Jju people

There are many rites in Kajju land such as things like rain, farming, harvest, new house, pregnancy, and child-naming.[11] Tyyi Tson (Euthanasia): Tyyi Tson means 'to give hungry rice' (hungry rice was a type of rice which the Bajju thought of as the most sacred and perhaps elite). This practice involved offering an elderly woman poisoned hungry rice (called 'Kasap') to end her suffering of physical infirmity. It was usually done by one of her children or her sister.[12]

Nkut (witchcraft): This is the power to exert spiritual influence over another person. People who use Nkut are referred to as 'Akut', and are believed to have a second set of eyes. The first set allows one to see the physical, while the other is used to see into the spiritual realm.[13][14]

Gajimale (water spirit): A gajimale comes out of rivers, or streams to seduce its victims by transforming into a good looking opposite sex of the victim. It was a belief that many rich people got their wealth from Gajimale, and in return, they gave children to it. Epilepsy (known as rong ncen meaning "fire of the river") was believed to be caused by the Gajimale.[15][16]

A̠bvoi (or Abvwoi): The Bajju had a religious institution called the Abvoi. The leader of the Abvoi shrine was called the 'Gado Abvoi' or 'Dodo'. The 'Magajin Abvoi' is the one who translates the messages of Abvoi to the people. The celebrations involved masquerade dances.[17]

Masquerades (Abusak): They represented the spirits in Abvoi celebrations. The Abusak danced with women and disciplines them by beating them.[18]

Children were not to eat eggs and meat offered to them at other households, for it may be Nkut meat neither were they to go out in the heat of the midday sun, they may accept food from Akut.[19]

Women:

• Were not to eat eggs, for they would be 'eating' their own children;[2]
• Were not allowed to eat chicken and birds in general;
• Were not to cook or carry out farm activities for 7 days following child birth;
• Were not allowed to hit the wall with their hands or feet, for they would be calling the Abvoi;
• Were not allowed to hit people with brooms, especially men, for they would be 'sweeping away' all of his charms and power (including the power to impregnate a woman);
• Pregnant women were not to eat sugarcane; for their babies would grow too fat;
• Women were not to eat animal heads.

Men:

• Were not to allow their hair shaved halfway, for a spirit would come to finish the job, and cause the man to go mad;
• Were not to eat food prepared by menstruating women, for they would be exposed to blindness or bad luck in hunting;
• Were not to share secrets of the ancestor cult with women.

• 'Spirit snakes' should not be killed. It may be the spirit of a person sleeping or having a fever;[20]
• Do not whistle at night; for it would call a spirit;
• Do not whistle in the house of a hunter; for his charms would stop working;
• Do not blow food to cool it;
• A visitor must not eat food alone. A person from the visited household must eat with the guest to prove the food is not poisoned;
• People were not to talk while eating. Even though a stranger came in, they should not greet until they finished eating;
• One should not answer a call at night; for the person might die;
• One should not step over arrows;
• A cock that crows between dusk and midnight must be killed; for it calls the spirits.

• Men are buried facing east (direction of Ba̠jju origin) while women were buried facing west.
• Those who died as a result of falling off a tree, falling off the roof of a house, or shot during hunting, were buried where the incident took place, and do not receive a burial ceremony.
• Women who died during child birth were buried at the backyard of their home.
• Someone with small pox was isolated because they believed he was a wizard. They are not given a burial ceremony after dying.
• Before drinking, elders were to pour a few drops on the ground for the ancestors.
• The Ba̠jju believed in reincarnation.
• The Ba̠jju believed that when a shooting star passes across the sky, a great man has died somewhere and is going to land somewhere else for reincarnation.

Men could swear the following oaths:

• Sshi a̠nok: To swear on one's hoe. The oath was 'If I did this, may the hoe cut my leg'.
• Sshi ka̠ta: To swear on one's bow.
• Sswa mbyin: To swear on a drum. A drum was kept with each village's gado (village head) and was used for matters affecting the entire village and used to settle local disputes.

Women could swear the following oaths:

• Sshi a̠byai: To swear on one's headboard (the item used to rest loads atop women's heads). If her oath was false, her child birth would not be a safe delivery.
• Sswa a̠bubvo: To swear on one's skin. The skin is the piece of clothing used to secure a child on her back. If the oath was false, the child in the skin would die.
• Sswa ka̠tssong: To swear on one's axe. 'May her axe cut her if her oath is false'.

Ba̠jju people like any other tribe in African believe in life after death in the sense that they acknowledge that ancestors performs some function to enable human happiness and prosperity.[1] Their will is sought for at any time and for every purpose in life. People who seek to be in good terms with the ancestors show them respect in their families. It is also believed that the elder must eat first before any other person, and when drinking, they have to pour some drops on the ground for the ancestors to take.[4]