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The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore
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Historical SummaryAmong the Nandi of East Africa, who, like the neighboring Masai mentioned in Chap. XII, have no chiefs but elected mouthpieces and advisers of the kraals, and whose organization is directed toward the development of a fighting machine represented by a warrior class, the country is formally handed over periodically from an older age level to a younger:
The ceremony of handing over the country from one age to another is one of the most important in the annals of Nandi history. This takes place about every seven and a half years, and some four years after the circumcision festival. . . . All the adult population that can conveniently do so collect together at a certain spot, but no married warrior may attend, nor may he or his wife leave their houses whilst the ceremony is taking place. The orkoiyot, or chief medicine man, must be present, and the ceremony is started by slaughtering a white bullock, which is purchased by the young warriors for the occasion. After the meat has been eaten by the old men, each of the young men makes a small ring out of the hide, and puts it on one of the fingers of his right hand. A circle is then formed round the chief medicine man, who stands near a stool, about which is heaped cow dung studded with the fruit of the lapotuet shrub. All the old men and the members of the age immediately preceding the one in power stand up, whilst the warriors who are going to receive the control of the country sit down. On a sign from the chief medicine man the members of the preceding age divest themselves of their warriors’ skins and put on old men’s fur garments. The warriors of the age in power, i.e., those who were circumcised some four years previously, are then solemnly informed that the safety of the country and the welfare of the inhabitants are placed in their hands, and they are instructed to guard the land of their fathers.2
2Holily, A.C.n/an/an/an/a, , 12 (Clarendon Press. By permission).
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Chicago: "The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore," The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed May 11, 2025, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CCLS5ST3G1JJUVA.
MLA: . "The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore." The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 11 May. 2025. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CCLS5ST3G1JJUVA.
Harvard: , 'The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore' in The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-Lore. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 11 May 2025, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CCLS5ST3G1JJUVA.
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