Dinka and Nuer of South Sudan, Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, Acholi of northern Uganda and South Sudan — Nilotic peoples of the East African savannah and the Nile Basin, defined by a profound relationship with cattle. · East Africa — the Nile Basin, South Sudanese savannah, and the East African Rift grasslands
Through song above all — the ox-song, in which a man sings himself and his ox as one, is the signature form. Through praise poetry, genealogical recitation, invocation, and tales told in the cattle camp. The color-language of cattle is…
A sky above and earth below, once close and now separated. Among the Dinka, Nhialic is the sky-divinity, the source of life and rain; among the Nuer, Kwoth is Spirit, encompassing and pervading. The cattle stand between earth and sky…
Nhialic (Dinka) — the sky-divinity, source of life, rain, and moral order, withdrawn above after the separation. Kwoth (Nuer) — Spirit, singular and pervading, encountered in many forms (kwoth of the sky, kwoth of specific lineages and things). Enkai/Engai (Maasai)…
Cattle themselves — especially the display-ox and the sacrificial ox. The fishing-spear (Dinka), emblem of the spear-master's spiritual authority. Milk and the products of the herd. Among the Maasai, the ceremonial objects of the age-set rites.
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