PRAYERS TO AKUJ

Turkana Courtship Dance and Rain Rituals

Africa
Kenya

Photos

Adorned in Beads
An unmarried Turkana girl wears layers of beaded necklaces, which enhance her beauty and indicate her wealth.
Family Compound
A Turkana compound of thatched huts, inhabited by one man, his many wives, and children.
Before the Dance
Before the dances begin, two unmarried girls walk with young boys outside of the family compound, which is surrounded by a fence of branches to keep out predators.
Unmarried girls wear brightly beaded necklaces, belts, and medallions to attract the eye of potential husbands during the courtship dances.
Language of Beads
A woman’s beaded necklaces indicate her family’s wealth and how many cattle are required for her hand in marriage. The colors of the beaded necklaces have coded meanings: white indicates purity, while red and yellow show vitality.
Proud like an Ostrich
A Turkana man leaps high into the air wearing an ostrich feather hat signaling that he is “proud and agile like an ostrich,” while unmarried women clasp hands and jump around him.
Twirling Hide Skirts
When females dance, their hide leather skirts sway to enhance their movements.
Lead Male Dancer
Courtship dances often begin with a lead male dancer in the centre surrounded by both married and unmarried women. When a man raises his arms he is imitating the curved horns of his beloved cattle.
Song of the Bull
When the Turkana dance, they sing songs about their herds while calling each other affectionately by their bulls’ names, such as Apa Lobong, which means “Father of the Black Bull.” To attract the woman of their choice, they sing songs describing the verdant, fertile land they come from and their conquests in cattle raids.
Dance of Seduction
When a man has seduced a woman with his song, the couple come together, holding each other around the shoulders or waist.
Proud Like an Ostrich
A Turkana warrior wears a hat made of ostrich feathers passed down from his father, symbolising that he is proud and agile like the ostrich. His colourful beaded necklace and headband are a further attraction to his power as a suitor.
Ritual Rain Dance
Desperate for rain, this Turkana elder has walked twentyfive miles to participate in the rain ritual. He has suffered from 3 months of punishing heat, drought and the loss of cattle.
Barren Lands
Turkana elder scoops up dry earth and thrusts it in front of us lamenting, “See the barrenness of our land. We ask Akuj to make our land soft and fertile. Out of fertility grass will sprout and our livestock will be healthy.”
Last of the Well Water
In the family compound, the women anxiously await the rain as an elder arrives with a teapot with the last of the well water for the day.
Petition to God
At left: a senior elder, faces the east to make a solemnpetition to god Akuj, on behalf of the community. He holds a cow horn containing the ostrich feathers worn by the elders during the ceremony. At right: in a ritual to bring rain, the men slaughter and roast a goat. Its meat will be eaten and the ashes smeared over the elders.
Turkana Elders
Ostrich feather hats reveal the revered status of elderhood. The elder, at right, wears a lip plug indicating his respected position in life.
Calling for Blessings
At left: a senior woman carries a fly whisk used to sprinkle milk and water as a blessing. At right: the first wife of the ritual elder is recognized by the ring made from the hide of the sacrificed goat hanging from her right
hand.
Female Plea for Rain
In the ritual rain dance, the women chant, “Akuj, we are here, begging you to hear us and grant us our wishes.”
Chanting to Akuj When
When the women chant, they hold hands and move in a circle to signify unity and humility before their god, Akuj, who is considered a feminine deity and believed to be more likely to hear a woman’s plea first.
Transcending Drought through Dance
The Turkana say that dancing is a way to cope with the harsh terrain and to help transcend the reality of drought.
Miracle of Prayers
On the final day with the Turkana, a large dark cloud filled the sky and drops of rain began to fall for the first time in three months. The Turkana believed that Akuj had answered their prayers, and the land might once again become fertile.
Go back...