Lugude

Lugude is a fictional cultural concept used in speculative fiction and world-building texts to denote a communal rite centered on memory, history, and storytelling among the imagined Lugudi people.

The term Lugude is said to derive from the Lugudian language, combining roots meaning memory (lu-) and gathering or assembly (gude). The concept is often presented as pre-modern or early modern in-world, though variants exist across authors.

In typical renderings, Lugude is performed annually at the harvest festival. Elders recount ancestral narratives, laws, and migrations, while younger participants contribute through choral singing, percussion, and improvised interludes. The rite concludes with a public oath or resolve that binds the community to shared obligations for the coming year. Through this process, Lugude functions to transmit social norms, resolve disputes, and legitimize leadership by demonstrating mastery of collective memory.

Different authors adapt Lugude to different settings, ranging from oral-only performances to hybrid formats that incorporate writing, music technology, or visual storytelling. In some works, the Lugudi use Lugude to negotiate conflicts or to co-create histories that reflect plural identities within the community.

In scholarly commentary, Lugude is discussed as a narrative device that exposes tensions between memory and authority, and as a lens for examining communal identity.

See also: Lugudian language, Lugudi ritual, memory, oral history.