RENDILLE

Not all camel herders use tents. The Rendille, a Cushitic-speaking people who live in northern Kenya, for example, build huts in the more traditional African sense. These huts, however, come as a kit of parts that can be easily assembled. The Rendille and the related Gabra once controlled the 100-kilometer-wide Chalbi Desert, which allows access to Lake Tur-kana and inner Africa from the Somali-controlled ports on the Indian Ocean. Though many Rendille speak Samburu, since they have intermarried with that group, the language originally spoken by the Rendille is similar to the Somali language. This leads to the conclusion that the roots of Rendille culture were brought to the region of Lake Turkana by people migrating westward from the homeland of the Proto-Somali, probably toward the end of the flrst millennium bce. 17 The area from Somaliland through the Chalbi Desert to Lake Turkana formed a type of wedge that initially was flanked to the south by vast savannas, fllled with herds of wild animals, not to mention lions and other predators. The deserts may have had their dangers, but were less dangerous than the savannas with their wild animals. The savannas with their local populations would have slowed a caravan down due to continual negotiations and ceremonial requirements. The deserts became Africa’s express lanes. Trade escalated and in the flfl:eenth century the Ajuuraan Sultanate (fourteenth-seventeenth centuries), in Somalia and northern Kenya dominated the ports along the Benadir Coast that brought in cloth from India, porcelain from China, cinnamon from southeast Asia, and fruit and textiles from the Persians. They exported gold from Ethiopia and south Africa, as well as cattle and slaves. By then the areas to the north and south of the desert saw the arrival of several groups, attracted by the land as much as by the commerce. These included the Kamba (Bantu; ca. 500 ce), the Oromo (Cushitic; ca. 1000), and the Sumburu and Maasai (Nilotic; ca. 1400). The Gabra, who are Cushitic, adopted desert ways and have a culture somewhat similar to the Rendille.

Prosperity among the Rendille is measured by the number of camels owned by the male elders of the tribe. Upon the owner’s death, his herd passes on to the eldest son. For the Rendille, camels are not only a means of transport but they are also traded, milked, and might even be butchered for meat. Men move through three age groups: boyhood (from birth to initiation); warriorhood (from initiation to marriage); and elderhood (from marriage until death). A new age-set is formed every fourteen years by circumcision of all eligible boys into warriorhood.18 Unlike the Maasai and other tribes in Kenya, who are relative newcomers to the region, the Rendille appear to have arrived some three thousand years ago, at any rate before the arrival of the Maasai. Their elaborate moon-based calendar at the core of their belief structure divides the year in the twelve months divided into four segments, with each inaugurated by a communal ceremony. There is no “new year" which would be important only to agriculturalists. Instead, time is deflned cyclically based on a factor of 7. The word for “father" is the same word as “generation" which is deflned as 3 X 2 X 7, or 42. Each man belongs to a speciflc 42-year-long generation.19 The warriors are not only expected to defend their possessions, but also raid neighboring non-Rendille people. On these occasions, they will take the animals, kill all members of the attacked group, and bring back the genitals of the males as trophies. Upon their return, afl:er a period of ritual puriflcation, the warriors are elevated to dignitary rank.20 But when they become a senior member of the society, they are respected not for their war-like demeanor but for their patience and peace-making skills.

The core of each settlement is a circular enclosure (nabo) protected by a fence of thorn trees. Only elders are permitted to enter the nabo, where they meet every evening for collective prayer sessions and to discuss the day’s problems and events. It is in this central circle that they hold discussions, make decisions, formally receive guests and perform collective ceremonies. The huts do not “face” this enclosure as one might expect. Instead the enclosure is surrounded by the backs of roundish cattle pens with the huts located in a ring even beyond that. Between the enclosures for livestock and the outermost huts is a circular fence made of thorny trees which guards against carnivores and marauders. The most senior families build their huts on the northwestern corner, and, in order of seniority, huts of the other families arise, one after another, in a clockwise direction. Such settlements, comprising about forty to three hundred persons living in about nine to sixty-five huts, are usually named after the clan, the sub-clan, or the most senior family.

Figure 13.33: Rendille map. Source: Florence Guiraud

Huts consist of two pre-arched frames set in a north-southerly direction.21 Sticks are overlapped onto these frames and the whole is tied together with ropes made from the fibers of the long leaves of a Sansevieria robusta. The sticks are from trees that grow along nearby rivers. If the ground is suitable, the ends of the frames are buried about half a meter deep into the ground; otherwise, if the ground is too hard, stones are placed around the base. Wild sisal is brought in from the closest mountains to be worked into roof mats, which are placed over the ribbing; the mats are fastened to the structure with attached ropes. The best and newest mats are placed on the top because they will keep the water out better. To prevent the mats from blowing os' in the wind, they are fastened by ropes around the outsides of the hut. All the building parts are available in the environment and are mostly collected by women. The only exceptions are the cow skins used to cover the doorways, which are obtained from male herders. The structure when completed is resilient and can sway in the wind but is strong enough not to be blown over by the strong desert winds (Figures 13.33, 13.34, and 13.35a, 13.35b).

Figure 13.34: Rendille tent. Source: Ella Pelnovich/Labelle Prussia, African Nomadic Architecture: Space, Place, and Gender (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Pres, 1995), 157-8

Figure 13.35a, b: Rendille camp: (a) map, (b) plan. Source: Andrew Ferrentinos and Jonathan Crisman

Figure 13.36: Rendille family around flre, Kenya. Source: Victor Englebert

With a diameter of about 3 meters, the hut is just tall enough on the inside for a person to stand up. The interior is not partitioned, but divided into perceptual zones. Generally, the huts are facing in a westerly or southwesterly direction. The western half is more public and utilitarian, whereas the eastern half, situated toward the back, is more private; it is here that we find the actual living area. The part left of the entrance where the hearth is located and where one finds the wife’s sitting place, is considered the woman’s domain, while the other half of the hut is reserved for the man and his guests. There is no smoke outlet, nor is one needed since the constant desert wind ventilates the interior efiectively (Figure 13.36).

Because only married women can have a house, a new house is established as an essential part of the wedding ceremony. The Rendille word for wedding or marriage means, in fact, “house building.” Once a site is chosen and a goat sacrificed, men gather in front of the bride’s mother’s house to pray for the bride and oil their heads and herding sticks. Two days after the building of the new house by the women, another goat is sacrificed in front of the house and the groom ofiers cooked meat to his in-laws. This ceremony is part of the symbolic completion of the house; water containers can now be brought in and milk containers hung along the back wall.

As camels do not need much in the way of water they can be herded away from the settlement, which is located close to a water hole. Goats and sheep, however, which need water every three or four days, are usually herded nearby. As the dry season progresses and available pasturage is too far for a one-day round-trip, the herders leave the settlement with their livestock and construct herding camps where necessary. It is not unusual to find herding camps, which are maintained for eight to ten months out of a year in an area as far as 100 to 200 kilometers away from the settlement. In a herding camp there may be ten to sixty male herders, most of whom are occupied in the daily care of the livestock.22