Mythology and History

Miss Ababiku Alma Rose Maia writes in her book “A KEY HISTORY OF MADI” according to the Madi Pagari (Pugari) tradition, their first ancestor was Madi, the son of Dimmo who came from along the banks of the River Nile and settled at Lepfool. In the book she explains that family feuds and other external pressures forced the Madis to move southwards, much earlier than the Luo. In Madi mythology “Mother Earth” plays a central role not only in day to day life but also during traditional ceremonies, festivities and rituals.

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

The Madi speak madi ti. A Sudanic language related to the Moro, Lugbwara, Keliku and Avukaya, which might point to their common origin. The “Joshual Project” however spells the language as “Ma'di”. This of course is food for thought as truly speaking one does not pronounce the word madi without a small pause after the “a” before “di” where as a matter of fact the emphasis is!

As Rose Maia explains in her book, indeed over time, out of one great Madi family and Nation, because of the various splits and migrations, there evolved dialects and dilutions and assimilations of foreign words and expressions. In fact there is a school of thought that contends that the “Matu” are different from the Madi and there for also have an own language called Metu. This of course does not hold even air. The truth is the Madis inhabiting the mountain ranges of Otce, have their blend of Madi, just like the madi of Odrupele and the Oyuwi and the Lowi or Bara'ba of East Madi . The Madi of Sudan(Madi Lukai) one must say, also speak another blend heavily influenced by arabic. As a matter of fact it is common place for the Madi in the East to be bi-lingual, able to speak Madi and Acholi. This fact is evident in the recurrence of the Names and folklore of the place and region. However basically speaking, the Madi speak Madi ti!(Madi mouth).