Puberty

Boys and girls

 Traditionally   Girls were not being  circumcised only Boys were.
All boys in each Village were being initiated together.
And all men initiated together  in each sub tribe were regarded as members of an age set,and each set was given a name.

At the age of 15 years male children were  taken to secluded houses called Rigi.
They were  circumcised and given time to heal.
During initiation,dancing and singing is performed by men while the elders enjoy the traditional brew.
The boys were taken care of by older men.

During the healing period the mothers of the boys were allowed to bring them food, morning,afternoon and evening.They were however not allowed to get near to the Rigi.

The Men taking care of the boys would go meet the mothers and take  the food from them and brought it to the boys.

At  the end of this period when the boys had healed there was a big coming out ceremony. Men and Women welcomed them and from this moment they were officially  initiated to Manhood.

• It should be noted here that at times there are casualties,although this is on very rare occasions.When such happens and one of the initiates dies,he is buried but the parents are not informed until during the coming out ceremony when the parents are handed with his official stick and clothes.

Down is a demonstration of a typical Pokomo dance:
it's a combination of different dances ,Miri ,Ganga,kupfanga ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4OEf2r8MXw

During those days Boys after initiation and Girls at the age of maturity(puberty),were accommodated in special houses specially built for them these were called Gane (where they stayed for a number of years ,leaving as they got married.)
The boys were taken care of by married men,while the girls  married women.

The reason of having people taking care of them was to give them special training about behaviour and also to prevent them from misbehaving and perform some illegal acts before marriage that would result into unwanted pregnancy.

Now every Saturday very early in the morning the Older Women would come and supervise the girls to see if they were still pure (Virgins)
This was because as a tradition  a girl had to stay a virgin till marriage and it would be very embarrassing especially to the Parents if their daughter lost her virginity.
When this happens the culprits  were mocked and punished.They were made to appear before Church Elders and were forced to marry or face expulsion (they were made to go out of the village)
Because of this both boys and the girls restrained themselves as nobody wanted to get into any trouble.

When the young Girls got their first mensuration the Elderly women taught them how to take care of themselves and during this period they were made to stay indoors for seven days on the last day they were normally taken to the river to birth and to finalize the Ceremony the parents gave them some presents.
Bangles,  Necklesses  ,much later it was a black piece of cloth known as Nkanike and nowadays she is given a Leso which is usually wrapped  around her waist to indicate that she is now a Woman.

However with the introduction of Christianity, Education and Hospitals all these  practices are   gone.
Nowadays especially Christmas time after church boys and girls get together  they eat together ,dance traditional dances or disco, together they  organize competitions of  games like football, Volleyball  and sometimes organize  some Trips to visit other Villages.
I still remember how as a teenager Would organize activities in the Village during the School holidays and how We used to move from one Village to another organizing  dances,games,and play acting so as to raise some money to build a social Hall in our Village.
And Its sad to comment that most girls get pregnant at a very tender age.