Between them, Ugandans speak an impressive forty or more different languages.This is a result of Uganda's ethnically diverse history, and the adoption of English as the main language during Uganda's colonial years. With English as the language of government and trade, no single native language rose to prominence before independence, although during the early 20th century Swahili was taught in schools and it became the unofficial second language.
Customs/Traditions
traditional dress
Religions
Religous Beliefs:One-third of the population is Roman Catholic, one-third is Protestant, and 16 percent is Muslim; 18 percent believe in local religions, including various millenarian religions. World religions and local religions have coexisted for more than a century, and many people have established a set of beliefs about the nature of the universe by combining elements of both types. There is a proliferation of religious discourses centering on spirits, spirit possession, and witchcraft. Religous Practitioners: Religious identity has economic and political implications: church membership has influenced opportunities for education, employment, and social advancement. Religious practitioners thus are expected to provide a range of benefits for their followers. Leaders of indigenous religions reinforce group solidarity by providing elements necessary for societal survival: remembrance of ancestors, means of settling disputes, and recognition of individual achievement. Another social function of religious practitioners is helping people cope with pain, suffering, and defeat by providing an explanation of their causes. Religious beliefs and practices serve political aims by bolstering the authority of temporal rulers and allowing new leaders to mobilize political power and implement political change. Rituals and Holy Places: In Bantu-speaking societies, many local religions include a belief in a creator God. Most local religions involve beliefs in ancestral and other spirits, and people offer prayers and sacrifices to symbolize respect for the dead and maintain proper relationships among the living. Mbandwa mediators act on behalf of other believers, using trance or hypnosis and offering sacrifice and prayer to beseech the spirit world on behalf of the living. Death and Afterlife: Death is sometimes interpreted in the idiom of witchcraft. A disease or other cause of death may not be considered the true cause. At a burial, if the relatives suspect someone of having caused the deceased person's death, a spirit medium may call up the spirit of the deceased and ask who really killed him or her.
Food
Meat or chickenstews are popular in Uganda served with rice, chapatti, ugali (a stiff maizeporridge) or matoke (a cooked plantain/bananamash). For a sweet dish, locals enjoy a type of doughnut called mandazi. With Uganda’s many lakes and rivers, fish are an important food.
Holidays
January 1: New Year's Day
Date variable: Good Friday
Date variable: Easter Monday
March 8: Women's Day
May 1: Labour Day
June 3: Martyr's Day
June 9: National Heroes Day
Date variable: Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan)
October 9: Independence Day
Date variable: Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice)
December 25: Christmas Day
December 26: Boxing Day
Clothing
In Uganda, the kanzu is the national dress of men in the country. Women from central and eastern Uganda wear a dress with a sash tied around the waist and large exaggerated shoulders called a gomesi. Women from the west and northwest drape a long cloth around their waists and shoulders called suuka. Women from the southwest wear a long baggy skirt and tie a short matching cloth across their shoulders. Women also wear a floor long dress called a busuti, which was introduced by the 19th century missionaries.
Music
Because of Uganda's turbulent political history, there was never enough time for there to be a thriving pop music industry until relative peace was restored in the late 1980s. By then, musicians like Philly Lutaaya, Afrigo Band, and Elly Wamala were the few Ugandan acts to have had mainstream music success. Jimmy Katumba and his music group the Ebonies were also popular at this time, especially towards the 1990s. The 1990s saw Uganda's love affair with Jamaican music begin when artists like Shanks Vivi Dee, Ragga Dee, and others were influenced by Jamaican superstars like Shabba Ranks. They imported the Ragga music culture into Uganda and, although they faced stiff competition from other African music styles and musicians at the time, in particular Soukous from Congo and Kwaito from South Africa, they formed the foundation of the pop music industry. But it was not until the 21st century when musicians like Chameleone emerged that a pop music scene really began. By around 2007, there were a number of musicians practicing varied styles of music, and the role of western and Congolese/South African music had greatly diminished. Today, musicians like Iryn Namubiru and King Saha are just a few of the many pop musicians in a thriving and vibrant pop music scene. The pop music duo of Radio & Weasel, the Goodlyfe Crew, is well known around Africa, being nominated in the continental MTV Base awards in 2010 and BET awards in 2013. In June 2015, Eddy Kenzo won the award for "Best new international artist" at the 2015 BET music awards.
Sports
Ugandan are true sport fanatics!! There are over 20 sports organized by associations. Football (soccer), athletics, boxing, golf and many more are being performed. The most popular sport is football, organized by the Federation of Uganda Football Association(FUFA).