Kamba Culture

ST. PAUL’S UNIVERSITY NAIROBI CAMPUS

DAY PROGRAM

                                                                    

FACULTY OF BUSINESS, COMMUNICATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

COM 210: INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

ASSIGNMENT: CULTURAL PROJECT KAMBA

ADM: BACS/NRB/3697/17

Introduction

History of the Akamba

The Kamba people are a Bantu a branch of the Niger-Congo. They are also called the Akamba, Mukamba, Akamba or Keramba. The Maasai call the Akamba - Lungnu and the coastal people call the Akamba – Waumanguo due to their light dress. The Akamba people live in semi-arid areas like the Eastern Kenya that extends east from Nairobi to Tsavo and north up to Embu, Kenya. The Akamba refer to their land as Ukambani; which is currently constituted by Makueni County, Kitui County and Machakos County. Akamba are the fifth largest tribe and they make up about 11 percent of Kenya's total population.

The Kambas were involved in the long distance trade during the pre-colonial period. In the mid-eighteenth century, a large number of Akamba pastoral groups moved eastwards due drought and a lack of pasture for their cattle. The Kamba speak the Kikamba as their mother tongue. It belongs to the Bantu language family. Kikamba has no letters like: c, f. j, r, x and q in their alphabet.

Dress code and Accessories

Traditionally, Akamba men wore leather short kilts made from animal skins or tree bark. They wore copious jewelry, mainly of copper and brass. It consisted of neck-chains, bracelets, and anklets while the women were attired to knee-length leather or bark skirts, embellished with bead work. They wore necklaces made of beads, these obtained from the Swahili and Arab traders. They shaved their heads clean, and wore a head band intensively decorated with beads.

In the modern time, like most people in Kenya, dress rather conventionally in western / European clothing. The men wear trousers and shirts. Young boys will, as a rule, wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts, usually in cotton, or tee-shirts while the women in modern Akamba society also dress in the European fashion, taking their pick from dresses, skirts, trousers, jeans and shorts, made from the wide range of fabrics available in Kenya. Primarily, however, skirts are the customary and respectable mode of dress.

Marriage

The bottom line is the groom and his kin must meet some basic requirements and perform specific rituals highly regarded among the Kamba community as minimum threshold for a typical legitimate marriage. The rituals have been viciously preserved throughout generations, and still remain a significant identity and cultural value revered by everyone in the community, their social class notwithstanding. For instance, before a marriage ceremony is conducted, the groom (with his kin) must throw an important party popularly referred to as Ntheo. Ntheo is actually the minimum requirement that demonstrates the bride officially belongs to the man she is engaged to.

In case the couples are in a ‘come-we-stay’ arrangement, meaning there was no advance ceremony before they began living as husband and wife, the entire marriage is deemed null and void under the Kamba customary law. As a result, the woman in the marriage is considered an illegitimate wife and the man illegitimate husband. If, and God forbid, a woman whose husband is yet to throw the Ntheo party to her (bride’s) kin dies, she cannot be buried by her husband no matter how long she had stayed with him. And if the husband finds it important to bury the remains of his wife at his home, he has to carry out the Ntheo ceremony before the burial.

Birth

During the last three months of her pregnancy, the expectant mother was also forbidden to eat fat, beans, and the meat of animals killed with poisoned arrows. In addition, she ate a special kind of earth found on termite hills or on trees. This earth is first chewed by termites, then deposited on trees and grass, or piled up to form a mound. When eaten, such 'earth' strengthens the body of the child.

Before giving birth, all weapons and iron articles were removed from the house of the expectant mother, as it was believed that iron articles attracted lightning (both, one might presume, physical and 'spiritual', the latter in the form of evil spirits).

When a child is born, the parents slaughter a goat or bull on the third day. Many people come to feast and rejoice with the family, and women who have borne children get together to give a name to the child. This is known as 'the name of Ngima'.  Ngima being the main dish prepared for the occasion.

On the fourth day, the father hangs an iron necklace on the child's neck, after which it is regarded as a full human being and as having lost contact with the spirit world. Before that, a child is regarded as an 'object' belonging to the spirits (Kiimu), and if it should die before the naming ceremony, the mother becomes ritually unclean and must be cleansed.

During the night following the naming, the parents perform ritual sexual intercourse, which is the seal of the child's separation from the spirits and the living-dead, and its integration into the company of human beings.

Naming of Children

Naming of children is an important aspect of the Akamba. In most but not all cases, the first four children, two boys and two girls, are named after the grandparents on both sides of the family. The first boy is named after the paternal grandfather and the second after the maternal grandfather. Girls are similarly named. Because of the respect that the Kamba people observe between the varied relationships, there are people with whom they cannot speak in “first name” terms example: The father and the mother in-law on the husband’s side, for instance, can never address their daughter in-law by her first name. Neither can she address them by their first names.

After these four children are named, whose names were more or less predetermined, other children could be given any other names, sometimes after other relatives and / or family friends on both sides of the family. Occasionally, children were given names that were descriptive of the conditions, under which they were born,

• ·         A girl is named Nduku and a boy is named Mutuku means born at night.
• ·         Kioko is a boy’s name meaning born in the morning.
• ·         A girl’s is named Mumbua or Syombua and a boy is named Wambua means born in time of rains.
• ·         Wayua is a girl’s name means born in time of famine.
• ·         Makau is a boy’s name means born in the time of war.
• ·         Musyoka/Kasyuko/Musyoki is a boy’s name and Kasyoka/Kasyoki girl’s name meaning re-incarnation of a dead family member.
• ·         Mutua and Mutuo/Mwikali is a boy’s name and Mwikali is a girl’s name that is indicative of the long the duration of the parents had waited for the child, or a lengthy period of gestation.
• ·         Munyao is a boy’s name means born in the time of famine.
• ·         A girl is named Waeni means born in time of visitors.
• ·         Maundu is a boy’s name means born in time of multiple activities.

Children were also given affectionate names as expressions of what their parents wished them to be in life. Such names would be like:

• ·         Mutongoi (leader)
• ·         Musili (judge)
• ·         Muthui (the rich one)
• ·         Ngumbau (hero, the brave one)

A girl could be called Mumbe meaning beautiful. Wild animal names like Nzoka (snake), Mbiti (hyena), Mbuku (hare), Munyambu (lion), or Mbiwa (fox); or domesticated animal names like Ngiti (dog), Ng’ombe (cow), or Nguku (chicken), were given to children born of mothers who started by giving stillbirths. This was done to wish away the bad omen and allow the new child to survive. Sometimes the names were used to preserve the good names for later children. There was a belief that a woman’s later children had a better chance of surviving than her first ones.

Death

The Kamba have various legends that say that the first men had the gift of either immortality or of rising again after dying. God one day decided to make this permanent, so he called for a messenger. The people sent a very slow but careful animal, such as a chameleon or mole, to receive and deliver the message. As it was God's message, once it was delivered, it could not be taken back. Alas, on his way back down to earth, the animal either forgot the message, or foolishly blurted it out to an envious animal, such as jackal, which then ran to tell the people the opposite of what God had commanded. Henceforth, people were condemned to die and never rise again.

The Kamba have various metaphorical phrases for death: to follow the company of one's grandfathers, to go home, to stop snoring, to be fetched or summoned, to empty out the soul, to sleep for ever and ever, to dry up, wither or evaporate, to pass away, to be called, to reject the people, to reject food, to be received or taken away, to return or go back, to terminate, to be finished or end, to have one's breath come to an end, to depart or go, to go where other people have gone, to leave, forsake or abandon, to collapse, come to ruins, to become God's property.

Work

Like many Bantus the Akamba were originally hunters and gatherers, became long distance traders because of their knowledge of the expansive area they inhabited and good relations with neighboring communities as well as excellent communication skills, later adopted survival farming and pastoralism due to the availability of the new land that they came to occupy.

The Kamba have a unique figure and weaved sisal baskets are sold in many curio shops, gift shops and art galleries in Kenya's major cities and abroad. The men do the carving while Kamba women weave and decorate the fine work in baskets and pottery. In the fig:

The Akamba were great traders and ranged all the way from the coast to Lake Victoria and up to Lake Turkana. Ivory was one of the main barter items but locally made products such as beer, honey, iron weapons and ornaments were also traded. They used to obtain food stocks from the neighboring; Maasai and Kikuyu, as their own low-altitude land was relatively poor and couldn’t sustain the increasing population which followed their arrival in the area

Taboos

If a woman touches a man during her periods, it is a great taboo. They have to be taken to a witch doctor, which makes them vomit, and then they get smeared with clay and washed in goat’s loose dung. If a person sits on the chair of the head of the house, it is a great taboo. If a younger person holds the waits while talking to an older person, it is a taboo.  A man having sexual intercourse with another man is a great taboo. If a boy who is in his adolescent goes to the mother’s house, it is a great taboo.

Rites of passage

All Kamba adolescents go through initiation rites to adulthood at around the age of 12. The various age-set rituals involve the men, and the women to a minor extent, gaining seniority as they get older.

Young parents are known as ‘junior elders’ Mwanake for men, Mwiitu for women and are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the village. Once there children are old enough to become junior elders. The Mwanake goes through a ceremony to become a ‘medium elder’ Nthele, and later in life a ‘full elder’ Atumia ma Kivalo with the responsibility for death ceremonies and administering the law. The last stage of a person’s life is that of ‘senior elder’ Atumia ma Kisuka with responsibility for the holy places.

Initiation into adulthood is marked with circumcision, for males and many females as well. Female circumcision is officially banned in Kenya, but in some parts of Ukambani it is still hold the tradition.

Music/ Musical instrument

The Akamba people’s love of music and dance is evidenced in their spectacular performances at many events. In their dances they display agility and athletic skills as they perform acrobatics and body movements.

Dances are usually accompanied by songs composed for the occasion (marriage, birth, nationally important occasion), and reflect the traditional structure of the Kikamba song. The singing is lively and tuneful. Songs are composed mocking abnormal behavior, anti-social activity, etc. The Akamba have famous work songs, such as Ngulu Mwelela, sung while work, such as digging, is going on.

image one

The first image is kamba dance while the second is the drummers playing music.

     

image two

                       

Some of the Kamba songs include

• Mwali is a dance accompanying a song, the latter which is usually made to criticize anti-social behavior.
• Kilumi and Ngoma, is a religious dances, performed at healing and rain-making ceremonies.
• Mwilu is a circumcision dance.
• Mbalya or Ngutha is a dance for young people who meet to entertain themselves after the day’s chores are done.
• Kamandiko is a modern disco usually held after a wedding party.

Technology

The Kamba people are peaceful but in the traditional days they would use weapons like bow and arrow and the catapult against the Maasai who would still their lands and livestock. The young Kamba boys would learn how to make medicine and how to bring in rain or signs to know that rain are coming, how to make pots by use clay soil and woodcarving and basketry skills by learning from their apprentice.

Hierarchical Clan

Members of the extended family constitute a clan, Mbai.  The elderly members of the clan form the council of elders who oversee all the activities of the clan. They also set the rules and regulations that govern the whole clan and punished all who broke the rules. The clan plays a key role in protecting the cultural values of the community because the Kamba people strongly believe that culture is the symbol of people’s awareness.

Laws

In the Kamba culture rules are set but the elders of the clans. If one rule is broke there will be punishment like being ex-communicated from the community.

High/ low context

The Kamba culture identifies itself as a high context culture, because you find useful messages are conveyed through status, for example when an elder passes near children, the children even before the elder says anything to them, they stop what they are doing and stand up maintaining silence as a sign of respect. In the process of communication, much in-depth and background information in neither required nor expected, when giving someone a piece of advice for example, if it Is a very serious matter silence is maintained for a considerable amount of time and then one may be told of a proverb and not surprising, is that not much may be discussed. (Mani, Joseph Muya, 2007)

Games

children playing jump rope

The Kamba are only good in jump rope and Tug-o-War. Dance is also considered as a game to those taking part in in these actives when they are done with work like: farming and trading.

Foods and drinks

isyo

Kambas are farmers and their staple food is isyo also known as kitheli - maize mixed with beans or peas - as these can be dried, stored and consumed during the frequent droughts. Maize/corn is also ground to make ugali, a popular Kenyan food. During the rainy seasons and along the riverbeds, Kambas grow fruits and vegetables such as cabbage, collards, bananas, mangoes, oranges and other tropical edibles. Goat meat, chicken and beef are also popular food choices among the Kamba people.

Organization: family, extended

The father is known as Nau, Tata, or Asa. The Kamba culture, the family (Musyi) plays a central role in the community. The Akamba extended family or clan is called Mbai. The man, who is the head of the family, is usually engaged in an economic activity popular among the community like trading, hunting, cattle-herding or farming.

The mother is known as Mwiitu. She works on her plot of land, which she is given upon joining her husband's household. She supplies the bulk of the food consumed by her family. She grows maize, millet, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, beans, pigeon peas, greens, arrow root, cassava, and yam. It is the mother's role to bring up the children. Even children that have grown up into adults are expected to never challenge the mother's wishes.

Very little distinction is made between one's children and nieces and nephews. They address their maternal uncle as Inaimiwa and maternal aunts as Mwendya and for their paternal uncle and aunt as Mwendw'au. They address their paternal cousins as Wa-asa for the men is Mwanaasa and for women is Mwiitu Wa'asa and the maternal cousins while mother's side as Wa Mwendya for men Mwanaa Mwendya; for women Mwiitu Wa Mwendya. Children often move from one household to another with ease, and are made to feel at home by their aunts and uncles who, while in charge of their nephews/nieces, are their de facto parents.

Grandparents is known as Susu or Usua and grandfather is called Umau or Umaa help with the less strenuous chores around the home, such as rope-making, tanning leather, carving of beehives, three-legged wooden stools, cleaning and decorating calabashes, making bows and arrows, etc. the older women continue to work the land, as this is seen as a source of independence and economic security. They also carry out trade in the local markets, though not exclusively. In the modern Akamba family, the women, especially in the urban regions, practice professions such as teaching, law, medicine, nursing, secretarial work, management, tailoring and other duties in accordance with Kenya's socioeconomic evolution.

Religion

The traditional god of the Kamba tribe is Ngai, or sometimes he is called Mulungu. He is careful a merciful god, but not approachable by man. People make offerings to the spirits of their dead ancestors to intercede with Ngai on their behalf. These beliefs are not as common as in the past, with most of the Kamba being converted Christians.

Values/ norms/ myths/ believes

Mythology (Creation Story) Like all other Bantu, communities, the Akamba have a story of origin: "In the beginning, Mulungu created a man and a woman. This was the couple from heaven and he proceeded to place them on a rock at Nzaui where their foot prints, including those of their livestock can be seen to this day. Mulungu then caused a great rainfall. From the many anthills around, a man and a woman came out. These were the creators of the ‘spirits clan’- the Aimo. It so happened that the couple from heaven had only sons while the couple from the anthill had only daughters. Naturally, the couple from heaven paid dowry for the daughters of the couple from the anthill. The family and their cattle greatly increased in numbers. With this prosperity, they forgot to give thanks to their creator. Mulungu punished them with a great famine. This led to dispersal as the family scattered in search of food.

The Akamba believe in a monotheistic, invisible and mystical God, Ngai or Mulungu, who lives in the sky Ituni. Another venerable name for God is Asa, or the Father. He is perceived as the omnipotent creator of life on earth and as a merciful, if distant, entity. The traditional Akamba perceive the spirits of their departed ones, the Aimu .as the mediators between themselves and Ngai Mulungu. They are remembered in family rituals and offerings / offerings at individual altars.

The traditional Kamba made sacrifices on great occasions, such as at the rites of passage, planting time, before crops ripen, at the harvest of the first fruits, at the ceremony of purifying a village after an epidemic, and most of all when the rains fail or delay. They use oxen, sheep or goats of one color, and in the case of severe drought they formerly sacrificed a child which they buried alive in a shrine.

The shrines themselves are unobtrusive, traditionally being forest clearings containing either a large or otherwise sacred tree (such as the fig tree), or other notable natural objects, such as unusually smooth or polished bounders. The trees may not be cut down, and the shrines are regarded as a sanctuary for animals and humans alike (including criminals, if they dare enter them - the fear of reprisal from spirits is great).

Reference

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000065804/ntheo-kamba-traditional-marriage-clincher

Sammover. A, Richard. E, Edwin R. Daniel. M. (2007). Communication between cultures. Belmont: Holly Allen.