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KAVIRONDO
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KAVIRONDO , a See also:people of See also:British See also:East See also:Africa, who dwell in the valley of the Nzoia See also:River, on the western slopes of See also:Mount See also:Elgon, and along the See also:north-east See also:coast of See also:Victoria See also:Nyanza. Kavirondo is the See also:general name of two distinct See also:groups of tribes, one See also:Bantu and the other Nilotic. Both groups are immigrants, the Bantu from the See also:south, the Nilotic from the north. The Bantu appear to have been the first comers. The Nilotic tribes, probably an offshoot of the See also:Acholi (q.v.), appear to have crossed the See also:lake to reach their See also:present See also:home, the See also:country around Kavirondo Gulf. Of the two groups the Bantu now occupy a more northerly position than their neighbours, and " are practically the most northerly representatives of that See also:race (Hobley). Their further progress north was stopped by the southward See also:movement of the Nilotic tribes, while the Nilotic Kavirondo in their turn had their wanderings arrested by an irruption of Elgumi people from the east. The Elgumi are themselves probably of Nilotic origin. Both groups of Kavirondo are physically See also:fine, the Nilotic stock appearing more virile than the Bantu. The Bantu Kavirondo are divided into three See also:principal types—the Awa-Rimi, the Awa-See also:Ware and the Awa-Kisii. By the Nilotic Kavirondo their Bantu neighbours are known as Ja-Mwa. The generic name for the Nilotic tribes is Ja-Luo. The Bantu Kavirondo See also:call them Awa-Nyoro. The two groups have many characteristics in See also:common. A characteristic feature of the people is their nakedness. Among the Nilotic Kavirondo married men who are fathers See also:wear a small piece of See also:goat-skin, which though practically useless as a covering must be worn according to tribal See also:etiquette. Even among men who have adopted See also:European clothing this goat-skin must still be worn underneath. Contact with whites has led to the See also:adoption of European clothing by See also:numbers of the men, but the See also:women, more conservative, prefer nudity or the scanty covering which they wore before the See also:advent of Europeans. Among the Bantu Kavirondo married women wear a See also:short fringe of See also:black See also:string in front and a tassel of See also:banana fibre suspended from a See also:girdle behind, this tassel having at a distance the See also:appearance of a tail. Hence the See also:report of See also:early travellers as to a tailed race in Africa. The Nilotic Kavirondo women wear the tail, but dispense with the fringe in front. For " See also:dandy " they wear a goat-skin slung over the shoulders. Some of the Bantu tribes practise See also:circumcision, the Nilotic tribes do not. Patterns are tattooed on See also:chest and See also:stomach for See also:ornament. Men, even husbands, are forbidden to See also:touch the women's tails, which must be worn even should any other clothing be wrapped See also:round the See also:body. The Kavirondo are noted for their See also:independent and pugnacious nature, their honesty and their sexual morality, traits particularly marked among the Bantu tribes. There are more women than men, and thus the Kavirondo are naturally inclined towards See also:polygamy. Among the Bantu tribes a See also:man has the refusal of all the younger sisters of his wife as they attain See also:puberty. Practically no woman lives unmarried all her See also:life, for if no suitor seeks her, she singles out a man and offers herself to him at a " reduced See also:price," an offer usually accepted, as the women are excellent agricultural labourers. The Nilotic Kavirondo incline to See also:exogamy, endeavouring always to marry outside their See also:clan. Girls are betrothed at six or seven, and the See also:husband-elect continually makes small presents to his fatherin-See also:law-elect till the See also:bride reaches womanhood. It is regarded as shameful if the girl be not found a virgin on her See also:wedding See also:day. She is sent back to her parents, who have to return the See also:marriage price, and pay a fine. The wife's See also:adultery was formerly punished with See also:death, and the See also:capital See also:penalty was also inflicted on See also:young men and girls guilty of unchastity. Among the Bantu Kavirondo the usual minimum price for a wife is See also:forty hoes, twenty goats and one cow, paid in instalments. The Nilotic Kavirondo pay twenty See also:sheep and two to six cows; the husband-elect can claim his bride when he has made See also:half See also:payment. If a woman See also:dies without bearing See also:children, the amount of her See also:purchase is returnable by her See also:father, unless the widower consents to replace her by another See also:sister. The women are prolific and the See also:birth of twins is common. This is considered a lucky event, and is celebrated by feasting and dances. Among the Bantu Kavirondo the See also:mother of twins must remain in her hut for seven days. Among the Nilotic Kavirondo the parents and the infants must stay in the hut for a whole See also:month. If a Bantu mother has lost two children in See also:succession the next See also:child See also:born is taken out at See also:dawn and placed on the road, where it is See also:left till a See also:neighbour, usually a woman friend who has gone that way on purpose, picks it up. She takes it to its mother who gives a goat in return. A somewhat similar See also:custom prevails among the Nilotic tribes. Names are not male and See also:female, and a daughter often bears her father's name. The Kavirondo See also:bury their dead. Among one of the Bantu tribes, the Awa-Kisesa, a See also:chief is buried in the See also:floor of his own hut in a sitting position, but at such a See also:depth that the See also:head protrudes. Over the head an earthenware pot is placed, and his principal wives have to remain in the hut till the flesh is eaten by ants or decomposes, when the See also:skull is removed and buried See also:close to the hut. Later the See also:skeleton is unearthed, and reburied with much ceremony in the sacred See also:burial See also:place of the tribe. Married women of the Bantu tribes are buried in their hut lying on their right See also:side with legs doubled up, the hut being then deserted. Among the Nilotic tribes the See also:grave is dug beneath the See also:verandah of the hut. Men of the Bantu tribes are buried in an open space in the midst of their huts; in the Nilotic tribes, if the first wife of the deceased be alive he is buried in her hut, if not, beneath the verandah of the hut in which he died. A child is buried near the See also:door of its mother's hut. A sign of See also:mourning is a See also:cord of banana fibre worn round the See also:neck and See also:waist. A chief chooses, sometimes years before his death, one of his sons to succeed him, often giving a See also:brass See also:bracelet as insignia. A man's See also:property is divided equally among his children. The Kavirondo are essentially an agricultural people: both men and women See also:work in the See also:fields with large See also:iron hoes. In addition to See also:sorghum, Eleusine and See also:maize, See also:tobacco and See also:hemp are both cultivated and smoked. Both sexes See also:smoke, but the use of hemp is restricted to men and unmarried women, as it is thought to injure child-bearing women. Hemp is smoked in a hubble-bubble. The Kavirondo cultivate sesamum and make an oil from its seeds which they See also:burn in little See also:clay lamps. These lamps are of the See also:ancient saucer type, the See also:pattern being, in Hobley's See also:opinion, introduced into the country by the coast people. While some tribes live in isolated huts, those in the north have strongly walled villages. The walls are of mud and formerly, among the Nilotic tribes, occasionally of See also: Cooking pots, See also:water pots and earthenware See also:grain jars are the only other See also:furniture. The See also:food is served in small baskets. Every full grown man has a hut to himself, and one for each wife. The huts of the Masaba Kavirondo of See also:west Elgon have the See also:apex of the roof surmounted by a carved See also:pole which See also:Sir H. H. See also:Johnston says is obviously a phallus. Among the Bantu Kavirondo a father does not eat with his sons, nor do brothers eat together. Among the Nilotic tribes father and sons eat together, usually in a See also:separate hut with open sides. Women eat apart and only after the men have finished. The Kavirondo keep See also:cattle, sheep, goats, fowls and a few See also:dogs. Women do not eat sheep, fowls or eggs, and are not allowed to drink See also:milk except when mixed with other things. The flesh of the See also:wild See also:cat and See also:leopard is esteemed by most of the tribes. From Eleusine a See also:beer is made. The Kavirondo are plucky hunters, capturing the See also:hippopotamus with See also:ropes and traps, and attacking with spears the largest elephants. See also:Fish, of which they are very fond, are caught by See also:line and See also:rod or in traps. See also:Bee-keeping is common, and where trees are scarce the hives are placed on the roof of the hut. Among the Bantu Kavirondo goats and sheep are suffocated, the snout being held until the See also:animal dies. Though a peaceful people the Kavirondo fight well. Their weapons are spears with rather longflat See also:blades without See also:blood-courses, and broad-bladed swords. Some use slings, and most carry See also:shields. Bows and arrows are also used; firearms are however displacing other weapons. Kavirondo warfare was mainly defensive and intertribal, this last a form of See also:vendetta. When a man had killed his enemy in See also:battle he shaved his head on his return and he was rubbed with " See also:medicine " (generally goat's dung), to defend him from the spirit of the dead man. This custom the Awa-Wanga abandoned when they obtained firearms. The young warriors were made to stab the bodies of their slain enemies. Kavirondo See also:industries are See also:salt-making, effected by burning reeds and water-See also:plants and passing water through the ashes; the smelting of iron ore (confined to the Bantu tribes) ; pottery and basket-work. The Kavirondo have many tribes, divided, Sir H. H. Johnston suspects, totemically. Their See also:religion appears to be a vague ancestor-See also:worship, but the See also:northern tribes have two gods, Awafwa and Ishishemi, the See also:spirits of See also:good and evil. To the former cattle and goats are sacrificed. The Kavirondo have See also:great faith in See also:divination from the entrails of a sheep. Nearly everybody and everything is to the Kavirondo ominous of good or evil. They have few myths or traditions; the See also:ant-See also:bear is the chief figure in their beast-legends. They believe in See also:witchcraft and practise trial by See also:ordeal. As a race the Kavirondo are on the increase. This is due to their fecundity and morality. Those who live in the See also:low-lying lands suffer from a mild See also:malaria, while abroad they are subject to See also:dysentery and See also:pneumonia. Epidemics of small-pox have occurred. Native medicine is of the simplest. They See also:dress wounds with See also:butter and leaves, and for inflammation of the lungs or See also:pleurisy See also:pierce a hole in the chest. There are no medicine-men—the women are the doctors. Certain of the incisor See also:teeth are pulled out. If a man retains these he will, it is thought, be killed in warfare. Among certain tribes the women also have incisor teeth extracted, otherwise misfortune would befall their husbands. For the same See also:reason the wife scars the skin of her forehead or stomach. A Kavirondo husband, before starting on a perilous See also:journey, cuts scars on his wife's body to ensure him good See also:luck. Of dances the Kavirondo have four—the birth See also:dance, the death dance, that at See also:initiation and one of a propitiatory See also:kind in seasons of drought. Their See also:music is plaintive and sometimes See also:pretty, produced by a large See also:lyre-shaped See also:instrument. They use also various drums. The Ja-Luo women use for See also:ear ornaments small beads attached to pieces of brass. Like the aggry beads of West Africa these beads are not of See also:local manufacture nor of See also:recent introduction. They are ancient, in See also:colour generally See also:blue, occasionally yellow or See also:green, and are picked up in certain districts after heavy See also:rain. By the natives they are supposed to come down with the rain. They are identical in shape and colour with ancient See also:Egyptian beads and other beads obtained from ancient cities in See also:Baluchistan. See C. W. Hobley, Eastern See also:Uganda, an Ethnological Survey (Anthrop. Inst., Occasional Papers, No. 1, See also:London, 1902); Sir H. H. Johnston, Uganda See also:Protectorate (1902); J. F. See also:Cunningham, Uganda and its Peoples (1905) ; See also:Paul Kollmann, The Victoria Nyanza (1899). (T. A. Additional information and CommentsI think more research is needed to verify claims, especially in ancient Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom that Kavirondo was part of the empire. It is interesting to know the connotation Awa-Nyoro. What could that mean? Olivia
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