This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a customary wedding in Central Kenya which left me questioning the much I know about the customs and traditions of my people. It was impressive to see how people who fall within the 'generation Y' have embraced their traditions and on how they come together to celebrate the passage rites for one of their own.
I come from the tea growing regions of Eastern Kenya and besides that I can speak my mother tongue well, I don't have much to tell about my traditions. I have thus resolved to dig up as much as I can about the ways of my people which I will in turn pass on to my lineage. I also learnt a crucial lesson from the 'uthoni' on the true meaning of a community. You see, in our deeply tribal nation whenever one mentions 'my community' most of us think of negative ethnicity. I however realized that the reason why some tribes are more unified than others is because they have learnt to work as a community in the traditional sense albeit with a touch of modernity. They have transformed from the age-sets of the times of our forefathers to well organised welfare groups. They then use these welfare groups to advance their courses and most importantly as support groups in times of need. Where I come from, we, mostly men, identity ourselves with age sets with which we underwent the 'cut' together but besides that its everyone for himself.
As part of my research on my traditions I am interested in knowing how a customary Meru marriage is carried out. Anyone?
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