Madi people

Name: 

Madi (Mà'dí)

Area of residence:

Torit county

Madi People are found mostly in Uganda with the minority found in Southern South Sudan

Population:

80,000

Environment:

Madi territory is hilly and traversed by rivers and streams. 

Economy:

Their economy is based on subsistence agriculture, in which the main crops are sorghum, maize, cassava, groundnuts and tobacco.The Madi also rear small herds of cattle, goats and sheep as well as fowl.

Language:

Madi ti .The Madi language is part of the Moru-Madi group of languages

History:

The mystery of the birth of their origin tends to puzzle the Madi, whose beliefs are based on reproduction and hence, their origin as a people.

Rabanga is the supreme being responsible for creation. In addition to being a spirit, Rabanga was also regarded as the earth in the sense of ‘Mother Earth’. This was grounded in the logic that everything is born from the earth.

Rainmaking

• There are more than 45 rainmaking centres . 
• Their are only two exceptions rain could be made by the rainmaker by using a special set of stones which, were usually white in colour. 
• The Madi believe that ‘rain stones’ come with rain from the sky and they are categorised as ‘male’ and ‘female’ stones.

Spirituality and Beliefs

The whole life of the Madi is centred on the belief that their ancestors survived after death as spirits known as ori. It is believed that the ori could intervene directly in human affairs. The Madi attribute every misfortune to the anger of a spirit and in the event of a misfortune or sickness, they would immediately consult an odzo or odzogo (witchdoctor) to find out which ancestor was behind the ordeal.

Sacrifices were then offered to the particular spirit in order to avert its malign influence on the living. The powerful families among the Madi bas were believed to have powerful ancestral spirits to help them. ''Babu-garee'' constitutes the whole paraphernalia of the spirits of the dead.

References,Images and further reading: Gurtong