|
〕 |regions = |languages = Kuria |religions = African Traditional Religion, Christianity |related = Kisii, Luhya, other Bantu peoples }} The Kuria (also known as AbaKuria, as they prefer to call themselves) are a community of Bantu people who inhabit Kenya. ==History of the Abakuria and the origin of the name 'Kuria'== The people now known as Abakuria are of diverse origins and clans. Before the twentieth century, they did not refer to themselves as the Abakuria but by their various clans, or by the "provinces" from which they came. The Kuria people known as the Abakuria live astride the Kenya - Tanzania border in South Nyanza on the Kenyan side. They are divided into clans (Ibiaro) which some researchers refer to as Sub-tribes but they are not real sub-tribes as the differences among the clans are minor. The laws and practices are the same and the language is also the same among all clans with minor variations. Each clan inhabits a geographically defined area. That is the clans are localised. Each clan is divided into sub-clans called Ibisaku; into generation - sets known as amakora which are only eight (8) and the same in all clans; and into age-sets referred to as ichisaro. Every clan has its own council of elders (inchama) who controlled the clan (ikiaro - single) as political and religious leaders. The Abakuria believed in taboos and superstition and they generally feared punishment from the inchama for not observing the taboos. The punishment could be either death or barrenness or other misfortunes. The Abakuria customary law is made up of rules and practices accepted and sanctioned by the community. The custom was full of do's and don'ts (taboos/superstitions) called imigiro. Even the Marriage laws were full of taboos and superstition and there was automatic punishment for breaking these imigiro. Hence the laws were followed so strictly both before and after colonization, because after colonization the Abakuria went back to their original life and were not influenced by westernization. The strictness made the Abakuria Marriages (Oboteti) so binding to an extent that divorce was something almost impossible. Their marriage was potentially polygamous like any other Customary Marriage in Kenya. Marriage was valued so much, as one way of family sustenance and continuation. As such everybody had to marry and get married. Even someone who was naturally incapable of marrying on his own like the lunatic, the dead, the cripple (irigata) among others, there was a way of ensuring that there was a wife in his name. There was also a way of caring for the barren or childless through marriage so that their houses could not extinguish.There was no singlehood as a marital status to adults and as such even the divorcees had to remarry and every man had to marry inorder to establish his own home (Umugi goe). Also every woman had to be married to establish her own house (Inyumba yae). Umugi and Inyumba had to be sustained that is had to continue growing in whatever cost. All these factors led to certain marriages like ghost marriage, female to female (busino) and others. The stigma and disregard attached to divorcees, and given the fact that everyone had to marry, made people stick into marriages however frustrating or bad some of them were. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kuria people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|