Nuer people

The Nuer (Naath), South Sudan's second nation and Gambella's first, herd cattle across the Greater Upper Nile and the Ethiopian frontier. Pastoralists to the bone, they define life by cattle: companions, currency, sacrifice and the servants of the sky-god Kwoth. Segmentary lineages balance every feud without kings; leopard-skin priests bless and curse between villages. Nuer expansion pressed the Dinka for a century; British, Egyptian and Khartoum rule pressed the Nuer in turn. Cattle camps, gar fish spearing, migration dances and the gaar scarification of the forehead mark the Naath year. Civil wars armed the white-army youth and drowned the toich pastures in blood, yet Bentiu markets, Gambella churches and the cattle still define a people who answer first to cows. Gambella's Nuer form Ethiopia's largest frontier nation. Greater Upper Nile pastures carry millions of Nuer cattle. Cattle define Nuer marriage, law and sacrifice alike. Nuer is heard in every Gambella market and church.