A TYPHICAL DECEMBER HOLIDAY DURING MY BOYHOOD
December is here with us and we are all looking forward for this month of festivities and merriments!
I have just been reminded with nostalgia of when December, was truly
December, wacha hii ya siku hizi. I am talking of Decembers of the last
millennium when Female Genital Mutilation had not attained that
demeaning name, FGM. At that time it used to be respectfully referred to
as “a passage of rite where women of substances were manufactured out
of mucous-ed girls (chepkabuk)”
I am talking of December, holidays when we as
#ngetik
would close schools on Fridays and stuff our books on some corner of
the classroom and leg it into the nearest home that was said to be
‘feeding the initiates’ and at around 6PM, we would join
#murenik in ‘beating chepketilet’ and later watch with admiration as the initiates; standing around
#mabwai were being cheered and challenged (kecheer) with Ololeyo song
During the heat of the moment, a mother, grandmother or aunt of one of
the initiates would step in front to challenge her son, grandson or
nephew daring him to be cowards and she would disown him. This one
below, for instance was from my grandmother Tabutany many years ago;
a) Kongoi Kipsalat, Kongoi nyiganet kongoi Cheboin ne kimas Talianek
(Italians) kurenenyin en Bama (Burma) kot koocha ak kobirchi gee
kibaswet en waldai,
b) Kongoi makiolok ne kakomutwech toek ko ng’eten ole boch,
c) Mas chebo iman weee taitab werinyun, Kipsalat ne ingonyim ko luu muguleldanyun
d) Mas chebo iman wee werit asi asim aba teresit. Ame sengweran wee
mugenyun asi koil moo wee nyiganetab Kap Keya ne ribe kalyet en
pitoshechun bo Nemibia
e) Ametyar boyot wee Cheboin inyun iba kwam teget
f) Nyiganitun oo tangus oor ne iboten mwai eut ak gororiet en metit
g) Ame kender bokwoit ne ki itarpoch kiptalil kong iba komasta gee,
kogeer kelyek barak en Kap posta Chemakel ak koiben mundukit agoi gaa.
h) Ak itiech suswot oo Kipkoriryenyun iba kwo round kou nusut
i) Ame tee wee sinani, kou ngoktab kap barangwek ne ki ite en Karap Marus iba kotonon igoorta
j) Amee kender abuleyonit ne ka konyo kong’eten olin bo koiwa
By the end of her speech that evening, I vividly remember my uncle
#Kipyebjoget, being overwhelmed by emotions and during the fits, hit
#chepkosaa with his
#makwachit
ak kochuut rotwetab chook and threw himself on the ground. By then,
warrior blood in me was singing in my ears and when the hour arrived, I
was more than ready!!! (I suggest that a ‘retouched’ of such cherset be
made to exam pupils)
THE SHAKING OFF THE DUST
So, we could watch as the initiates were being
#cher
and follow them to where they were being ‘linked’ (ole kikiroben)
yelling and shouting all the way to harden their nerves and make them
brave. It was from this house of tumin where the uninitiated were not
allowed to enter. This used to be a big mud-walled and grass-thatched
house. The biggest in the village!!
That would be around 11P.M
when the “mother was smelling.” The uninitiated, having been chased away
from kotab tumin, then would go to the visitors’ house and literally
shake off dust with the music blaring from
#rekod that had its speakers positioned on to the opening of a big water clay pot to produce the ‘base.’
Dancing would go until morning or until the power in the battery goes flat.
NEXT DAY, THE NEXT HOME IN THE NEXT VILLAGE
We used to dance until morning and when it dawns; you would get your
schoolmate or a friend to take you to his home for a quick nap. And
around 12pm, we would head to the next home in the next village also
‘feeding the boys.’ Repetition of the previous days would happen. This
would go on for a whole week. I, for instance, would stay away from home
for the whole week, clad in my school uniform; the same that I had on
when we closed the school.
At times even, after that one week, we
would start again ya wasichana for another one week. By the end of the
two weeks, it would be time kelab eun ng’etik and dancing, eating and
dringing musarek would start again. It was no wonder December holidays
for boys were so short.
OH MY GOD, I MISS THEM TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Cheboin
