Kutulitsa Mukana is a Maragoli (Logooli) postnatal rite in which a mother formally “releases” her married daughter after childbirth, restoring her social and economic exchange with her natal home. It is both a blessing ceremony and a structured negotiation of kinship obligations, gifts, and recognition between families. What is Kutulitsa Mukana in Maragoli Culture? Among … Read more
There is a fixture of traditional Luhya home that’s made of wooden logs and sticks and serves as an outdoor stationed rack for air drying utensils. It is known in the various Luhya dialects as: kitaraze (lulogooli), shitalasi (lukisa, lwisukha, lwidakho), sirandaro (lubukusu), shitalataliro (luwanga), esichandaliroo (lunyala), esitaratsi (lunyore), eshitslasi (lutsotso). Join us and find … Read more
What, if any, could be the link between marondo and last borns? For non Lulogooli speakers, we speak of the crunchy stuff left stuck inside the sufuria after cooking ugali; not the soup made from boiling the legs, head and tongue of cows. In Tanzania, marondo the soup is known as supu ya kongoro. This … Read more
The Luhya of Western Kenya had a body of knowledge which they relied on to make sense of dreams. Join us as we rediscover an old art lost in translation and retell forgotten traditions, as we reveal what it means among the Luhya when you dream of someone. Some neuroscience experts estimate that we dream … Read more
From mattresses to drums, 10 unique uses of the sisal plant, likongwe, in Luhya culture. Nikipita na ndoo unifate
The dos and dont’s when you get invited to a busaa drinking party in which the Luhya traditional straw (lusekhe)is used to sip beer. Busaa is a Luhya traditional beer. It is made from spontaneously fermented roasted grain known as kamakhalange or tsimbare, and the Luhya traditional yeast known as limela (lubukusu) or mumeri/ mamela … Read more
Growing up, we never knew that dentists were there to remove teeth. All our milk teeth were extracted at home by the erstwhile, experienced family dentist: dad. But the experience of tooth removal didn’t end at his hands. The whole community, was involved one way or the other. Tooth removal the Luhya way: Myths and … Read more
So this past week or so, Kenyan interwebs have been awash with accusations and counter accusations over the intimate goings-on of a certain boys club. From the fallout, it’s clear the Bro Code was broken. Everything painfully built between these men thrown into full disarray. As a result, lives and livelihoods have been destroyed. It … Read more
Today I will walk you through an important yet least talked about part of Luhya marriage traditions: the decorum expected of you when visiting your in laws in the land of Mulembe. Of all the relations of mulembe, the highest form of respect is accorded to in laws. It is not uncommon to hear of … Read more
Khocha is a male sibling to your mother. Broadly speaking, in the way African relations are expansive, chomba in Bukusu slang; or kocha, koza or kotsa in lulogooli is any of your mother’s relations that she calls brother. This includes her cousins of whichever degree. Among the Luhya, alongside senje, kotsa is the most cordial … Read more
