In preparation for the upcoming August circumcision ceremony among the boy child of the Luhya community, a white cock was slaughtered, roasted and eaten by forty circumcisers in Karima village, Tongaren Constituency as they sanctified the knives meant to be used during the exercise ahead of them.
The ceremony brought together elders from the Bukusu tribe in Tongaren Constituency and all circumcisers who converged to sanctify their knives ahead of the upcoming traditional rite of passage among the boy child.
Speaking to West FM, James Mutunga Tongaren Sub County chairperson of the initiators who presided over the function, narrated how important it was to slaughter a white cock that implicates the essence of purity and sanctify the knives, sprinkled its blood on the 56 knives that are well-sharpened for the upcoming task, besides the roasted cock being eaten by all the circumcisers.
According to Mutunga, the white cock and busaa were prepared to mark the important ceremony and link the initiators with the ancestors through the shrines and elders were to examine the intestines which would implicate what could happen during the circumcision period.
As they prepare for the initiation, circumcisers are expected to keep off from their wives or any other woman until the exercise ends, because if they touch a woman it has a negative impact on the exercise ahead of them. According to the Bukusu elders, one becomes a man after being ritually circumcised and transit from childhood to manhood.
By Otindo Aggrey.