Kavirondo
Broadly, this was defined as those who dwelt in the valley of the Nzoia River, on the western slopes of Mount Elgon, and along the northeast coast of Victoria Nyanza.
Historian Alfred T. Matson explains in fair detail the obscure origins of the name and its first usage at the dawn of British rule in East Africa.
The Nilotic ethnic groups, probably an offshoot of the Acholi, appear to have crossed Lake Victoria to reach their present home, the country around Kavirondo Gulf.
The generic name for the Nilotic tribes is Jo-Luo (singular: Ja-Luo), but the Bantu Kavirondo call them Awa-Nyoro.
Among the Nilotic Kavirondo married men who are fathers wore a small piece of goat-skin (Sembe), which though practically useless as a covering was worn according to ethnic etiquette.
Men, even husbands, are forbidden to touch the women's tails, which must be worn even should any other clothing be wrapped round the body.
[1] The Kavirondo are noted for their independent and pugnacious nature, honesty and sexual morality, traits particularly marked among the Bantu tribes.
Girls are betrothed at six or seven, and the husband-elect continually makes small presents to his father-in-law-elect until the bride reaches womanhood.
The wife's adultery was formerly punished with death, and the capital penalty was also inflicted on young men and girls guilty of unchastity.
Among the Bantu Kavirondo the usual minimum price for a wife is forty hoes, twenty goats and one cow, paid in instalments.
The Nilotic Kavirondo pay twenty sheep and two to six cows; the husband-elect can claim his bride after half payment; if a woman dies without bearing children, the amount of her purchase is returnable by her father, unless the widower consents to replace her by another sister.
The women are prolific and the birth of twins is common and considered a lucky event, which is celebrated by feasting and dances.
If a Bantu mother has lost two children in succession, the next child born is taken out at dawn and placed on the road, where it is left until a neighbor, usually a woman friend who has gone that way on purpose, picks it up and takes it to its mother who gives a goat in return; a somewhat similar custom prevails among the Nilotic tribes.
Among one of the Bantu tribes, the Awa-Kisesa, a chief is buried in the floor of his own hut in a sitting position, but at such a depth that the head protrudes.
The huts of the Masaba Kavirondo of west Elgon have the apex of the roof surmounted by a carved pole which Sir H. H. Johnston says is obviously a phallus.
Among the Nilotic tribes father and sons eat together, usually in a separate hut with open sides.
A Kavirondo husband, before starting on a perilous journey, cuts scars on his wife's body to ensure him good luck.
They are ancient, generally blue in color, occasionally yellow or green, and are picked up in certain districts after heavy rain.
[4] They appear to practice a vague ancestor worship, but the northern tribes have two gods, Awafwa and Ishishemi, the spirits of good and evil.
[4] The Kavirondo are essentially an agricultural people: both men and women work in the fields with large iron hoes.
The Kavirondo cultivate sesamum and make an oil from its seeds which they burn in little clay lamps of the ancient saucer type, the pattern being, in Hobley's opinion, introduced into the country by the coast people.
[4] The Kavirondo are plucky hunters, capturing the hippopotamus with ropes and traps, and attacking with spears the largest elephants.
[citation needed][4] Traditional Kavirondo industries are salt-making, effected by burning reeds and water-plants and passing water through the ashes; the smelting of iron ore (confined to the Bantu tribes); pottery and basket-work.
