Turkana (ethnic group)
The Turkana , also known as Elgume , are a Nilotic ethnic group living in northwestern Kenya . Their settlement area is delimited by Lake Turkana in the east, the Pokot , Rendille and Samburu peoples in the south, Uganda in the west and South Sudan and Ethiopia in the north. With a total of around 1,000,000 members, they make up around 2.5 percent of the total population of Kenya. The Turkana language belongs to the Nilotic language group within the Nilo-Saharan language family . The Turkana call their language ŋaTurkana or aŋajep a ŋaTurkana .
Way of life
The Turkana traditionally live mainly as nomads and keep camels, cattle ( zebu ), sheep and goats, which provide them with milk, blood and meat as food. In their oral tradition they refer to themselves as "the people of the gray bull" after the zebu, whose domestication played a major role in their history. Cattle also serve as a form of currency for negotiating a bride price and as a trousseau. In addition, the Turkana - probably since pre-colonial times - plant sorghum on the Kerio River in years with plenty of rain in order to expand their food base. Riverside Turkwel living Ngiketak -Turkana for generations as sedentary farmers who grow different crops and next to keep livestock . More recently, more Turkana have become sedentary, largely because they have lost their cattle. Often these are at least partially dependent on food aid . In recent years development aid programs have tried to introduce fishing as a livelihood. The success has been very modest as fishing is taboo in parts of Turkana society.
dress
Traditionally, men and women wear wraparound dresses made from rectangular woven cloths and animal skins. The cloths are bought nowadays. Men often wear their wrap dresses similar to togas , one end tied to the other and over their right shoulder. They also have a wrist knife made of goatskin and steel. An essential household item is a stool called an ekicholong . The men use it as a simple seat so they don't have to sit in the hot sand at noon. These stools are also used as headrests to keep the head out of the sand and not to crush ceremonial headgear.
In addition, men often carry several sticks. One of them is used as a walking stick and to keep one's balance when carrying loads. Another stick, usually thinner and longer, is used to drive the cattle. Some men shave their heads bald. Women wear two shawls, one around their hips and the other on top. Traditionally, leather strips embroidered with pearls from ostrich eggshell were worn as women's underwear (no longer common today). Women are adorned with collars and a mohawk. The remaining hair is braided and beaded at the end.
Historically and traditionally, clothing differs according to age groups, special occasions and the status of individual or entire groups within Turkana society. Nowadays, many Turkana living in the city wear western clothing.
eat
The Turkana get milk, meat and blood from their animals. The women use it to cook stew (with the addition of wild fruit). Slaughtered goats are roasted over the fire. The Turkana trade corn and beans with the Pokot, tobacco with the Marakwet , and corn and vegetables with the Maasai . The Turkana buy tea and drink it with milk. For breakfast there is corn porridge with milk, for lunch and dinner there is simple corn porridge with stew. Zebus are only eaten on holidays, goats are also eaten otherwise. Fish is taboo ( ngimachari ) for some Turkana clans . The men collect wild honey for sweetening.
society
The Turkana live in a kind of round hut (in Ethiopia tukul ). For this purpose, young trees are stuck into the ground in a circle and connected at the top so that a dome is created. This frame is covered with palm fronds, further bushes and animal skins. During the rainy season, the huts are then smeared with cow dung. They are the dwelling place for a man, his wives and his children. The cattle are kept in pens.
Water is precious and is not used for washing. Instead, the Turkana clean themselves by rubbing themselves with fat or butter. Women add ocher and fragrances. As dental care, it is chewed on branches of the toothbrush tree .
Girls are considered adults when they get their periods. Boys must go through an initiation ritual. You have to kill an animal with a single throw of the javelin, then the dung left in the animal is smeared on them.
Others
A well-known lawyer for the Turkana was Vicar Apostolic Luigi Locati, who was shot in the street in 2005 .
gallery
Traditional dance presented by local school children
Women beat palm nuts to remove the shells
Men grill a goat
A stool that is carved out of wood and impregnated with tobacco
A wrist knife like the one used by men in combat
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kenyan Census 2009. (PDF; 1.7 MB) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 2, 2011 ; Retrieved June 24, 2012 .
- ↑ Paul W. Leslie, Michael A. Little: Turkana herders of the dry savanna: ecology and biobehavioral response of nomads to an uncertain environment , Research monographs on human population biology , Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 9780198549215
- ^ Inside the world of Kenya's nomadic Turkana people. Accessed January 30, 2018 .
- ^ Inside the world of Kenya's nomadic Turkana people. Accessed January 30, 2018 .