Conservation of nature to feature strongly at first Marakwet Cultural Festival in Bomas of Kenya

Conservation of nature is intricately linked to the diverse cultural practices of Indigenous Peoples and Local communities whose livelihoods entirely rely on natural resources, said Dr Yussuf Wato, a biodiversity expert, ahead of the inaugural Marakwet Cultural Festival set for Friday, 8 November.

This week, the Marakwet Community is set to become the 24th tribe in Kenya to get a traditional homestead built at the Bomas of Kenya to showcase its cultural heritage which is distinct from the larger Kalenjin ethnic group.

The community seeks to celebrate the festival by demonstrating, among other things, how it has co-existed harmoniously with wildlife and its links to the conservation of natural resources.

"For instance, the Sengwer who belong to the larger Marakwet community, dwell in the natural forests in the Rift Valley where their distinct culture has maintained the forests' pristine nature and sustained the ecosystem health and services it provides to humanity. It is against this backdrop that WWF-Kenya is supporting the Marakwet Cultural Festival 2024 to celebrate their cultural heritage and traditions and to provide them with a platform where they can amplify their voices on environmental conservation issues and shape policies affecting them in line with the Voices for Diversity project objectives," added Dr Wato- Manager Biodiversity,  Research and Innovation, WWF-Kenya.

Kikie Kendagor, a member of the Marakwet Cultural Festival planning committee, said the environment has also been strongly embedded in the life of the community, with all Kalenjin clans named after wildlife and children named after natural phenomena such as seasons.

Kikie said the environment is central to the life of the community because the Marakwet land lies between natural forests (Cherangany Hills Forest), the “Hanging Valleys” [Kerio Valley Escarpment), Rift Valley floor and the riverine ecosystem. 

The Cherangany Hills Water tower is one of Kenya’s big five water towers and an important bird area - IBA. The wider landscape, referred to as the Cherangany-Elgeyo Hills Ecosystem, consists of 12 protected forest blocks and hosts critical headwaters for Nzoia, Turkwel and Kerio rivers. 

 “Marakwet is embedded into conservation on the basis of the customary laws which the community is enshrined into. For instance, Marakwet customary law says that we relate with wildlife or natural resources and that is seen when naming children and through totems in clans. For instance, a child who is named after Kiprop, this is a child that translates into seasons because the rainy season is called Kibor or Cherop for a lady, and in our clans, you will find that the clans are named after certain animals. 

“For instance, the Kimoi clan is named after the buffalo, and the Terik clan is named after the elephant. With all this naming, it is a symbol of how the Marakwet community related well with conservation or the wise use of natural resources,” said Kikie. With a bachelors degree in management of wildlife, Kikie is in charge of communications and documentation of the Marakwet culture for the festival. 

Some of the community’s proverbs are also strongly linked to nature, Kikie said, including the popular one that says “One tree can never make a forest,” and “the cow that grazes carefully lives long.” 

“So, we harmoniously lived together with our animals. We always make sure our environment is conducive for all of us. We are showcasing this because Marakwet has a very rich history, but it has never been documented. Our culture is rich, in terms of the cultural songs, the economic life, the food that we eat and even the rites of passage that we do. All of them serve to educate the community on the dos and don'ts of life. We work to show the world that we exist,” said John Kisang–chairman, Marakwet Cultural Festival.

In the recent past, Kikie said that the community has experienced the negative impacts of climate change, noting that the reduction in the population of birds whose feathers were used during initiation ceremonies of boys into adulthood. 

“We have also seen some of the plant species that are indigenous to Marakwet locality disappearing. We have seen most of the bird species moving out because of climate change. And with all this, it has affected the Marakwet community in a way that our traditional system is becoming eroded as of recent,” said Kikie. 

Because of climate change, these birds have disappeared, moved to other parts where they can find a suitable habitat, added Kikie.

During the festival, Kikie said that they hope to also share the ecological knowledge of the Marakwet community to the world.

 “...the traditional ecological knowledge of the Marakwet community, that is most essential to us that we may pass it through to the next generation through the ritual rites, through our customary laws, through naming, that is clan naming, naming of a child. If I can expound it further through that one, it is a symbol of identification. So we identify ourselves with the environment. We identify ourselves with animals. We identify ourselves with birds. We identify ourselves with the environment and the solar system because we refer to our God as Kopchebetip Chematau which means the Supreme God. So if we lose our environment, we lose our culture,” said Kikie.

Christine Cherop, the coordinator of the festival, said that the committee settled on hosting the first festival in Nairobi to draw the younger generation that has grown up in urban areas and has not had an opportunity to visit their ancestral home where such events have been held previously. 

“I would like to say that this is our first festival in Nairobi. And our aim to do this festival in Nairobi is to bring together our Marakwet community Nairobi and other communities. And the first goal is to show our culture to the whole world…We want to teach the history of the Marakwet, how the community of Marakwet used to live and how we still live so that we don't lose our culture. There are practices that we want to preserve in the community,” said Christine. 

 Speaking during the unveiling of the Marakwet cultural dress on Sunday, 2 November, Hon. Jane Chebaibai–chairperson, Bomas of Kenya, urged Kenyans to show up for the festival to promote cultural education. 

“At Bomas of Kenya, we teach, promote and preserve the culture of all Kenyans, including the Marakwet who hail from Rift Valley. The Marakwet people have found it fit to share their culture with the world. The Swahili have a saying that those who abandon their culture are slaves ‘mwacha mila ni mtumwa.’ That is why the Board passed a resolution that every tribe in Kenya will have an opportunity to showcase their culture,” said Hon. Chebaibai.

Marakwet is now the 24th community to have a traditional homestead built in the Bomas of Kenya. The others are: Mijikenda, Taita, Kuria, Kisii, Luhya, Kamba, Kikuyu, Meru, Embu, Gabbra, Somali, Sakuye, Rendile, Samburu, Borana, Sengwer, Turkana, Pokot, Njemps, Maasai, Kalenjin, Iteso and Luo.

The festival will be held on Friday, 8 November 2024.