African Spiritual Warfare: How Horns Protected and Attacked in the Great Lakes
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In this episode, we explore the role of horns in spiritual practice across kingdoms like Buganda, Bunyoro, and Busoga.
Often filled, sealed, and carried, these horns were believed to contain forces that could protect individuals from harm but also act against others.
Moving beyond simple explanations, this episode looks at how these practices reflect a broader worldview: one in which illness, misfortune, and even truth itself were tied to unseen forces that could be influenced, controlled, or resisted.
Sources
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Beattie, J. H. M. (John). "Divination in Bunyoro, Uganda." Sociologus 14, no. 1 (1964): 44–61.
Bjerke, Svein. Religion and Misfortune: The Bacwezi Complex and the Other Spirit Cults of the Zinza of Northwestern Tanzania. Norway: Columbia University Press, 1981.
Culture Research Centre. Ritual Gestures in Busoga. Jinja, Uganda: Culture Research Centre, 2001.
Kodesh, Neil. Beyond the Royal Gaze: Clanship and Public Healing in Buganda. United Kingdom: University of Virginia Press, 2010.
Kyewalanga, Francis. Traditional Religion, Custom & Christianity in Uganda.
Okot P’Bitek, “Religion of the Central Luo” Kenya Literature Bureau University of Minnesota, 1978
Schoenbrun, David L.. The Names of the Python: Belonging in East Africa, 900 to 1930. United States: University of Wisconsin Press, 2021.
