Using fear, teso men ate best of the land

By Sammy Jakaa

The forefathers of the Iteso community must have had the highest degree of chauvinism perhaps among other communities in Kenya. Almost all taboos did not favour women.

According to Linus Otiya an elder in the Iteso community, most taboos were meant to control women and the young who were considered weaker and not abounding in wisdom. Otiya says women were ranked at the same level as children thus explaining why most taboos revolved around them.

For example, the most delicious foods were a preserve for men. Women were not allowed to eat any kind of poultry whether domestic or wild. For instance, culture warned that if a woman ate chicken or eggs, she would develop wounds on her back. Otiya says the reasons might appear flimsy, but traditional beliefs made them so robust that no woman would dare go against them. Even though they were the ones who prepared the food, it was only with their eyes and not taste buds they derived the satisfaction from the dishes.

 Fear of unknown

For many years, the fear for unknown left Iteso women only imagining how chicken and other poultry tasted.

“Women grew up with the fear of developing wounds on their backs. None of them even gave thought to how the wounds came about,” adds Otiya.

Like in many African communities, traditional cultural beliefs and taboos among the Iteso mainly glorified the men and the old while looked down upon the young and women. The men had the latitude to do whatever their heart desired of them unlike women.

“This was not entirely surprising after all they were the authors of the same rules and regulations,” says Otiya.

In accordance with strict Iteso tradition rabbit meat was also strictly a ‘men only’ delicacy though a clear explanation was not given on the consequences of eating them for women. There were, however, many myths that surrounded the rabbits, which scared women away from eating them.

Historically, rabbits and poultry were some of the most delicious meals and even today are among the most expensive in hotels. Irene Inyele argues that the ancestors of her community must have found such foods very delicious and formulated myths that would make sure they monopolise them.

“What else can be attributed to such fictitious scare-stories that were associated with eating such foods? In my view, the men were gluttonous and wanted to make sure they don’t get competition regarding certain foods at home that were a rare delicacy,” says Ms Inyele.

Young men too

She says the nature of the Iteso culture barred anyone from questioning anything that was allegedly directed by ancestors hence making women live in oppression for a long time.

Women were also not allowed to drink milk whether fresh or sour. They were, however, only allowed to taste milk in vegetables since there was no tea during those days.?They were also allowed to eat milk products such as cheese and butter.

The young people also had their share of despotic traditional beliefs.? Even though theirs was not as tough as those for women, they too were equally oppressive. For instance, young people were not allowed to eat the nose, tail and large intestines of all livestock. These parts were strictly preserved for the elderly in the community.

It was also taboo also for children to eat the gizzard because there was a belief that if they ate they would turn out to be cowards. Since men valued courage and bravery during those days, no young man would dare eat the gizzards.

Jairus Okwakau, a young man from the community says that such traditions could not pass the test of time because they lacked believable explanations for the educated and modern youth. He says old men only wanted to make sure that such delicious parts were preserved for them.

However, Mr Okwakau says that some taboos were constructive in the society as they helped put control measures to the behaviour of people. For example, it was also taboo for men to sit near cooking places. It was said that if a young men sat near the cooking area, their mothers would die. This, according, to Okwakau was meant to discourage men from going to the kitchen, as it was a place that was traditionally preserved for women.

Education and modernity has slowly swept away the traditional beliefs in the Iteso community and currently no food is preserved for a particular gender or age group. Janet Ikemer says the girls and women are no longer naïve as it used to be in the early days.

 No more restrictions

“We currently eat all kinds of foods without any restrictions because women discovered that such taboos were crafted to favour men. How do you expect me to prepare delicious chicken and I am not allowed to eat?” asks Ms Ikemer.

Even as modernity has replaced the traditional beliefs, Mr Okwakau argues that some of the so-called barbaric traditions could be used as to generate income. He says that if ekutet exhuming of bones of dead people would have continued, it could be used as a tourist attraction activity hence generating income to the community.

“We would be inviting people to come and witness how we exhume bones traditionally and in turn earn income,” argues Okwakau.