The Kalenjin are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting much of what was the Rift Valley Province in Kenya. They are estimated to number a little over 4.9 million individuals as per the Kenyan 2009 census. Kalenjin in Kenya are divided into the Kipsigis, Nandi, Keiyo, Marakwet, Sabaot, Pokots, Tugen, Terik and Ogiek/Dorobo. They speak the Kalenjin language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family.
Areas where Nilotic languages are spoken.
Main article: Nilotic peoples Linguistic evidence points to the eastern Middle Nile Basin south of the Abbai River, as the ancient homelands of the Kalenjin. That is to say south-east of present-day Khartoum. They were not a distinct group of people at this time but part of a wider society today referred to as Nilotic peoples.
The Nilotic point of unity is believed to have occurred between 3000 and 2000 B.C., although the form this unity took and much of their way of life at that time remain unclear.
Beginning in the second millennium B.C., particular Nilotic communities began to move southward into present day South Sudan where most settled. However the societies today referred to as the Southern Nilotes pushed further on, reaching what is present day north-eastern Uganda by 1000 B.C.
Early presence in Kenya
See also: Elmenteitan Beginning around 700 BC, the Southern Nilotic speaking communities, i.e. the proto-Kalenjin, whose homelands lay somewhere near the common border between Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia moved south into the western highlands and Rift Valley region of Kenya. Their arrival in Kenya occurred shortly before the introduction of iron to East Africa.
Contemporary studies, supported by a number of historical narratives from the various Kalenjin sub-tribes point to Tulwetab/Tuluop Kony (Mount Elgon) as their original point of settlement in Kenya.
They settled next to and were deeply influenced by Southern Cushitic societies that had preceded them in Kenya. This impact was most notable in borrowed loan words, adoption of the practice of circumcision and the cyclical system of age-set organisation.[5] An old Nandi tradition that may contain elements of historicity states that circumcision was introduced by a man called Kipkenyo who came from a country called Do (Tto).
The past distribution of the Southern Nilotic (Kalenjin) speakers, as inferred from place names, loan words and oral traditions includes the known distribution of Elmenteitan sites.
Occupation of the Rift Valley lands A number of historical narratives from the various Kalenjin sub-tribes point to Tulwetab/Tulwop Kony (Mount Elgon) as their original point of settlement in Kenya.
Mount Elgon, a common Kalenjin point of origin This concurs with the consensus among historians and linguists that from about 500 to 1600A.D, the Kalenjin moved eastward and southward from a base near Mt Elgon occupying what would become their traditional lands. The movements themselves were complex and contemporary scholars present competing theories around them. Among the Kalenjin, the most popular narrative of origin is often captured as a narrative of brothers. According to the account;
..the Kalenjin originated from a country in the north known as Emet ab Burgei, which means, the hot country. The people are said to have traveled southwards passing through Mount Elgon or Tulwet ab Kony in Kalenjin. The Sabaot settled around the slopes of the mountain while the others travelled on in search of better land. The Keiyo and Marakwet settled in Kerio Valley and Cherangani Hills. The Pokot settled on the northern side of Mount Elgon and later spread to areas north of Lake Baringo. At Lake Baringo, the Tugen separated from the Nandi and the Kipsigis. This was during a famine known as Kemeutab Reresik, which means, famine of the bats. It is said that during this famine a bat brought blades of green grass which was taken as a sign of good omen signifying that famine could be averted through movement to greener pastures. The Tugen moved and settled around Tugen Hills while the Kipsigis and the Nandi moved to Rongai area. The Kipsigis and Nandi are said to have lived as a united group for about a century but eventually were forced to separate due to antagonistic environmental factors. Some of these were droughts and invasion of the Maasai from Uasin Gishu.
Radiocarbon dating of archaeological excavations done in Rongai (Deloraine) have ranged in date from around 985 to 1300 A.D and have been associated with the early development phase of the Sirikwa culture. From here the culture radiated outwards toward the western highlands, the Mt. Elgon region and possibly into Uganda.
Traditional way of life See also: Traditional Kalenjin society and Kalenjin mythology By the middle of the second millennium, the Kalenjin had been semi-nomadic pastoralists of long standing. They had been raising cattle, sheep and goats and cultivating sorghum and pearl millet since at least the last millennium B.C when they arrived in Kenya.
The areas around Lake Baringo are home to a number of Kalenjin sections They occupied parts of geographical Western Kenya and the Rift Valley.
A territory that was not as a whole recognized as a geographic locality, though the various Kalenjin sub-tribes did have a similar set of classifications of geographic localities within their respective tribal lands.
Of these geographic classifications, the Kokwet was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kalenjin. The governing body of each kokwet was its kokwet council; the word kokwet was in fact variously used to mean the whole neighbourhood, its council and the place where the council met.
Age set (Ipinda / Ebendo)
The social system divided the male sex into boys, warriors and elders. The female sex was divided into girls and married women. The first stage began at birth and continued till initiation. All boys who were circumcised together were and still are said to belong to the same ibinda. These age sets were used to record time. Once the young men of a particular ibinda came of age, they were tasked with protecting the tribal lands and the society, the period when they were in charge of protection of the society was known as the age of that ibinda. There were eight ages in general though this varied between sections as an age-set would temporarily be dropped from use if a disastrous incident occurred during the age of the ipinda. As late as the early-1900s, the central Kalenjin groups initiated the same age-set concurrently while the outlying groups were one or at most two steps out of phase. It has been suggested that such synchronization suggests that most or all Kalenjin groups constituted not merely an ethno-linguistic category but a single information sharing system.
There are corresponding female age-sets among the Marakwet; for example, Kaberur (male) – Chemeri/ Chemeri Kipchesum (female), Kaplelach (male)- Tabesit / Tabesit ruompo Laikok (female), Kipnyikew/ Kipmke (male)- Silingwa (female), Nyongi (male)- Kaptura (female), Maina (male) – Charkina (female), Chumo (male) – Kipturbei (female), Sowe (male)- Chelyong/ Kapcheusi (female), Korongoro (male)- Cheptentur/ Sikinkin/ Kesengen (female). The Marakwet still circumcise girls alongside boys. However, the naming of female age-sets changes according to prevailing events.