Hunting part 2..Home Coming

Generally the hunters returned home with plenty of meat, they announced their arrival  with songs, generally known as Nyimbo za " Maaalate"(hunting songs)
  as they rowed their Canoes slowly in the river: They would sing:
      Song
   Leader: Ooooooo Nguuuo Kadza na Kamwemweee
                Ooooooo Nguuuo Dambala  Kamwemweee
                Oooo Hi ha! X2
   Leader: Nguu Ni Mkala -
        Group :hoyaye
     Leader: Kadza na Kamwemwe-
Group.:  hoyaye hoyaye yaaa Nguoo Dambala Kamwe mwee
    (Basically This song is explaining how the Hippopotamus charged at them with a lot of anger.)etc.

As They sang, they beat the drums, blew their horns...back in the Village the Celebrations begin as the Villagers assembled at the river bank singing and dancing rejoicing to welcome the successful hunters..,they would dance "Miri"," Kitoko"Kupfanga"Gangana"  to mention a few what a Celebration men, women, children nobody was left out
Sometimes it would go own the whole night till dawn.

Kitoko

As for the  man  who was the first to spear the animal..
if he was married, the Villagers would sing:

 "Mwana mchiwa,....Kayaga
 Mwana mchiwa,.. ,Kayaga". etc. ( meaning ..the young orphan has killed, the orphan has killed)

And if he was a still a bachelor, they would sing:

"Kayume Leleee Kayume Leleee
Kayume Kachuchu Kayume Leleee
Kanjia ziwani, kayaga Nyama".

( meaning the young man went into the lake, killed an animal and brought us some meat)

And all through, these men would be wearing the tail of the animal around their necks as they celebrated.

Kupfanga

About the Dance.

This is A typical African Kenyan Pokomo Dance.for those who don't know may think these wemon are crazy but not really. It's the tradition of the Pokomo Women to dance this dance which is traditionally called ' Kupfanga' or Kungika' and it's only danced by wemon to celebrate the birth of a newly born baby and the Mother being welcomed to motherhood.
As they dance they shout.screem.touch their bodies expressing the Pain they passed through during labour time... in short they are saying The pain.oooh the pain my back was aching ,My stomach was paining others show the legs others touch the head the screeming is like telling the otherone nooooooo yours wasn't as painfully but yes mine was😄etc.
The Pokomos are one of the Bantu speakers and one of the minority tribes found in Kenya they live along the 'Tana river'.Enjoy the dance.& Welcome to Kenya

 Many thanks to my niece Tausi Bassara who provided these two great videos. Hope you will like them!

Hunting part 1

As l had explained earlier the Pokomo's mainly lived on hunting wild animals.They hunted Elephants Rhinoceros, antelopes, 
wild pigs,gazelles etc but the most preferred were Crocodiles and Hippopotamus.

Rhinoceros

Crocodile

Today l will talk about how they hunted Hippos.. l would like to thank my cousin Mr Edward Yesse who is the main contributor to this article.

hippopotamus

 A) Weapons and preparation

  The Pokomo's used iron blades o made weapons which made them Kings  of the river Tana and the surrounding lakes e.g. Shakababo,Kongolola,and others to mention a few. This practice has been carried on up to the late 19 th century.A group of hunting expedition was called "Maalate"
The older people decided in advance where to go for hunting.
People sharpened their hunting spears called "Mafumo". They checked both their quavers to ensure the arrows were in good shape, they also checked the strings of their bows to ensure they were intact.
They sharpened their big knives, and even the long sheathed spears called "Ntsoma were sharpened too.
Once ready they were kept somewhere safe ready for the great hunting expedition.
No  woman was supposed to pass over the weapons from the time they were stored as they believed that if a woman passed over such weapons,they would be rendered ineffective during and before a hunting expedition began.
 A man whose wife is pregnant was usually discouraged to join the expedition and if he does so he is not allowed to speak. He would use gestures as the Pokomo believed that if he spoke while hunting this would make the Hippopotamus very aggressive and create danger to the hunters.
A medicine man would be called to expel all evil from the land and to make sure no unforeseen dangers befell the hunters.

The hunting expedition started very early in the morning at the first cock- crow. Most times it would take them days before they would come back to their villages.

 Men of all levels would come from far and wide some from nearby Villages and others from very far and would all gather together for this adventurous event.

Young people took the lead in order to clear up the due by beating the grass with sticks as they walked.

Individual hunters carried food which was mainly bananas,rice or banana cakes, etc as it would take them days to come back.

     The Men would divide themselves in groups ...each canoe would be carrying six or eight or even ten strong men depending on the size of the Canoe. Each man would be carrying his spear, a sword and a knife.
       While some were in the Canoes others would organize themselves on Land just in case the Hippopotamus would try to escape.

                     B)Hunting
   
 Hunting was quite thrilling, once the animal is identified the Hunters squatted in the canoes and paddled towards the animal  they would try to surround the Hippopotamus ready with their weapons: the Long- sheathed Spears, hunting spears, small axes, knives etc. The people paddling the Canoes must be experts. They were the ones who paddled either towards or away from the animal.They ensured a good attacking sight for the hunters and guided the Canoes to safety where there was danger of being attacked. The Hunters were always alert as wounded Hippos were very dangerous.
         
       As l mentioned earlier   The Pokomo's believed that a Hippo could smell a man whose wife was pregnant and that the two were natural enemies. Such men were therefore placed in the middle of the parties where " The Hippo could not smell them easily", thereby preventing disaster.

      So when a Hippo is sighted, it was surrounded by the hunters. They threw their weapons at the animal. The first to spear the Hippo was said to be the killer and was entitled to wear the tail of the Hippo round the neck.The dead animal was pulled to the shallow water and shared equally among the hunters present.The killer got a bigger chunk of meat.
     
        The medicine man and the council of elders also got a share of the animal even though they would not have necessarily accompanied the hunting expedition. Usually only one animal would not be enough, they would try to get at least two or more so as to get enough meat for all. And that is the reason the Hunters would spend days before going back to their Villages.