By Hannington Kakimon, Necofa project officer, Marigat.
Ilchamus is ‘maa’ speaking sub tribe of the major ‘maa’ speakers like Maasai of Narok and Kajiado Districts, Samburu of Samburu and Laikipia districts and ndorobo of Laikipia. They live in Marigat district around Lake Baringo. They practice agro-pastoralist activities whereby they rear livestock and practice crop farming. It is a minority and marginalized comunity in Baringo County.
Just like other ‘maa’ speakers, Ilchamus are very rich in both material and practical culture. Material culture refers to tools used to practice culture while practical culture refers to exercising of culture itself. Materials such as beadwork (necklaces, bracelets, headgears, and beaded cloths), woodcarving (clubs/rungu, bows and traditional stool) and blacksmith works (spears, swords and arrows).
Cultural practices which we can as well refer to as rites of passage are so diverse and can be categorized into two; individual rites of passage and group rites of passage. Individual rites implies those practices that takes personal effort in the community to practice, decide to perform or otherwise. Such practices/ceremonies include; shaving of hair, marriage, choosing of best friend forever (Nkiyeu), childbirth & naming and girl child circumcision. Girl circumcision has been illegalized by the Kenyan government. Group rites of passage involves practices that are either prepared or participated by the community members. Such practices include;
a) Community age sets; this practice can be traced back to the year 1816 as follows.
Age set and year of initiation
Ilmechopo- 1816
Iltuati -1832
Ilnyangusi -1846
Ilpeles -1860
Ilkidemi -1874
Ilkinyamal -1888
Ilkileku -1901
Ririmpot -1914
Ilnapunye -1927
Ilparemo -1939
Ilmirisho -1949
Ilmedoti -1958
Ilkiapu -1969
Ilmepoiyie -1981
Ilkileku -1994
Ilmeingati -2007.
b) Community leaders (council of elders), this includes choosing of age set president and his deputy
c) Age set guardians. The guardians are elders who prepare boys from childhood to initiation stage and beyond.
d) Choosing of boyhood leaders. This leader is selected midway between boyhood and initiation stage of boys. He is meant to cleanse the boys prior to initiation.
e) Freedom of age set to dance with their wives. This ceremony is celebrated after an age set has got his president and deputy. This marks the end of group rite of passage in an age set.
f) Cursing and blessing. This is usually conducted by elderly men.
g) Traditional prayers. This is conducted in the shrines, caves and individual homesteads.
Very little documentation regarding each individual and group rites of passage, Cultural materials among other Ilchamus social activities has been done and put on social media. Although elderly men and women are the custodians of Ilchamus history, most of the work has been done by individuals for their academic purposes both locals and foreigners. It is high time documentation of each cultural practice is done with the involvement of the community especially the youth and the elders for the benefit of future generations and cultural preservation.
kokwa Island 