The Turkana people of Kenya
The Turkana people of Kenya : The Turkana are a Nilotic people who originated in Turkana County in northwest Kenya. This area has a semi-arid environment and borders the Pokot, Rendille, and Samburu people to the east, the Samburu people to the south, Uganda to the west, the South Sudan (Didinga and Toposa) to the north, and Ethiopia to the north.
The Origin of the Turkana people
As a part of the Ateker confederation, the Turkana inhabited the Turkana basin from the north. Internal conflicts caused this cluster to break, resulting in the development of distinct autonomous groupings. As a result of their victory in the succeeding battle, the Turkana people developed animosity towards the other Ateker cluster groups, who joined forces to wage war on them. By absorbing young people from conquered communities, the Turkana came out on top once more. In what are now known as the northern plains of Turkana, the military might and wealth of the Turkana rose. The domestication of Zebu cattle and the rise of the diviners (ngimurok), according to Turkana tradition, are what allowed the Turkana to amass such wealth and power.
Wraps consisting of rectangular woven textiles and animal skins are used by both men and women. These clothing are typically bought; they were made in Nairobi or other parts of Kenya. Men frequently carry wrist knives made of steel and goat hide and wear wraps that resemble tunics with one end over the right shoulder and the other end connected. Men also carry stools, or ekicholong, which they use as simple chairs rather than the hot sand during the midday. These chairs serve as headrests as well, keeping one’s head out of the sand and guarding against harm to any ceremonial head adornment. Men frequently carry double staves; one serves as a walking stick and balancing aid when carrying goods, while the other, typically longer and slimmer, is used to prod sheep during herding operations.
Women typically shave their heads totally and wear necklaces; the free hair ends are frequently beaded. The hair on men is shaven. Women typically wear two items of clothing one covering the top and the other the waist. Women’s knickers formerly consisted of leather wrapping decorated with ostrich eggshell beads, though these are now uncommon in many places.
The Turkana people have complex dress and ornamentation patterns. In the Turkana society, clothing is utilised to indicate status, age groupings, developmental phases, and special occasions.
Many Turkana people now wear attire from the outside world. Men and women who reside in Turkana’s towns in particular are most affected by this.
The Turkana Livestock
Rivers like the Turkwel and Kerio are important to the Turkana. The river plain that is planted after large rainstorms, which don’t happen often, is covered with additional sediment and water when these rivers flood. When the rivers dry up, open-pit wells are drilled in the riverbed; they are utilised to supply water for human consumption as well as for the cattle. There aren’t many, if any, built wells for community and cattle drinking water, thus families frequently have to drive for several hours to find water for themselves and their livestock.
The culture of the Turkana is heavily reliant on livestock. The Turkana people mostly use zebu, goats, camels, and donkeys as herd animals. In this community, livestock serves as a source of milk and meat as well as a form of money for dowries and discussions over bride prices. A young man will frequently be given one goat to start a herd, and he will gather additional through animal husbandry. Then, once he has amassed enough livestock, he will bargain for women using these animals. Since the number of wives any man can negotiate for and sustain depends on his livestock wealth, polygamous lifestyles are not commonplace among Turkana men.
In addition, livestock is a crucial component of regional warfare and plays a significant role in contacts between the Turkana and other nearby tribes. In Turkana culture, raids are common and are typically carried out to steal animals from nearby tribes like the Taposa and the Pokot. These raids have occasionally sparked violent clashes that have resulted in the injury or death of dozens or even hundreds of persons. In his book Cattle drive us to our enemies: Turkana ecology, politics, and raiding in a disequilibrium system, J. Terrence McCabe describes a number of instances in which raiding resulted in several fatalities. According to McCabe, these kind of raids frequently take place between Turkana and Pokot, and the frequency of raids appears to have grown in recent years.
Food
Animals provide Turkana with milk, meat, and blood. Women collect wild fruits from the bushes and boil them for 12 hours. Goats are killed and then cooked over a fire. The preferred way for preparing meat is roasting. In exchange for maize, beans, and vegetables as well as tobacco, the Turkana frequently trade with the Pokots and the Marakwet. The Turkana brew milk tea with tea they purchase from the towns. People often eat plain maize porridge (nang’aria) with a stew for lunch and dinner and milk in the morning. Zebu is only eaten on special occasions, but goat is eaten more frequently. For some Turkana clans (or brands, ngimacharin), eating fish is forbidden.
Men go out again after the hunt to collect honey, the sole natural sweetener used in traditional diets. While pastoralism is the Turkana’s main source of income, part of their food is also grown. Sorghum cultivation in Turkana community has been noted by numerous research. In one of these studies, Sorghum Gardens in South Turkana: farming Among a Nomadic Pastoral People, it is noted that while sorghum farming is extremely productive, it is more constrained by environmental variables than pastoralism. Long time Turkana allies the Jie have occasionally been known to give them sorghum as gifts.
Turkana Houses
Homes are built on top of a timber structure made of saplings with a domed shape, which are then thatched and lashed with the fronds of the doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica). Six people could live in the house comfortably. Typically, they become longer and covered in cow manure during the rainy season. A brushwood pen is used to house the animals. The majority of Turkana have begun switching from the traditional practise of herding cattle to agro-pastoralism as a result of climatic changes.
Turkana Traditions
In Turkana society, there is no distinct line between the sacred and the profane. In this sense, the traditional religion of the Turkana people is indivisible from their social order or their conception of reality religion and culture are one. The Turkana are pastoralists whose way of life is influenced by the harsh environment in which they reside. One must look for the necessities of existence every day water, food, cattle, and children in a way that pleases the spirits of one’s ancestors and promotes community harmony. In daily life, properly observing the customs (ngitalio) would undoubtedly result in blessings. It is believed that blessings are a rise in wealth, including children, cattle, or even food.
The most revered of the ngimurok are the “true diviners,” often referred to as the “diviners of God,” because they receive revelations from Akuj directly, typically through dreams. These so-called “true diviners” emulate the most well-known Turkana ngimurok, Lokerio and Lokorijem.The former is reported to have utilised the strength and wisdom of God to separate Lake Turkana so that Turkana warriors could cross it to raid camels, and the later is said to have routinely received visions from Akuj, supposedly telling him of the location of British colonialists during the early 20th century.
