List of Taboos in Kisii Community

10 Surprising Taboos in Kisii Community, List Of the Forbidden Things

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African culture and traditions from centuries ago are still effective because of their unceasing heritage. Among these are taboos in Kisii community settled in western Kenya. Let us explore why these timeless customs and rituals are still letters of wisdom among tribesmen.

The rules of shame also called Chinsoni have long been a guiding principle on the way of life in Kisii County and Nyamira County. Residents born before the 21st century are particularly strict with various customs and traditions.

List of 10 taboos in Kisii community in Kenya

Gusiiland with a population of about 2 million continues to survive its traditions amid globalization.

What is considered a taboo in the Kisii community?

1. Circumcised boys entering the bedroom of their parents

Circumcision in the Kisii community is a necessary rite of passage among the boys. With it comes several privileges and limitations as one advances to manhood.

For instance, circumcision marks an end to a boy walking into or looking into the master bedroom of their parents.

Similarly, boys should not go into the bedroom of their sisters after undergoing a cut.

Limiting mature men to the places they can visit after circumcision seeks to instill a sense of respect for those around them, especially close relatives.

2. Mothers setting feet and dining in their married daughters’ houses

Omogusii discourages mothers from visiting their married daughter’s homes without proper reasons.

It is a tribal offense for mothers to enter the houses of their married daughters. Similarly, they should not eat a chicken or bean serving at their daughter’s home.

Furthermore, it is a demonstration of corrupt behavior that compares to seeing her nakedness.

The unwritten laws of this taboo, describe these unnecessary visits to a married daughter’s home as disrespectful.

3. Father going into their son’s house

The Kisii culture and traditions bar fathers from setting their feet in their son’s houses. \

The interpretation of this taboo pegs on the cultivation of respect.

Old folks believe that fathers who enter the houses of their sons are no better than those going to bed with their daughters-in-law.

Most importantly, the taboo seeks to lessen the interference of fathers in the lives of their sons, while at the same time promoting their independence.

4. Men visiting their mothers-in-law far too often

Visiting a mother-in-law all the time is unacceptable in Gusii land for reasons that many locals still agree with to this day.

Also, Kisii men are traditionally forbidden from greeting a mother-in-law by hand.

A married man should focus on his wife and only visit her mother infrequently. More so, in situations such as sicknesses and funerals.

According to this taboo, it is disrespectful for a man to visit his in-laws without substantial reasons.

5. Girls wearing trousers, short, and revealing clothing

Wearing tight clothing such as trousers which reveal every curve is a taboo among the Kisii people.

Wearing a trouser is essentially a wrongdoing in front of her father.

Unlike traditional family heads, modern dads are no longer bothered with their daughters wearing what they please.

A taboo against women wearing trousers sought to prevent stimulated sexual desires, especially in the circles of close relatives.

6. Women climbing trees and thatching on rooftops

Kisii women are excluded from climbing trees, thatching grass, and straws on rooftops.

Traditionally, women only relied on men to harvest fruits such as Guavas, loquats, and avocados for their consumption.

The norm has since disappeared in our generation where barriers to gender-related roles are less applicable.

7. Women eating chicken gizzard meant for family heads

African traditions and customs prohibited women from eating specific parts of chicken delicacies.

An example is a gizzard, traditionally reserved for men in the patriarchal order.

The gizzard was so precious in ancient days that no head of the family would start to eat chicken if it was missing from the table.

8. Disrespecting elders, last wishes of the dead, and ancestors

The people of Kisii ethnicity esteem their elders with a characteristic allegiance to their wishes.

The tribesmen believe their words are a permanent source of blessings or curses. Therefore, their wishes are almost always a final say.

That is perhaps why Gusii’s heroes are still celebrated to this day without question on their last wishes and directions.

According to this taboo, young people were not allowed to sit, laugh, or even display romantic affection in the presence of elderly people.

9. A pregnant woman setting eyes on the dead

Ancient Kisii people valued childbearing and maintained great significance on the gift of a womb.

One of the most striking beliefs about pregnant women is that their graves were open until after a safe delivery.

As a result, an expectant couple was excluded from participating in funeral arrangements for the dead.

Firstly, a man whose wife was pregnant was not allowed to participate in digging the grave.

Secondly, a pregnant woman was not allowed to look at the casket or the dead therein.

Above all, the unborn and those who had passed away were separated by a thick wall of taboos.

10. A freshly circumcised young man facing their mother

The Gusii initiation ceremony was governed by strict cultural rules intended to create a man out of a boy.

Going to the river in the cold of dawn and facing a blunt knife amid screams and bloodshed to appease the ancestors, confirms it all.

Earlier practices warned freshly circumcised boys against facing their mothers for weeks and in some cases months.

Meanwhile, seclusion in the house of an unmarried “Esaiga” was a school for manhood.

A celebration marked with the ‘Echae Ya Morero’ song, meaning “present us hot tea’ brought tribesmen together on a special occasion of drinking and eating.

Making sense of traditions and taboos in the Gusii community

Historical records have confirmed that Omogusii was a skilled farmer, tactical trader, and undefeated warrior with a burning desire to conquer new territories.

Various taboos would develop to cultivate good morals and sustain tribal unity, which was key in defeating hostile neighbors.

Those who went against these binding tribal rules often earned shame, rejection, and a series of curses.

Only spiritual intervention would free one from these heavy-weight curses of the old, and reunite them with loved ones.

Taboos in the Kisii community remain the basis of most cultural and traditional beliefs.

While some ancestral guidelines are not applicable today, most taboos are still intact against Western civilization. Unfortunately, African storytelling oral traditions remain undocumented and are less available to later generations.

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