Culture in an African Country - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Some of the several communities that live in this country include the kikuyu community, the Maasai, the Luo, the Kalejin community, the Samburu, and the Turkana community. The kikuyu This is the largest ethnic group in the Kenya. It is a sub tribe of the Abantu community. They speak the kikuyu language and migrated to the country four centuries ago. According to Kikuyu, the founder was of the tribe was known as Gikuyu. They had a Divine spirit called Ngai who lived at the top of Mount Kenya. Ngai gave him a wife known as Mumbi with whom they bore nine daughters. These daughters helped to create the nine sub clans of the kikuyu people. The kikuyu were highly successful in expanding throughout the fertile areas since they are a farming community. The main crops that they cultivated were bananas, sugarcane, millet, maize, yams, black beans, beans, and a variety of vegetables. This also formed their daily diet. In addition to cultivation, they also raised cattle, which would provide milk, hide, and skin. Goats and sheep could be used for sacrifices and purification ceremonies and rituals. The kikuyu community were traders who traded with their neighboring community through barter trade. They would organize local markets in populated areas where they exchanged cattle, agricultural produce, tobacco, iron implements, and ochre. Their main trading partners were the Maasai, Akamba, and Okiek. The kikuyu also had a well-organized political system, which would organize and administer the community. The political system would mainly be based on age groups and age sets where the elders had the mandate to administer. The basic administration unit was the family, which exists until today. The youths who wanted to become warriors in the community had to undergo circumcision. This also granted them the opportunity to marry daughters in their community. They later on graduated to the council of elders and a few of them made it into the secret council whose mandate was to settle disputes in the community (Muriuki 39-62). This culture has been incorporated in their modern lifestyles, as they are known to have an entrepreneurial culture. This has led to rural urban migration are the dominant community living in urban centers. The Maasai The Maasai had a religion with a divine spirit known Enkai. They believe one day the heaven split, and the first Maasai descended from heaven, with a large herd of cattle. They offer sacrifice of a cow to their God during important ceremonies. In addition, they have a diviner known as Laibon who they consult whenever there emerges a misfortune. The Maasai in Kenya is directly related to the Maasai in the neighboring country of Tanzania. They are Nilotic speakers who are very closely related to the Turkana, the Kalenjin, and the Samburu tribes in Kenya. They are largely pastoralists’ community who rear unusually large herd of cattle. This is the backbone of their economy. They are a sign of wealth and a measure of value to them. The young men are responsible for herding the cattle to different parts of the country where there are greener pastures. They have a culture of raiding homes to steal livestock from different communities. Similarly, to the Gikuyu community, the Maasai community politics is based on age group systems, which separate young men and ...Download file to see next pages Read More