Their number totaled approximately 240,000, with around 180,000 residing in north-western Uganda, with the remaining population spread across bordering areas of the modern-day Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The basic social and economic unit found in Lugbara culture is a lineage group under the authority of a male genealogical elder called ba wara, meaning "big man".
[1] These lineage groups, often referred to as sub-tribes, typically lived in a village built atop a hillside or ridge.
In addition to the male elder, other religious leaders include diviners, oracles, and rain men.
[2] Whilst there are many different versions of the Lugbara creation myth, most agree that God created the first beings Gborgboro and Meme at Loloi to the North in South Sudan.
He is also referred to as Banyale, 'eater of men', because he ate his children until he was discovered and forced to leave his home on the east bank of the Nile.
[2] He traveled through the Nile valley at East Madi in eastern Uganda, and crossed the river at Gimara, entering the Lugbara Highlands.
Due to extreme variations in culture in different Lugbara groups, there is not one clearly defined rite of sacrifice, nor consistently shared ritual behaviours.
Offerings and sacrifices are typically made at a selection of shrines located both near and inside the home, designed to honour the dead and other spirits.
The sheep is then walked the perimeter of the sick man's home, given a "ritual address", then killed and eaten by members of the lineage group.
[4] A similar rite called angu edezu, meaning cleansing the territory, may be performed in the occurrence of a pregnancy outside of marriage or persistent disagreements.
An animal, such as a goat, ox, bird or most commonly, a sheep, is assigned to the sick person and blessed by an elder.
In this ritual, a rainmaker adorns a white ram with beads that were once owned by a man who has since died of a disease such as meningitis.
The ram is first led in a circle around the entire territory of the lineage group and then chased over a river into mountains by the rainmaker.
In Lugbara religion, spirits are believed to be "in the air", and thus there is no set place where these offerings must occur.
It is believed that only diviners are capable of communicating with spirits and offerings are performed by them by entering a trance in a dark hut far from the village.
These offerings take place after a spirit is thought to have communicated with the living either by sending illness or through possession of a person's body.