Traditional Kalenjin society

Geographic extent and divisions

The Kalenjin traditionally 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.

Kalenjin territory as a whole was not recognised as a geographic locality. The various Kalenjin sub-tribes however had a similar set of classifications of geographic localities within their respective tribal lands.

Em/emet

Em or emet, equivalent to county, was the highest recognised geographic division among the Kalenjin sections. This unit was identifiable as a political institution but the main work of civil control and administration was done by the kokotinwek (plural of kokwet). Linguistic evidence indicates that this form of societal organisation dates back to their Southern Nilotic heritage. It is believed that the Southern Nilotes of two thousand years ago cooperated in loose supra-clan groupings, called *e:m.

Bororiet

This level of governance was unique to the Nandi section of the Kalenjin. The civil council of the bororiet consisted of elders from the senior-age grades of its constituent kokotinwek. It functioned only to settle problems of common concern to the kokotinwek, such as inter-kokwet disputes and matters which a kokwet had failed to settle satisfactorily.

Kok/Kokwet

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.

The kokwet elders were the local authority for allocating land for cultivation; they were the body to whom the ordinary member of the tribe would look for a decision in a dispute or problem which defied solution by direct agreement between the parties.

Governance

Among the Kalenjin, there were no chiefs of any form. Each village or Kok, usually had a headman, celebrated for his wisdom or his wealth or both. He was henceforth distinguished by the name Ki-ruwok-in.

The Nandi adopted the Maasai system of governance in the early-19th century, selecting an Orkoiyot who held precisely the same position as the Maasai Laibon, that is to say he was the supreme chief of the entire Nandi section. The Kipsigis would adopt this system of governance from the Nandi in the late-19th century.

Asis - the Supreme Being

The Kalenjin were monotheistic-worshippers of one Supreme Being—as were many African ethnic groups.

Names of God

They used two main names for the Supreme Being whom they worshipped: Asis and Cheptalel though other names were also used. For example, the Sabaot used the name Yeeyiin, the Suk used Iilat, the Marakwet used Chebet chebo Chemataw (daughter of the day), Cheptalil (the one who shines) and Chibo Him (man of the sky). Research has found over twelve main names which the Kipsigis used for the Deity of their traditional worship.

The various names were used to indicate the salanik, the attributes of their Deity, much like Jah, Jehovah and Adonai are used in Judeo-Christian faith.

Places of worship

The Kalenjin traditionally did not build a structure for worship, "as it was felt that this would have reduced His power and would have limited it to a particular building". They did, however, have three main places of traditional worship.

Kaapkoros

Kaapkoros was the name for a hilltop set aside for worship by the Kalenjin. Kaapkoros was the Kipsigis term for it and derived from kaap meaning "the place of" and koros meaning "gift". Koros is also the indefinite form of korosyot, a bush which is a mild plant and gives off a pleasant odour when burned. When the Kalenjin or the various sections would settle at a place, one hilltop would be set aside for worship. As the tribe expanded and people moved further away from this point, other hilltops would be set aside as being sacred. Evidently, the first kaapkoros took place very soon after the Kalenjin settled in Kenya—or even long before that time. People gathered on average once a year at kaapkoros, where worship would be led by the priests, known as Tisiik.

Mabwaita or korosyoot

Mabwaita is a term used by the Kipsigis section for the family altar or prayer tree which was positioned to the east of the house as one exited from the door. The Nandi and Keiyo sections called it korosyoot. This was a duplicate of the one at kaapkoros and was the centre for worship and ceremonies connected with the home and family.

The father of the home officiated for some ceremonies, such as those that involved his own family. Ceremonies involving more than one family, such as initiation and marriage rites, required a priest to officiate. Children of the families which needed his services would go to the home of the priest and ask him to come. In return, each family paid him a lamb or goat for his services.

Sach ooraan

Sach ooraan is a Kalenjin term used for the intersection of two or more paths or roads. Sach ang'wan is used for the place where four paths or roads branch off.

Years ago when a crossroad was being used for a ceremony or practice, it was considered to be a shrine. It was remembered ever afterwards that the spot had been used for the removal of something bad. Children were not allowed to go near a shrine at an intersection. Casting a leaf at sach ooraan was a form of prayer to Asis to drive away disease.

Genealogical divisions

Traditional Kalenjin society was divided into clans. Some of the more widespread clans include Toyoi, Tungo, Talai and Kapchepkendi. The members of the clans did not necessarily have a blood tie in common since immigrants into Kalenjin lands would often be accepted into an existing clan. The most notable example of this is the acceptance of members of the Segelai Maasai into the Talai clan among the Nandi.

Social divisions

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.

Age set (Ipinda)

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 occurrence 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.

Divisions of time

The Kalenjin year (kenyit) had two seasons known as olto (pl. oltosiek) and was divided into twelve months, arawet (pl. arawek).

Seasons (oltosiek)

The first season of the year, olt-ap-iwot (iwotet), was the wet season and ran from March to August. The dry season, olt-ap-keme (kemeut), ran from September to February.

The kipsunde and kipsunde oieng harvest ceremonies were held in September and October respectively to mark the change in Seasons.