masero vs vasomi... the circumcision-ers have returned.

the musical instruments (left) and the marching (right)

I have recently been enlightened about the truth behind the circumcision ceremonies. It turns out there is not only a a single tradition, but there are two groups with two traditions. At one point the groups were united, but in 1935 the vasomi group diverged from the masero group. (note, masero translates to skins in kiluhya - because when the boys return from the forest after healing from their procedure symbolizing their journey into manhood they wear cow skins while vasomi translates to people who study... or the 'educated').

MASERO

.

The masero group is the one that I claim for myself, they are the ones that all of the pictures have been taken of... the truly traditional group. They are the ones that drink basu (home brewed alcohol) and have their boys wear crowns of leaves and dance naked with all of their community dancing with them. The music is supplied from home made instruments (2 sticks hitting against each other) and mostly consists of everybody beat-boxing the main rhythm of the song they are singing while also singing the luhya lyrics. After the initial (and only) naked-dancing round, the first day, the boys will go with their elders into the forest where they are circumcised the next morning. No women are allowed near the forest at this time and if a man happens to wander through he cannot leave until the boys are fully healed. (they, supposedly, will just kill the woman... though I've been told if it was me they would ask me what they can do to help me and then safely escort me to the main road... not sure how true any of this is, but i certainly don't want to test it in-spite of my recently public engagement to one of the elders.... and, no mom, i didn't consent to this... and by engagement i mean Freddie [the guy that i was dancing with in my older post on circumcisions] dragging me around the market by my arm drunkenly screaming to everyone in ear-shot, "THIS IS MY WIFE THIS IS MY WIFE")

itumi: culture of the circumcision.

About two weeks from their original entry into the forest the boys will return to the market place where they initially danced, but this time with their home made outfits. The elders of their circumcision group will take the skin from cows and wrap it around their bodies to cover them, while the boys father's (or father figures) will make them a basket with eye holes to wear on their heads, and finally, their mother's (or mother figures) will decorate their final outfits with plastic bags, cd's, and other things to distinguish them from the other boys. The same beats, as the previous dancing ceremony, are laid and the same songs are sung. But, this time the boys will separate from each other long enough to dance with their individual family's (mothers, sisters, brothers, but never fathers.) In fact, I'm not sure where the fathers are at this time. During their stay in the forest I've been told that they are taught how to be men. Some say they are told how to farm, when their crops are ready for harvest, how to be a good husband and father. Some say they are taught how to practice magic... to put curses on people and stuff. One one person even told me that they are taught how to have sex. (just an fyi, the person who told me that they learn how to do magic was from a person who looks down his nose at the masero traditions... he thinks they should be abolished because of the "un-chrstian-like" behavior)

The boys.

Eventually after their passage into manhood, a couple weeks of healing and learning, the boys return for one last "hoo-rah" of singing and dancing with the community and they spend their last night in for forest. They return early the next morning for the ceremony of the clothes. For the first time as men they will put cloth back on and return to society as men.

VASOMI

When the original group of men and men-to-be split into two, it was a big deal. Lines were drawn and bridges were burned. The group left because the church. They believed that the original practiced traditions were un-christian-like in behavior and they believed that they wanted to better themselves while still maintaining a version of the "right of passage" for their boys. They were told that in order to be civilized people (as the colonization by Great Britain had taught them) that they must wear clothing made of cloth, they must abandon their barbaric habits and go to school to become educated (hence their new name)... also, along with this new learned behavior came the kenyan handshake... (it's kenyan because there is no 'shake' to it, you just put your hand out and squeeze the other person's hand and then release. Also, it is used every time you see a person. Whether or not you like them or even know them you must shake everyone's hand every time you see them.).

So, the main differences between the masero and the vasomi, from my perspective, are: there is no singing or dancing in the vasomi, the boys never surface to the public eye during any part of the process (they just go into the forest and then come back out a couple weeks later), the boys never put on cow skins, there is no home-made music, the elders of the group will just parade up and down the street at dusk strumming away on their drums with no particular beat in mind while someone waves around a flag of another country symbolizing that they are the super-power group. [usually it is the American flag, but I only saw the Canadian flag being waved around... how interesting, huh? Canada being thought of as a super-power nation]

And to be completely honest, my only experience with the Vasomi group was as I was walking home from the naked-dancing of the Masero group and ran into the Vasomi's marching towards the Masero group as if to start trouble.