Inside the Bukusu circumcision ritual

Excitement has filled villages in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties as Bukusu and Tachoni communities usher in traditional circumcision for their young boys in style.

Young boys bang hand-held bells (Chinyimba) whose echoes welcome you in several homes. The boys are smeared in mud from toe to head, ready to face the knife. An elder whispered that the special bells were crafted by unblemished traditional blacksmiths.

Over 15,000 boys are lined up for the cultural rite of passage this August, a critical ritual that marks their transition into manhood.

Gabriel Buayi, an elder, explains to us how “Embalu”, or the journey of initiating young boys into adulthood after undergoing the cut among the Bukusu and Tachoni, is handled from the two communities' cultural views.

Ordinarily, tools of trade, including knives, are cleansed in a process referred to as ‘Khubita’ - a delicate ritual observed with a lot of keenness to avert misfortune.

He confides that when a child wants to be circumcised, he first informs parents, but the boy’s mother will proceed to notify the child’s uncles once she is certain about the plans. They will then start preparing to receive their nephew in a special way immediately the information is relayed.

Circumcision songs are sung as the boys are led to the river early morning for the final ritual before they face the knife immediately they are escorted with fresh mud smeared on the head, face and chest. All along, initiates, parents and circumcisers spend sleepless nights until the ritual is over.

“In the past, special traditional songs were sung, and culture was very much respected and circumcisers were thoroughly vetted and their past keenly interrogated before they were allowed to undergo knife sharpening and circumcision traditional training," Buayi notes.

It's a tradition that started in the 19th Century among the Luhya community, a cultural rite of passage where boys become men in a spectacular early morning event.

“Once the parents are certain about their boy’s conviction, they begin the preparations, including preparing food and traditional liquor like Busaa. Upon arrival, the child is allowed to start walking, the bells are worn on both hands and banged by the initiates as they sing circumcision songs informing the community that he is to be circumcised. He starts informing close family members and later his father’s peers and everybody else,” Buayi notes.

At the home of John Jumbe in Sinoko village, Ndivisi location, Webuye East Constituency, Bungoma County, traditional songs and dances characterise the mood as boys who are ready to be elevated to men, covered with special mud from the river from head to toe, gear up and are escorted to their relatives to officially invite them for their big day.

Stamping on their feet and dance to the tunes of their traditional circumcision songs while banging Chinyimba. The boys are well aware that this is not an ordinary occasion. The enthusiasm and the zing showcased by some of the initiates, Patrick Kalwanga and Wekesa Lusweti, is evident.

Their grandfather, John Jumbe, tells us why he decided to have his children and grandsons circumcised traditionally.

“I have embraced the culture since I underwent the same process. This is a tradition passed to us by our forefathers; we don't go to the hospital but circumcise at home. My sons have gone through the same and my grandsons are also going through a similar process,” Jumbe noted.

Robinson Kisunia and Justus Wekesa said initially the initiate would start practising banging the famous bell (Chinyimba) within their homestead, but these days they go to the streets accompanied by their friends.

Women are also warned against leading circumcision songs as it is a taboo and anyone who breaks it risks death by being cursed.

The two reveal half-naked boys aged 10-15 years crisscross the county, ringing bells to inform their relatives that they are ready for the cut in a ritual known as “Khuminya”, usually an overnight vigil.

“A boy is accompanied by other young men who sing songs in the initiate’s and community’s praise as they head to the uncle’s home where he is gifted an unblemished young bull, if his father paid dowry for his mother. He may also be gifted a He-goat or money - sometimes an animal is killed and a special piece of meat is placed around the young boy’s neck back home. On the day of undergoing the cut, the young boy is woken up early and taken to the river to be smeared with mud, while special grass is hung on his head before being escorted home to be circumcised,” Wekesa explained.

In the pitch darkness, the ceremony continues; the young and the old converge to honor the legacy of their ancestors.

Both Bukusu and Tachoni circumcision ceremonies and a rite of passage and have never been complete without Busaa, a local brew for special occasions like Circumcision ceremony.

Busaa is served in a huge pot known as a Sea Pange and consumed in a traditional large communal drinking straw known as Chisekhe.

According to the chairman of circumcision initiators in Bungoma County, Sinino Owomukolongolo, during the traditional circumcision ceremonies, relatives and friends gather at the home of initiates where they sing and drink local liquor until morning when the boy is initiated.

“A day before the boy is initiated, two bulls are slaughtered; one at home and another at his maternal uncle’s home. Some parts of the meat are removed from the animals and worn around the initiate’s neck, as everyone feasts on the rest. Early in the morning, before the boy faces the knife, he is escorted half-naked to a river, where he is smeared with mud,” Owomukongolo notes.

He says the special river, called “Sitabicha” is meant to provide a certain clay soil, which is used by the boy’s uncle to paint him, and a certain grass that is stuck in mud put on his head.

“At this stage, if any other boy comes to the river accidentally, he will also join the one being prepared and be forced to face the knife, too. He is called ‘Namukhulisila,” he says.

Once clay painting is done, one is ready to go back home to face the knife. Before stepping out of the river, the boy throws the bells. Then villagers sing a song called “Sioya oyo” all the way home.

The crowd leaves via a different route from the one they came through. This is to avoid witches, as it is believed some people with a bad eye can bewitch the boy to fear facing the knife.

The circumciser and his helper then cut the boy while he is standing facing upwards at a designated spot in his father's compound, a process that takes about 10 seconds.

In case of twins, the boys are cut between 5 am and 6:30 am, but others can be circumcised as late as 9 am, and a whistle is blown immediately after the cut is finished to alert the people of a successful ritual.

If one half of the twins is a girl, she is also smeared with clay and a special banana material tied around her waist. The material is cut as symbolising circumcision because it is believed the two cannot be separated during such a ritual.

After the cut, the boy graduates from “Omusinde” to “Omufulu”. He later undergoes counselling called “Khubita”, where he is taught cultural values and leadership skills.

The “Bafulus” begin to heal slowly and are given special food to fasten the process. After about two weeks, they begin to walk around the village in groups, hunting for fruits and birds using catapults.

“Once the cutting ritual is over, about two to three days later, the circumciser talks to the boys, now regarded as men, about how they should conduct themselves. This is usually done in the presence of a few elders,” he says.

In the Bukusu community, those circumcised in the same year or within a span of two years are categorised under the same age set. So far, there are seven age sets: Bachuma, Kananachi, Kikwameti, Kinyikeu, Kolongolo, Maina and Sawa.

Age-set peers call each other Bakoki, as they go to school, walk and do most of their activities together. Some of the age-set brothers even construct a small hut, commonly known as esimba, at an identified homestead, and stay together.