The Pokot People | Pastoralists of Uganda’s Northeast

THE POKOT PEOPLE

The pokot people: Living in Eastern karamoja region of uganda, the Pokot people form the Klenjin ethnic group. They speak the “Pökoot” language. In kenya they settled in Baringo county in Western Kenya. Their language is similar to the Marakwet, Tuken and other members of the Kalegin group.

ORIGIN

Pokot identity formed in the Kerio Valley perhaps as early as the late 18th and certainly not later than the mid 19th century. It emerged from the assimilation of the Sirkwa era Chok by the Pokotozek section of the Maliri. They are well known for their grazing and cultivation abilities, the Pokot people who evidence suggests that are part of the Klenjin who occupy the Kenya’s highlands for many years, expanded their territories by moving towards Uganda.

They faced pressures which were environmental and political, they faced draught, rinderpest and famines which destroyed cattle herds, it also reduced human population because of starvation which caused several deaths. During this period of famine, the Pokot moved into areas that were previously occupied by the Karamojong, but they lost grazing grounds to the Turkana, who were pushing down from the north and the west. A decade after the arrival of British administrative activity in 1910, the southern grazing grounds of the Pokot were alienated for European farms.

Because of it’s social and political-economic isolation during the colonial period, West Pokot was the least-developed district in Rift Valley Province at the time of independence. The arrival of modern infrastructure and transport, commercial townships, and land settlement dates from the 1970s.

POLITICAL SET UP

 The Pokot society is organized in Age-grades but also neighborhood councils were the only political arenas. For one to go through initiation, he must have been determined of his age-grade. Young men undergo initiation when they are between the age of fifteen and twenty unlike the young women whose is done at the age of twelve at the beginning of menstruation period.

 After initiation, young people are allowed to marry and are permitted to begin participating in local economic activities. Young men and women form close bonds with other members of their initiation groups, and these bonds serve for future political ties. When a man or woman reaches old age among Pokot, he or she is accorded a certain degree of status and respect. Responsibilities of elders include presiding over important community decisions, festivals, and religious ceremonies.

KINSHIP

There are some thirty-six named, patrilineal clans and Many of these clans are found among other Kalenjin groups; a few originated among the Turkana. Clan histories recount the movements of people from one locale to another, emphasizing the vulnerability of humans and their dependence upon supernatural benefactors to help them overcome hunger, thirst, and, ultimately, death itself; the attributes of these benefactors are praised in poetry and song. Clans are visualized mentally as “pathways” and fellow clan members as children of the same “father” or “grandfather.” Although members of the same clan are dispersed geographically and are differentiated internally, they are said to hold their herds in common. Unlike some East African cattle-keeping groups, the Pokot retain their clan affiliations throughout their lives; there is no ceremony to sever clan ship in the event of marriage.

MARIAGE AND FAMILY

Like most of the many tribes, the pokot people also paid bride price to the family of the girl by the boy before it successfully went on well. The parents of the girl made sure that the gir agreed with the boy on the decision though some parents decided for their children.

Among the bride wealth paid to the girl’s family were cattle, goats, even land and many more. Divorce due to conflict or to lack of children is not uncommon in the early years of a marriage, but, after the birth of children, divorce is rare. The bond between a husband and wife and their respective families and clans endures for three to four generations, after which time the relationship is said to “disappear,” and marriages may again take place between the two groups. A man may have more than one wife, but polygamy is uncommon among men under 40 years of age.

 A homestead is composed of one or more buildings that provide housing, cooking, and storage for a man and his wife  and children; co-wives have separate houses. Where cultivable land is inherited , married sons tend to live near their fathers. A young adult woman is promised stock by her family after her initiation and at the time of her marriage, but generally she asks for and receives only one gift of stock from her family.

Families are responsible for supporting their children, but socialization per se is a community-wide affair. The role of the community in teaching children ethical rules and responsible behavior is emphasized during initiation, the most important rite of passage for most Pokot. Initiation consists of a series of neighborhood-based ceremonies organized by adult men and women who, by turns, teach, encourage, remonstrate, cook for, and laud the initiates during and after their trials.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

 In Pokot perspective, the universe has two worlds, the above and the below. The above, isolated and enigmatic, is the base of the most powerful deities in form of “Tororot”, “Asis ” (sun), and “llat” (rain); the below is the base of humans, animals, and plants.  The Pokot communicate with their deities through prayer and sacrifice: “Tororot” is said to listen to his creatures below, “Asis” to witness their activities, and “llat” to serve as a messenger between the two worlds.

 It was believed that in the divine messenger “llat”, there was  a human counterpart called a “werkoyon” which meant prophet. He was known for foreseeing disaster and recommended satisfaction, usually animal sacrifice, to sooth it. A werkoyon may be either male or female.

The Pokot had ceremonies that marked a transition in soxial lives of some individuals and communities as well. like among these are the cleansing of a couple expecting their first child; the cleansing of newborn infants and their mothers; the cleansing of twins and other children who are born under unusual circumstances; male and female initiation; marriage; sapana, a coming-of-age ceremony for men; harvest, and healing ceremonies.

The Pokot people were also well know believers of herbal healing. The Pokot women specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and in midwifery. Ritual specialists were called upon to treat the mentally disturbed.

DEATH

A death is proved by the mourning of close kin, but the Pokot have no funeral ceremony per se, and no singing accompanies the burial of the body or the subsequent distribution of the deceased’s effects. Ancestral spirits anticipate reincarnation in their living descendants; an infant is said to resemble physically and temperamentally one of his or her agnostic ancestors, after whom the infant should be named.

ECONOMY

The pokot people were subsistence farmers and also cattle keepers.Traditionally,they grew sorghum and finger millet and more recently, maize are at the center of Pokot subsistence and commercial activities. In general, cattle are more essential to subsistence in the lowlands than they are in the highlands. Herds were moved seasonally, and crops are planted in different ecological zones in order to balance harvests and maximize yields. Sunflowers, pyrethrum, coffee, and cotton, the other major field crops were introduced in the colonial and colonialist periods.

Women weaved baskets, work leather, and make milk gourds and  pots for cooking and water storage. Men specialize in woodworking, making beehives, headrests, and the handles for spears, knives, and hoes. Blacksmiths forge metal tools, but the art of smelting seems to have died out in the precolonial era with the growth of the iron trade.