Meet the Bukusu

The Bukusu are one of the seventeen Kenyan tribes of the Luhya Bantu people of East Africa. Calling themselves BaBukusu, they are the largest tribe of the Luhya nation, making up about 17% of the Luhya population. They speak Bukusu dialect.

Historically, the Bukusu lived in fortified villages, and did not have a structure of central authority. The highest authority was the village headman, called Omukasa, who was usually elected by the men of the village. There were also healers and prophets who acquired great status because of their knowledge of tribal tradition, medicines, and religion. Elijah Masinde, a resistance leader and traditional medicine man, was revered as a healer in the early 1980s.

The Bukusu highly approve of intermarriages between themselves and BaMasaaba. This is because they have quite a number of similarities in their codes of conduct, marriage customs, circumcision traditions and even folklore. Among the most famous of Bukusu marriage customs is the immense respect accorded one's in-laws.

Like many of the tribes we have learned about on this blog, cattle are very important: they are the main means of exchange. Most values, from the beauty of a girl to the price of a field of land, are expressed in terms of head of cattle. Possessing cattle wealth and prosperous agriculture, the Bukusu are sometimes not only admired but also envied by neighboring communities.

Being sedentary pastoralists, they have time to care for their sick and bury their dead. A sick person is looked after until he recuperated or died. When a person dies, he or she is buried in a grave that ranges from 3–4 feet in depth, with people buried facing East, the direction in which the sun rises. It is not uncommon for the dead to be buried in a sitting position.

Bukusu accounts indicate that both agricultural and pastoral economies have been practiced by the tribe for as long can be remembered. This is authenticated by the vast amount of knowledge they have about farming practices, rich pastoral vocabulary and the broad variety of legends connected with pastoral life. Today, they farm mainly maize for subsistence and sugar cane as a cash crop in the Bungoma area, as well as wheat in the Kitale area. Cattle and sheep are universally kept, cattle mainly for milk, and sheep for meat and ceremonial functions. Chicken, a traditional delicacy, are nowadays reared on small to medium scales for commercial egg production.

Photo credit: sTr Photo

Meet the Bajuni

The Bajuni people are an ethnic group who live on the coastal regions of East Africa, primarily the shores of Kenya. While they are traditionally sailors or fishermen, some also pursue other trades such as farming. Their trade is strongly linked with the capital of Kenya.

The Bajuni people call themselves Wabajuni and speak Kibajuni, a Bantu language closely-related to Swahili. They are Muslims and their dialect of Swahili contains many Islamic words and phrases as compared to "inland" Swahili. The language has its own distinctive words and pronunciation; for example, the word kichwa (head) in standard Swahili is pronounced kitwa in Kibajuni.

Photo credit: Nicola Prisco

Meet the Aweer

In the weeks past we have been introduced to the thirteen East African tribes which make up the majority in Kenya. There are an additional 21 minority group tribes that we will meet over the coming weeks. As they are the minority, there is limited information readily available on these tribes, so our posts on them will be comparatively shorter.

The Aweer are a distinct hunter-gatherer-culture and indigenous people in East Africa. They are found primarily in Kenya, but their homeland extends into Somalia. These are the famous indigenous hunters in the hinterland of Lamu, who are often called by the derogatory term "Boni".

We found a particularly intriguing Anweer quote from an excerpt from Livingtime which says:

The Euro-American image of time is a machine, a factory assembly line chucking
out identical hours, each unremarked and indistinguishable. Worse than that, it
has insisted that its time is the time, and that indigenous peoples all over the
world lack a ‘proper’ sense of time. It is not a lack. Rather they have
cultivated a far more subtle and sensitive relationship to time and timing.

Meet the Samburu

The Samburu are a Nilotic people of north-central Kenya that are related to but distinct from the Maasai. The Samburu speak Samburu, which is a Nilo-Saharan language. They live north of the equator in Samburu District, an area roughly 8,000 square miles. Its landscape is one of great diversity and beauty. It includes landscapes ranging from forest at high altitudes, to open plains to desert or near desert.

Traditionally the Samburu economy was purely pastoralist, striving to survive of the products of their herds of cows, goats, and for some camels. However, the combination of a significant growth in population over the past 60 years and a decline in their cattle holdings has forced them to seek other supplemental forms of livelihood. Some have attempted to grow crops, while many young men have migrated for at least short periods to cities to seek wage work. Many work in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, as watchmen, while it is also popular to go to Kenya's coastal resorts where some work; others sell spears and beaded ornaments.

Samburu practice polygamous marriage, and a man may have multiple wives. A Samburu settlement may consist of only one family, composed of a man and his wife/wives. Each woman has her own house, which she builds with the help of other women out of local materials, such as sticks, mud and cow dung. Large ritual settlements, known as lorora may consist of 20 or more families. However, settlements tend towards housing two or three families, with perhaps 5-6 houses built in a rough circle with an open space in the centre. The circle of huts is surrounded by thorn bush fence and the center of the village has the animal pens away from predators.

Men wear a cloth which is often red or blue and is wrapped around their waist. They adorn themselves with necklaces, bracelets and anklets. Warriors typically wear their in long braids, which they shave off when they become elders. It may be colored using red ochre. Their bodies are sometimes decorated with ochre, as well. Women wear two pieces of blue or purple cloth, one piece wrapped around the waist, the second wrapped over the chest. Women keep their hair shaved and wear numerous necklaces and bracelets.

Samburu religion traditionally focuses on their multi-faceted divinity (Nkai). Nkai (a feminine noun), plays an active role in the lives of contemporary Samburu. It is not uncommon for children and young people, especially women, to report visions of Nkai. Some of these children prophesy for some period of time and a few gain a reputation for prophesy throughout their lives. Besides these spontaneous prophets, Samburu have ritual diviners called 'loibonok' who divine the causes of individual illnesses and misfortune, and guide warriors. Although ritual life focuses especially on cattle, other livestock such as goats, sheep, camels, and even donkeys figure into Samburu ceremonies.

Photo credit: Gerald Legere

Meet the Swahili

Swahili people are an ethnic group living chiefly on the Swahili Coast of East Africa, mainly the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya and Tanzania, and north Mozambique. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil, meaning "coastal dwellers". They speak Swahili, a Bantu language and the official language of Kenya.

Islam established its presence in the East African coast around 1012 AD, when the traders from the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula continued to journey to these parts during monsoon seasons and to interact with the local people through trade, intermarriage, and an exchange of ideas. Because of this interaction, most of the Swahili today are Muslim. The unifying force of Islam consolidated into an amalgam of otherwise different ethnicities and provided an enduring common identity for many of the people in coastal East Africa. The Swahili follow a very strict and orthodox form of Islam.

For centuries the Swahili depended greatly on trade from the Indian Ocean. The Swahili have played a vital role as middle man between east, central and south Africa, and the outside world. Trade contacts have been noted as early as 100 AD by early Roman writers who visited the East African coast in the first century. Trade routes extended across Tanzania into modern day Democratic Republic of the Congo, along which goods were brought to the coasts and were sold to Arab, Indian, and Portuguese traders and even reached as far as China and India. Materials attributed to this network of trade were also found at Great Zimbabwe. During the apogee of the middle ages, ivory and slaves became a substantial source of revenue. Many slaves sold in Zanzibar ended up in Brazil, which was then a Portuguese colony. Swahili fishermen of today still rely on the ocean to supply their primary source of income. Fish is sold to their inland neighbors in exchange for products of the interior.

Photo credit: Solarstones

Meet the Taita

The Taita people are a Kenyan ethnic group located in the Taita-Taveta District, which is in the Coast Province northwest of Mombasa and southeast of Nairobi.

The Taita people migrated to Kenya through Tanzania. This migration occurred in five groups, each settling at different places of the present Taita Taveta district. Traditionally the Taita tribe consisted of lineages; each lineage occupied its own territorial area of the hills. These lineages were autonomous political units, and, before the colonialism, there did not develop an idea or a consciousness of a unified Taita tribe. Mwangeka, a legendary figure for the Taitas, resisted the British colonists from approaching the lands of the Wataita.

They speak Taita, a Bantu language full of shared words from the Chagga, Wakamba, Pare, Maasai, Kikuyu, Mijikenda tribes, as well as the Cushitic communities they lived with during their migration.

Photo credit: Getty Images

Meet the Embu

The Embu inhabit Embu District in Kenya. Embu mythology claims that God (Ngai) created Mwenendega and gave him a beautiful wife by the famous Mbui Njeru waterfall — hence her name "Ciurunji". The couple was blessed with wealth, and their descendants populated the rest of Embu.

Judging by historical accounts, the Embu are believed to have migrated from the Congo Basin together with their close relatives, the Kikuyu and Meru People. It is believed that they migrated as far as the Kenyan Coast, since the Meru elders refer to Mpwa (Pwani or Coast) as their origin. The conflicts there, perhaps slave trade by Arabs, forced them to retreat northeast to the interior of Kenya, and they settled by the slopes of Mount Kenya. They were to refer to this location as the place of the Lord, the owner of the snow("Nyaga") or ("Njeru" meaning white) — hence the name "Mwenenyaga" or "Mwenenjeru".

The Embu are cash crop and subsistent farmers who also rear cows, goats and sheep. With the advent of colonialism, many cash crops were introduced. For long these have offered a lucrative alternative source of livelihood for the people. The most widespread cash crops to date are coffee, tea and macadamia nuts. These are mainly grown for sale with little being processed for domestic consumption.

The Embu were fierce warriors who, although rarely raiding other tribes, always stood firm in defense of their territory and people. They also rose against the British in the Mau Mau fight for Kenya's independence. The fact that the tribe was and continues to be considerably small explains their relatively small impact on the history of Kenya.

Much abounds in the Embu District to keep the most eager tourist and visitor enthralled, not least the Embu people themselves who carry about their daily life with a deep sense of filial attachment to each other. They are a hospitable people, always welcoming to visitors and eager to help. This has endeared them to their neighbors and to strangers from far. Embu girls are known to make remarkable wives and mothers, while the men treat their wives with such respect and never ending love that hardly ever is family breakdown a subject of deliberation. For long, Kikuyu, Meru and Kamba men have come to get brides from Embu, while the Embu men enjoy high regard from marriageable girls in the same tribes. With the advent of Kenya nationalism, this high regard has permeated to the entire nation, and now the Embu form one respected unit of the Kenyan social fabric.

Photo credit: Guy Radcliffe

Meet the Turkana

The Turkana People are believed to be of a Hamito-Semitic origin. They are believed to have originated from North Africa and across the Red Sea. They are a conservative ethnic group with strict cultural lifestyle. They number approximately 340,000 and inhabit the Turkana District in northwest Kenya, a dry and hot region bordering Lake Turkana in the east. The language of the Turkana, an Eastern Nilotic language, is also called Turkana.

The Turkana People are a monotheistic people. They believe in one God, known as Akuj, who is the creator of the universe and to Akuj do all things belong. Akuj is invoked through prayers & chants and through animal sacrifices. The Turkana believe that Akuj is the source of all power and that no challenge is impossible when Akuj intervenes.

Livestock is an important aspect of Turkana culture. Goats, camels, donkeys and zebu are the primary herd stock utilized by the Turkana people. In this society, livestock functions not only as a milk and meat producer, but as form of currency used for bride-price negotiations and dowries. Often, a young man will be given a single goat with which to start a herd, and he will accumulate more via animal husbandry. In turn, once he has accumulated sufficient livestock, these animals will be used to negotiate for wives. It is not uncommon for Turkana men to lead polygamous lifestyles, since livestock wealth will determine the number of wives each can negotiate for and support.

Houses are constructed over a wooden framework of domed saplings on which grass is thatched and lashed on. Usually during the wet season they are elongated and covered with cow dung. Animals are kept in a brush wood pen. Due to changes in the climatic conditions most Turkana have started changing from the traditional method of herding cattle to agriculture.

The Turkana people have elaborate clothing and adornment styles. Clothing is used to distinguish between age groups, development stages, occasions and status of individuals or groups in the Turkana community. Often men carry wrist knives made of steel and goat hide. It is also not uncommon for men to carry several staves; one is used for walking and balance when carrying loads, the other, usually slimmer and longer, is used to prod livestock during herding activities. Women will customarily wear necklaces, and will shave their hair completely which often has beads attached to the loose ends of hair.

Photo credit: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Nairobi

Meet the Maasai

The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well known of African ethnic groups. They speak Maa and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania: Swahili and English.

The Maasai are monotheistic, and they call God Engai, a single deity with a dual nature: Engai Narok (Black God) is benevolent, and Engai Nanyokie (Red God) is vengeful. The central human figure in the Maasai religious system is the laibon who may be involved in shamanistic healing, divination and prophecy, ensuring success in war or adequate rainfall.

Maasai lifestyle centers around their cattle which constitute their primary source of food. The measure of a man's wealth is in terms of cattle and children. A Maasai myth relates that God gave them all the cattle on earth.

Although young boys are sent out with the calves and lambs as soon as they can toddle, childhood for boys is mostly playtime. Girls are responsible for chores such as cooking and milking, skills which they learn from their mothers at an early age. Every 15 years or so, a new and individually named generation of warriors will be initiated involving boys between 12 and 25 who have reached puberty. When a new generation of warriors is initiated, the existing warriors will graduate to become junior elders, who are responsible for political decisions until they in turn become senior elders. The warriors are in charge of society's security, and spend most of their time on walkabouts throughout Maasai lands, beyond the confines of their sectional boundaries. Elders are directors and advisers for day-to-day activities. Women are responsible for making the houses as well as supplying water, collecting firewood, milking cattle and cooking for the family.

One myth about the Maasai is that each young man is supposed to kill a lion before they are initiated as warriors. Although lion hunting was an activity of the past, and lion hunting has been banned in East Africa, lions are still hunted when they maul Maasai livestock, and young warriors who engage in traditional lion killing do not face significant consequences. Killing a lion gives one great value and celebrity status in the community.

Maasai music traditionally consists of rhythms provided by a chorus of vocalists singing harmonies while a song leader sings the melody. Warriors are well known for competitive jumping. A circle is formed by the warriors, and one or two at a time will enter the center to begin jumping while maintaining a narrow posture, never letting their heels touch the ground. Members of the group may raise the pitch of their voices based on the height of the jump.

The piercing and stretching of earlobes is common among the Maasai. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe, and smaller piercings at the top of the ear. Additionally, the removal of deciduous canine tooth buds in early childhood is a practice that has been documented in the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania.

Clothing varies by age, sex, and place. Red is a favored color. Blue, black, striped, and checkered cloth are also worn, as are multicolored African designs. Many Maasai wear simple sandals, which were until recently made from cowhides. They are now soled with tire strips or plastic. Both men and women wear wooden bracelets. The Maasai women regularly weave and bead jewellery. This bead work plays an essential part in the ornamentation of their body. Although there are variations in the meaning of the color of the beads, some general meanings for a few colors are: white, peace; blue, water; red, warrior/blood/bravery. The Maasai are known for their intricate jewelry.*

Head shaving is common at many rites of passage, representing the fresh start that will be made as one passes from one to another of life's chapters. Warriors are the only members of the Maasai community to wear long hair, which they weave in thinly braided strands.

* I wear a bracelet from the Maasai tribe that I acquired when visiting a tribe while on safari with World of Difference:

Top photo credit: Scott Thomas

Meet the Ameru

The Ameru are a Bantu tribe that inhabits the Meru region of Kenya. They speak the Meru language. The Ameru are a community living primarily on the fertile agricultural northeastern slope of Mount Kenya, in the Eastern Province of Kenya. The Meru are primarily agrarian, with some animals kept mainly in the northern part of the region.

The Meru were traditionally governed by elected and hierarchical councils of elders from the clan level right up to the supreme "njuri ncheke" council that governed the seven sections of Meru, making Meru perhaps the only pre-colonial democratic nation in sub-Saharan Africa. The Njuri is the only traditional judicial system recognized by the Kenyan state and is still powerful when it comes to political decision making amongst the Meru.

Taken as a whole, the Meru have one of the most detailed and potentially confusing oral histories and mythology of any people in Kenya. It is also one of the most deeply intriguing, at least from a western point of view, as it contains extremely strong Biblical similarities that suggest to some that they may once have been one of the lost tribes of Israel, and to others that they were once Jewish. This history includes a good part of both Old and New Testament stories: a baby in a basket of reeds who becomes a leader and a prophet, the massacre of newly born babies by an evil king, an exodus, the parting and crossing of the waters by an entire nation, Aaron's Rod in the form of a magic spear or staff, the leadership of a figure comparable to Moses, references to ancient Egypt (Misiri), and so on. In brief, it recounts that the Meru were once enslaved by the "Red People". They eventually escaped, and in their exodus came across a large body of water called Mbwaa or Mbwa, which they crossed by magical means. The details of the tradition are replete with parallels to the Old Testament, and also contain references to events described in the New Testament.

Photo credit: TRMS

Meet the Kisii

Kisii is a community of Bantu speakers who inhabit the Kisii District in Nyanza Province, Western Kenya. Kisii town, known as Bosongo by the locals, is located in Nyanza Province to the southwest of Kenya and is home to the Kisii people.

The Abagusii along with other Bantu speaking groups are believed to have originated in the Congo. The migration is believed to have been due to overpopulation, food scarcity, inter-group conflicts and exhausted soil for farming. As these Bantu speakers migrated from the Congo, they split up into different groups with the Kisii ending up in Nyanza Province near Lake Victoria.

The Kisii ended up in a geographical location unique among Bantu speaking groups in that they were surrounded on all sides by hostile Nilotic communities of the Luo, Kipsigis, Nandi, and Maasai. Constant sieges resulted in the development of a war-like culture to defend against cattle-raiding neighboring communities. To this day, they have a reputation of being tough, emotionally labile, resilient, and very industrious.

The Kisii are regarded as one of the most economically active communities in Kenya, blessed with rolling tea estates, coffee, and banana groves. However, Kisii district has a very high population density. It is one of the most densely populated areas in Kenya (after the two cities of Nairobi and Mombasa), and the most densely populated rural area. It also has one of the highest fertility and population growth rates in Kenya. These factors have ensured the Kisii to be among the most geographically widespread communities in East Africa. The Kisii are some of the most heavily represented Kenyans in foreign (usually Indian and American) universities.

Meet the Kamba

The Kamba are a Bantu ethnic group who account for 11.4% of the population in Kenya and live in the semi-arid Eastern Province. They speak the Kikamba language.

In Kamba culture, the family plays a central role in the community. The man is usually engaged in trading, hunting, cattle-herding or farming, while the woman works on their plot of land, supplying the bulk of the food consumed by her family. It is the mother's role to bring up the children. Grandparents help with the less strenuous chores around the home. Older women continue to work the land, as this is seen as a source of independence and economic security.

Kamba believe that God (Mulungu) made the first pair of husband and wife, and brought them out of a hole in the ground. Man was originally made to live forever, but the chameleon, which Mulungu sent to announce this news, lingered on the way and stammered in delivering this message. Meanwhile, Mulungu sent a weaverbird, which flew swiftly and told the people that they would henceforth die and disappear like the roots of the aloe tree. Then man began to die. But death is not the master of man, since he reproduces and thus counteracts the effect of death. The Kamba believe in an afterlife including the world of spirits (Aimu) and reincarnation. Further, ritual belief in witchcraft and magic is very prevalent. Ironically, the most common magic is that used to counteract the effect of harmful witchcraft.

Naming is an important aspect of the Kamba people, and the children are named for/after time or events surrounding their birth. Traditionally the Kamba did not name after living ancestors; as their superstitions believed that this was thought to be a curse upon the living namesake to wish them dead.

The Kamba people's love of music and dance is evidenced in their spectacular performances at many events in their daily lives or on occasions of regional and national importance. Dances are usually accompanied by songs composed for the occasion.

Traditionally, Kamba men wore leather short kilts made from animal skins or tree bark. They wore copious jewelry, mainly of copper and brass. It consisted of neck-chains, bracelets, and anklets. The women traditionally wore knee-length leather or bark skirts, embellished with bead work, as well as necklaces made of beads. They shaved their heads clean, and wore a head band intensively decorated with beads. Traditionally, both men and women wore leather sandals, though while at home or working in their fields they remained barefoot.

Photo credit: Brian Wood

Meet the Kalenjin

Kalenjin is an ethnic group of Nilotic origin living in the Great Rift Valley in western Kenya and eastern Uganda. The Kalenjin population is estimated at roughly 3 million. They are pastoralists and are believed to have migrated to their present location from Sudan 2,000 years ago. The Kalenjin's oral history claims that their ancestors in antiquity were Ancient Egyptians.

The Kalenjin have been called by some "the running tribe." Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honors in international athletics at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin. From 1980 on, about 40% of the top honors available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honors) have been earned by Kalenjin. In recent years, Kenyan women have become a major presence in international athletics at the distances; most of these women are also Kalenjin. It was speculated that the Kalenjin may possess some unique genetic predispositions for running; it seems that their running success results from the combination of their slender physique, slim lower legs, efficient oxygen consumption, and, possibly, the influence of altitude.

Photo credit: 4Kenya's Weblog

Meet the Luo

The Luo are the third largest ethnic group (13%) in Kenya. Their primary language is Dholuo. Following Kenya’s independence in 1963, the Luo and the Kikuyu inherited the bulk of political power. Today, the main Luo livelihood is fishing, and the Luo work as tenant fishermen, small scale farmers, and urban workers.

Early British contact with the Luo was indirect and sporadic. Relations intensified only when the completion of the Uganda Railway had confirmed British intentions and largely removed the need for local tribal alliances. In 1896 a punitive expedition was mounted in support of the Wanga ruler Mumia in Ugenya against the Umira Kager clan led by Gero. Over 200 were quickly killed by a Maxim gun. In 1899, C. W. Hobley led an expedition against Sakwa, Semeand Uyoma locations in which 2,500 cattle and about 10,000 sheep and goats were captured. In 1915 the Colonial Government sent Odera Akang'o, the ruoth of Gem, to Kampala, Uganda. He was impressed by the British settlement there and upon his return home he initiated a forced process of adopting western styles of "schooling, dress and hygiene". This resulted in the rapid education of the Luo in the English language and English ways. The Luo generally were not dispossessed of their land by the British, and many Luo played significant roles in the struggle for Kenyan independence; most using their education to advance the cause of independence peacefully.

The first major ritual in a Luo person's life is the naming ceremony. Any time between birth and age two, an ancestor might appear in a dream to an adult member of the family. The child is supposed to assume some of the mannerisms of the ancestor he or she is named after, and the ancestor becomes the individual's "guardian" throughout life. Customarily, children had their six lower front teeth removed at an initiation ceremony, but this ritual has largely fallen out of use.

Music was the most widely practiced art in the Luo community. The Luo music was shaped by the total way of life, lifestyles, and life patterns of individuals of this community. Because of that, the music had characteristics which distinguished it from the music of other communities. This can be seen, heard and felt in their melodies, rhythms, mode of presentation and dancing styles, movements and formations.

More than 1,000 people were killed in Kenya's election violence amongst the Kikuyu, Luo and several other ethnic groups following the controversial December 2007 presidential election.

Famous Luo include the president of the United States, Barack Obama and Kenya’s current prime minister, Raila Amolo Odinga.

Photo credit: Adverts East Africa

Meet the Luhya

The Luhya are a Bantu speaking tribal group in Kenya, the second largest ethnic group in the country making up about 14% of Kenya's total population. There are 16 sub-tribes among the Luhya of Kenya, each with a distinct dialect. In Kenya, the principal settlement of the Luhya is the western province neighboring the Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces, and they are the most densely populated group in Kenya.

There are several beliefs as to the origin of the Luhya; however it is commonly accepted that they fled Egypt because of famine, droughts, civil wars, diseases, and Roman taxation before settling in the area of what is now Northern Kenya, Southern Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Northern Uganda. Before colonization leadership was democratic in nature, and the Luhya ruled over a large geographic area that, comparatively, was equivalent to almost a third of Texas. In 1883, Joseph Thomson was the first European known to pass through Luhya territory on foot. The Luhya strongly resisted British incursions into their territory, and they fought hard to retain their land over the decades that followed. However, the British had machine guns and massacred over a hundred warriors who were armed only with spears, hide shields, and bows and arrows. Eventually, in the 1950s, Nabongo Mumia, the King of the Luhya, was forced to sign treaties with the British after being defeated, allowing the colonial authorities to subject the Luhya to British rule.

Luhya culture revolves around the extended family, and polygamy was allowed and common. About 10 to 15 families traditionally made up a village, headed by a village headman who was also a shaman and/or healer. Within a family, hierarchy was strictly enforced; the man of the home was the ultimate authority, followed by his first-born son. Daughters had no permanent position; they were viewed as other men's future wives, and were brought up to fulfill this role.

The Luhya had extensive customs surrounding death and considered funerals with high regard as a custom to please the ancestors. There would be a great celebration at the home of the deceased, with mourners staying at the funeral for up to forty days. If the deceased was a wealthy or influential man, a big tree would be uprooted and the deceased would be buried there, after the burial another tree would be planted. Nowadays, the mourners stay for shorter periods of time – about one week – and the celebrations are held at the time of burial, with a single closing ceremony to end the forty days.

Today many Luhyas live in urban towns and cities besides their rural homeland. The majority of Luhyas can be found in nearly all urban towns for work, school or economic reasons. Most still maintain their land or property in western Kenya.

Photo credit: www.cimoservice.it

Meet the Kikuyu

Another new weekly tradition at the WOD blog is to introduce the tribes of Eastern Africa each week. This week we will get acquainted with the Kikuyu People.

The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group as they account for about 22% of Kenya's total population. Kikuyu speak Kikuyu, a Bantu language, as their native tongue, as well as Swahili and English, the national and official languages of Kenya, respectively. The ancestors of the Kikuyu can be said with some certainty to have come from the north, from the region of the Nyambene Hills to the northeast of Mount Kenya. Today, most Kikuyu are Christians, and it is difficult to come across one who professes to be anything else.

Traditionally the Kikuyu believed in a unique and omnipotent God whom they called Ngai. Kikuyu legends have it that in the beginning, a man called Gikuyu and his wife called Mireia were placed on Mũkũrwe wa Nyagathanga in present day Murang'a District by God. It was said that they were placed near a Fig tree upon the slopes of the mountain where they gave birth to nine daughters. When these daughters were grown, they met nine young men from a distant land who married the girls and the Kikuyu nation was formed from their offspring.

According to folklore, the Kikuyu tribe was once ruled based on a matriarchal system. During the rule of Wangũ wa Makeeri, a leader who was said to be so fierce she held meetings seated on the backs of men, the men decided to revolt and take over leadership, and they have never let go.

The Kikuyu man is referred to as a mũthuuri, someone who can choose or discern evil from good, and the Kikuyu woman is called a mũtumia, someone who retains family secrets and practices. Traditionally, Kikuyu society is polygamous and the men could have as many wives as he could afford. The family lived in a homestead with several huts for different family members, and each wife had her own hut where she and her children slept. After boys were circumcised (at puberty) they moved out of their mother’s hut into the young men’s hut.

Colonization eroded many traditional practices and values, although the language has survived and continues to evolve. Many Kikuyu have moved from their traditional homeland to the cities and around the world to look for opportunities. Those living in rural areas tend to continue to practice farming.

Famous Kikuyu include Kenya's current president, President Mwai Kibaki, as well as Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello!

Photo credit: www.photostaud.com