Kalenjin people

Origins

Linguistic evidence points to the eastern Middle Nile Basin south of the Abbai River, as the ancient homelands of the Kalenjin. That is to say south-east of present day Khartoum. They were not a distinct group of people at this time but part of a wider society today referred to as Nilotic peoples.

The Nilotic point of unity is thought to have occurred sometime between 3000 and 2000 B.C. though the form that this unity took and much of their way of life at this time still remains unclear.

Beginning in the second millennium B.C., particular Nilotic communities began to move southward into present day South Sudan where most settled. However the societies today referred to as the Southern Nilotes pushed further on, reaching what is present day north-eastern Uganda by 1000 B.C.

Early presence in Kenya

Beginning around 700 BC, the Southern Nilotic speaking communities, i.e. the proto-Kalenjin, whose homelands lay somewhere near the common border between Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.moved south into the western highlands and Rift Valley region of Kenya. Their arrival in Kenya occurred shortly before the introduction of iron to East Africa. Contemporary studies, supported by a number of historical narratives from the various Kalenjin sub-tribes point to Tulwetab/Tuluop Kony (Mount Elgon) as their original point of settlement in Kenya.

They settled next to and were deeply influenced by Southern Cushitic societies that had preceded them in Kenya. This impact was most notable in borrowed loan words, adoption of the practice of circumcision and the cyclical system of age-set organisation. An old Nandi tradition that may contain elements of historicity states that circumcision was introduced by a man called Kipkenyo who came from a country called Do (Tto).

The past distribution of the Southern Nilotic (Kalenjin) speakers, as inferred from place names, loan words and oral traditions includes the known distribution of Elmenteitan sites.

Occupation of the Rift Valley lands

A number of historical narratives from the various Kalenjin sub-tribes point to Tulwetab/Tulwop Kony (Mount Elgon) as their original point of settlement in Kenya.

This concurs with the consensus among historians and linguists that from about 500 to 1600A.D, the Kalenjin moved eastward and southward from a base near Mt Elgon occupying what would become their traditional lands. The movements themselves were complex and contemporary scholars present competing theories around them. Among the Kalenjin, the most popular narrative of origin is often captured as a narrative of brothers. According to the account;

..the Kalenjin originated from a country in the north known as Emet ab Burgei, which means, the hot country. The people are said to have traveled southwards passing through Mount Elgon or Tulwet ab Kony in Kalenjin. The Sebeii settled around the slopes of the mountain while the others travelled on in search of better land. The Keiyo and Marakwet settled in Kerio Valley and Cherangani Hills. The Pokot settled on the northern side of Mount Elgon and later spread to areas north of Lake Baringo. At Lake Baringo, the Tugen separated from the Nandi and the Kipsigis. This was during a famine known as Kemeutab Reresik, which means, famine of the bats. It is said that during this famine a bat brought blades of green grass which was taken as a sign of good omen signifying that famine could be averted through movement to greener pastures. The Tugen moved and settled around Tugen Hills while the Kipsigis and the Nandi moved to Rongai area. The Kipsigis and Nandi are said to have lived as a united group for about a century but eventually were forced to separate due to antagonistic environmental factors. Some of these were droughts and invasion of the Maasai from Uasin Gishu.

For several centuries, the Sirikwa, linguistic ancestors of the Kalenjin would be the dominant population of the western highlands of Kenya. At their greatest extent, their territories covered the highlands from the Chepalungu and Mau forests northwards as far as the Cherangany Hills and Mount Elgon. There was also a south-eastern projection, at least in the early period, into the elevated Rift grasslands of Nakuru which was taken over permanently by the Maasai, probably no later than the seventeenth century. Here Kalenjin place names seem to have been superseded in the main by Maasai names notably Mount Suswa (Kalenjin - place of grass) which was in the process of acquiring its Maasai name, Ol-doinyo Nanyokie, the red mountain during the period of European exploration.

The Maasai Era

Archaeological evidence indicates a highly sedentary way of life and a cultural commitment to a closed defensive system for both the community and their livestock during the Sirikwa era of Kalenjin prehistory. Family homesteads featured small individual family stock pens, elaborate gate-works and sentry points and houses facing into the homestead; defensive methods primarily designed to proof against individual thieves or small groups of rustlers hoping to succeed by stealth. A commitment to trade in this period is also highlighted by fact that the ancient caravan routes from the Swahili coast led to the territories of the Kalenjin ancestors.

The innovation of heavier and deadlier spears amongst the neighboring Maasai led to significant changes in methods and scale of raiding bringing about the Maasai era of the 17th and 18th centuries. The change in methods introduced by the Maasai however consisted of more than simply their possession of heavier, and more deadly spears. There were more fundamental differences of strategy, in fighting and defense and also in organization of settlements and of political life.

In the Maasai era, guarding cattle on the plateaus depended less on elaborate defenses and more on mobility and cooperation, both of these being combined with grazing and herd-management strategies. The practice of the later Kalenjin - that is, after they had abandoned the Sirikwa pattern and had ceased in effect to be Sirikwa - illustrates this change vividly. On their reduced pastures, notably on the borders of the Uasin Gishu plateau, they would when bodies of raiders approached relay the alarm from ridge to ridge, so that the herds could be combined and rushed to the cover of the forests. There, the approaches to the glades would be defended by concealed archers, and the advantage would be turned against the spears of the plains warriors.

More than any of the other sections, the Nandi and Kipsigis, in response to Maasai expansion, borrowed from the Maasai some of the traits that would distinguish them from other Kalenjin: large-scale economic dependence on herding, military organization and aggressive cattle raiding, as well as centralized religious-political leadership. The family that established the office of Orkoiyot (warlord/diviner) among both the Nandi and Kipsigis were nineteenth-century Maasai immigrants. By 1800, both the Nandi and Kipsigis were expanding at the expense of the Maasai. This process was halted in 1905 by the imposition of British colonial rule.

Resistance to British Rule

In the later decades of the 19th century, at the time when the early European explorers started advancing into the interior of Kenya, Nandi territory was a closed country. Thompson in 1883 was warned to avoid the country of the Nandi, who were known for attacks on strangers and caravans that would attempt to scale the great massif of the Mau.

Matson, in his account of the resistance, shows 'how the irresponsible actions of two British traders, Dick and West, quickly upset the precarious modus vivendi between the Nandi and incoming British'. This would cause more than a decade of conflict led on the Nandi side by Koitalel Arap Samoei, the Nandi Orkoiyot at the time.

Colonial Period

Until the mid-20th century, the Kalenjin did not have a common name and were usually referred to as the 'Nandi-speaking tribes' by scholars and colonial administration officials.

In 1955 when Mzee Tameno, a Maasai and member of the Legislative Assembly (LEGCO) for Rift Valley, tendered his resignation, the Kalenjin presented one candidate to replace him; Daniel Toroitich arap Moi.

By 1960, concerned with the dominance of the Luo and Kikuyu, Arap Moi and Ronald Ngala formed KADU to defend the interests of the countries smaller tribes. They campaigned on a platform of majimboism (devolution) during the 1963 elections but lost to KANU. Shortly after independence in December 1963, Kenyatta convinced Moi to dissolve KADU. This was done in 1964 when KADU dissolved and joined KANU,

Demographics

According to the Kenya's 2009 census, the Kalenjin has a population of 4,967,328 people, making it the third largest group in Kenya after the Kikuyu and the Luhya.

Subdivisions

There are several tribal groupings within the Kalenjin: They include the Keiyo, Endorois, Kipsigis, Marakwet, Nandi, Pokot, Terik, Tugen and Sebei.

Culture

As with some Bantu groups, the Kalenjin and other Nilotes in the Great Lakes region have through interaction adopted many customs and practices from neighbouring Southern Cushitic groups. The latter include the age set system of social organisation, circumcision, and vocabulary.

Language

The Kalenjin speak Kalenjin languages as mother tongues. They belong to the Nilo-Saharan family.

Kalenjin also encompasses languages spoken in Tanzania (e.g., Akie) and Uganda (e.g., Kupsabiny). Due to this even broader use of the term 'Kalenjin', it was common practice in linguistic literature to refer to the languages of the Kenyan Kalenjin peoples as the Nandi languages.

Traditional way of life

Traditional Kalenjin society is the way of life that existed among the Kalenjin people prior to the advent of the colonial period in Kenya. By this time, the Kalenjin had been semi-nomadic pastoralists of long standing.

They had been raising cattle, sheep and goats and cultivating sorghum and pearl millet since at least the last millennium B.C when they arrived in Kenya.

They occupied, and still form the ethnic majority in, parts of geographical Western Kenya and the Rift Valley. The Kipsigis live in areas centered around Kericho, the Nandi around Kapsabet, the Keiyo and Markweta in Kerio Valley and Cherangany Hills. The Tugen inhabit North and South Baringo, the Sebeei areas around Mount Elgon and the Pokot the northern side of Mount Elgon and areas north of Lake Baringo.

The territory as a whole was not recognised as a geographic locality, though the various Kalenjin sub-tribes did have a similar set of classifications of geographic localities within their respective tribal lands.

Of these geographic classifications, the Kokwet was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kalenjin. The governing body of each kokwet was its kokwet council; the word kokwet was in fact variously used to mean the whole neighbourhood, its council and the place where the council met.

Age set (Ipinda)

According to the Kalenjin social system, the male sex is divided into boys, warriors and elders. The female sex is divided into girls and married women. The first stage began at birth and continued till initiation.

All boys who were circumcised together are said to belong to the same ipinda. These age sets played a significant role in traditional Kalenjin society since they were used to record time. Once the young men of a particular ipinda came of age, they were tasked with protecting the tribal lands and the society, the period when they were in charge of protection of the society was known as the age of that ipinda. There were eight ages in general though this varied between sections as an age-set would temporarily be dropped from use if a disastrous incident occurred during the age of the ipinda.

Historically, there were eight cyclical age-sets or ibinwek, however the Nandi, Kipsigis and Tugen dropped one for a total of seven. As late as the early-1900s, the central Kalenjin groups initiated the same age-set concurrently while the outlying groups were one or at most two steps out of phase. It has been suggested that such synchronization suggests that most or all Kalenjin groups constituted not merely an ethno-linguistic category but a single information sharing system.

In contemporary times, the age-set system has become a central focus of various academic studies that try to correlate the method with the Western system of time-reckoning in order to better place historical narratives in time.

Age set Names

- *La Fontaine states there are eight "age classes" but lists seven names, the order of which is questionable.

Mythology

Kalenjin natural philosophy describes two principal deities, Asis and Ilat. Among the southern sections of the Kalenjin however there are three principal super-natural beings since Ilat's dual nature is identified as two separate deities, Ilet ne-mie and Ilet ne-ya

Asis

Also commonly referred to as Chebet chebo Chemataw (Daughter of the Day) shortened as Chebet, and as Cheptalel (The one who shines). He lives in the sky and is supreme, omnipotent and the gurantor of right. Among the Northern sections of the Kalenjin he is also commonly referred to as Tororut.

Ilat/Ilet

Ilat/Ilet is associated with thunder and rain. He is said to inhabit deep pools and waterfalls and that the rainbow are his discarded garments.

Ilet ne-mie and Ilet ne-ya

Among the Nandi, Ilet ne-mie and Ilet ne-ya respectively are good and a bad thunder-gods. The crashing of thunder near at hand is said to be Ilet ne-ya trying to come to earth to kill people while the distant rumbling of thunder is Ilet ne-mie protecting man by driving away his name-sake.

Forked lightning is the sword of Ilet ne-ya while sheet lightning is said to be the sword of Ilet ne-mie.

The Creation Story

The creation story varies slightly among the various Kalenjin sub-tribes, the account given here is from the Nandi section.

In Kalenjin natural philosophy all things are supposed to have been created by the union of the sky and the earth. In those first of days the Sun, who married the moon, proceeded to the earth to prepare the present order of things.

There he found or created Ilet who lived on earth in those days with an elephant, whom the Kalenjin believed to be the father of all animals and an Okiek who was the father of all mankind. The three rested on their sides and continued thus for a long time.

One day Ilet noticed man turn his head and he became suspicious but took no action. Some time afterwards though they found out that man had turned over completely on to his other side. Ilet could no longer contain his suspicions and said to Elephant, 'what sort of creature is this that can turn over in his sleep. He is a dangerous being'. Elephant looked at man and laughed saying 'but he is only a small creature, too tiny for me to worry about'. Ilet was scared of man however and he ran away into the sky.

The man, seeing him ran away was pleased and said: 'Ilet, who I was afraid of has fled. I do not mind the elephant'. He then got up and went into the woods and made some poison into which he dipped an arrow. Having cut a bow he returned to where Elephant was and shot him. The elephant wept and lifted his trunk to the heavens, crying out to Ilet to take him up.

Ilet refused however and said, 'I shall not take you, for when I warned you that the man was bad you laughed and said he was small.' The elephant cried out again and begged to be taken to heaven as he was on the point of death. But Ilet only replied 'die by yourself'. And the elephant died and the man became great in all the land.

Folklore

Like all oral societies, the Kalenjin developed a rich collection of folklore. Folk narratives were told to pass on a message and a number featured the Chemosit (Nandi Bear), the dreaded monster that devoured the brains of disobedient children.

The Fall of the Long’ole Clan is a popular tale based on the true-story of the Louwalan clan of the Pokot. The story is told to warn against pride. In the story, the Long’ole warriors believing they were the mightiest in the land goaded their distant rivals the Maasai into battle. The Maasai, though at first reluctant eventually attacked wiping out the Long’ole clan.

Modern literature

Traditionally, Kalenjin literature was expressed purely in folklore. The advent of the colonial period saw the introduction and adoption of the Latin script for transcribing Kalenjin lore and history.

A number of notable writers have focused on documenting Kalenjin history and culture, notably B. E. Kipkorir and Cianju Chesaina.

Cuisine

Kimyet (ugali) made of millet; a vegetable relish and mursik have long been the staples of Kalenjin diet. These were supplemented with roast meat (usually beef or goat) and milk, sometimes mixed with cows blood.

Fish was also part of the traditional diet though largely limited to residents bordering the Nyanza region.

Honey was highly sought after and was used in the preparation of mead, a tradition dating back to the last century B.C.

Cultural influences beginning in the 19th century have led to changes to Kalenjin diet. Notably, the introduction of maize has led to kimyet being made primarily of maize in the present day.

Additionally, the Kalenjin traditional areas of Kericho and Nandi have played a significant role in establishing Kenya as the world’s leading exporter of tea. Within these areas, tea plantations are a ubiquitous sight. Tea has in the process become a significant part of Kalenjin cuisine; it is usually taken in the morning with breakfast and at four in the afternoon. Whenever a guest drops in, it is customary to offer a cup of tea and depending on the nature of visit and visitor, an accompanying snack.

Athletic prowess

The Kalenjin have been called by some "the running tribe." Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honours in international athletics (track and field) 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 honours available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honours) have been earned by Kalenjin.

In 2008, Pamela Jelimo became the first Kenyan woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics; she also became the first Kenyan to win the Golden League jackpot in the same year. Since then, Kenyan women have become a major presence in international athletics at the distances; most of these women are Kalenjin. Amby Burfoot of Runner's World stated that the odds of Kenya achieving the success they did at the 1988 Olympics were below 1:160 billion. Kenya had an even more successful Olympics in 2008, documented in the book More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way by Toby Tanser.

A number of theories explaining the unusual athletic prowess among people from the tribe have been proposed. These include many explanations that apply equally well to other Kenyans or people living elsewhere who are not disproportionately successful athletes, such as that they run to school every day, that they live at relatively high altitude, and that the prize money from races is large compared to typical yearly earnings.