastern Region of Uganda. Geography Pallisa is approximately , by road, west of Mbale, the largest city in the Eastern Region of Uganda. This is approximately , by road, northeast of Kampala, the capi ...

districts The surrounding peoples are the

to the east,

Adhola people The Adhola people, also known as Jopadhola, are a Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples that live in Tororo District of Eastern Uganda and comprise about eight percent of the country's total population. They speak Dhopadhola, (a Luo language), ...

to the south,

Soga people The Soga (also called Basoga) are a Bantu ethnic group native to the kingdom of Busoga in eastern Uganda. The Basoga live in Uganda's districts of Bugiri, Iganga, Jinja, Kamuli, and Mayuge (formerly known collectively as Busoga) though new distr ...

to the west and

to the north. The Banyole typically live by subsistence agriculture. The region is one of rolling grassland surrounded by

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can a ...

swamps. The land is now densely populated and mostly cultivated.

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

are grown for cash. Their staple food crop is

finger millet Finger millet (''Eleusine coracana'') is an Annual plant, annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and Semi-arid climate, semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and Self-pollination, self-pollinating speci ...

, and they also grow

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

and

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

Religion

According to the 2002 Census of Uganda about 56.2% of the Banyole tribe are nominally

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, mostly

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

estimated at 42.6%. Due to low levels of literacy and lack of Christian texts in their language they have only a basic understanding of this religion, and may also follow traditional religious practices. About 41.6% have converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Divination

Nyole

diviners Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

, known as ''lamuli'', commonly practice invocation as a form of divination. When a person is visibly afflicted (usually determined by change of character, wellness, vocal exclamations, etc.), ''lamuli'' will ask "''ohwebusa''" in an attempt to ask a potentially malignant spirit who they are. ''Lamuli'' are used by Nyole people solely to determine the causes of misfortune, which is believed to be the cause of malignant or upset spirits. It is believed by the Nyole people that the possession of a person is largely due to the spirits of his kin, who may feel as though the afflicted person has not done enough to honor them or their legacy. There are three main types of unhappy kin spirits. The first are known as ''ohulama'' or ''ohung'waba'', and are older family members such as grandparents. The second type are ancestor spirits known as ''emigu j'abafu,'' and the third type are known as ''ekuni'', or "clan spirits". The ''lamuli'' also use books for divination. The books used by the ''lamuli'' might be The Holy Qur'an, the Sa'atili Habari and the Abu Mashari Faraki. Divination by the use of books is thought to have begun by way of the first influence of Ali bin Nasoor, a trader from

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

who settled in

Busolwe Busolwe is a town in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is one of the two municipalities in Butaleja District, the other being Butaleja. Location Busolwe is approximately , by road, southwest of Butaleja, the location of the district headquarters. ...

, and also by the influence of other

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

traders. Findings of an investigation made by S. R. Whyte found that the majority of people (in the

sample Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

) went for divination consultations for reasons of their own bad or failed health.

Notes

Sources