# Lughayangu

> Lughayangu is an encyclopaedia of African languages. It documents the languages of the African continent: their words, meanings and pronunciations, the nation groups who speak them, where they are spoken, and the history and culture carried in them. Around that core it also keeps long-form articles on languages and their people, tongue twisters, notable events in African history, a community guide to festivals, and a per-country catalog of public holidays across 54 African nations. This file highlights key sections; it is a guide, not an exhaustive list of the site's content.

## Languages

The heart of the site. Every language has its own page at the top level of the domain, keyed by its slug. Around 2,000 African languages are catalogued, from widely spoken ones like Swahili and Igbo to small and endangered ones.

A language page carries the profile of the language and of the nation group that speaks it: other names it goes by, the countries and regions where it is spoken, speaker population, vitality status, dialects, alphabet, the people and their customs, related languages in the same group, festivals belonging to that nation group, and the articles written about them. Where the dictionary has entries, the page also lists the language's words with their meanings, ranked by what people are looking up. Individual word entries, with their community-written definitions, usage examples, and audio pronunciations, are reached from the language page.

- Language page: `https://lughayangu.com/{language}` for example https://lughayangu.com/dholuo, https://lughayangu.com/swahili, https://lughayangu.com/bukusu
- [Home and word of the day](https://lughayangu.com): the dictionary front door, with a new word surfaced each day
- [Languages sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-languages.xml)

## Articles and newsletters

Long-form writing on languages, the nation groups who speak them, their history, customs, and notable people. Each article sits under a language, so an article and its language page read together. The newsletter archive is the back catalogue of issues sent to subscribers, opened up once each issue's subscriber window has passed.

- Article page: `https://lughayangu.com/post/{slug}` for example https://lughayangu.com/post/zande-people
- [Newsletter archive](https://lughayangu.com/newsletter): every past issue
- Newsletter issue: `https://lughayangu.com/newsletter/{slug}`
- [Articles and newsletters sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-posts.xml)

## Public Holidays

A structured reference to public holidays and observances, country by country. Each holiday has a concept page (the holiday in general) and per-country pages (the same holiday as observed in a specific nation, with its date, what is closed, traditions, and history). Related variants are grouped under one concept (for example Christmas Day, Orthodox Christmas, and Ethiopian Christmas share the "christmas" concept).

- [Holidays catalog](https://lughayangu.com/holidays): browse and filter every holiday
- Holiday concept page: `https://lughayangu.com/holiday/{slug}` for example https://lughayangu.com/holiday/christmas-day
- Holiday in a country: `https://lughayangu.com/holiday/{slug}/{country}` for example https://lughayangu.com/holiday/christmas-day/kenya. Answers "when is {holiday} in {country}", what is closed (banks, schools, government offices), and how it is observed
- Country holiday calendar: `https://lughayangu.com/holidays/{country}` for example https://lughayangu.com/holidays/kenya. The full year of public holidays for one country
- [Holidays sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-holidays.xml)

## Festivals

A community-maintained guide to Africa's festivals and cultural celebrations: when each one happens, what to expect, and the music, food, attire, and meaning behind it. Festivals are submitted and kept current by the people who celebrate them, verified by organisers, and ranked by the community. Where a festival belongs to a particular nation group, it links back to that language's page.

- [Festivals directory](https://lughayangu.com/festivals): browse by country or kind, and see what is trending
- Festival page: `https://lughayangu.com/festivals/{slug}` for example https://lughayangu.com/festivals/argungu-fishing-festival. What the festival is, when and where it happens, its customs, food, attire, music, and history
- Festivals in a country: `https://lughayangu.com/festivals/country/{country}` for example https://lughayangu.com/festivals/country/nigeria
- Festivals by kind: `https://lughayangu.com/festivals/type/{type}` for example https://lughayangu.com/festivals/type/harvest (kinds: religious, royal, masquerade, music, harvest, cultural)
- [Festivals sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-festivals.xml)

## Other sections

- [Today in History](https://lughayangu.com/today-in-history): notable events in African history, with a page for each day of the year
- [Merikebu](https://lughayangu.com/today-in-history/merikebu): historic vessels and the voyages that shaped the continent
- [Tongue twisters](https://lughayangu.com/tongue-twisters): tongue twisters in African languages, with recorded attempts

## Sitemaps

- [Sitemap index](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap.xml)
- [Languages sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-languages.xml)
- [Articles and newsletters sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-posts.xml)
- [Holidays sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-holidays.xml)
- [Festivals sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-festivals.xml)
- [Today in History sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-tih.xml)
- [Merikebu sitemap](https://lughayangu.com/sitemap-vessels.xml)