ABAKHOONE FOUNDATION: THE PEOPLE OF BUNAMBO KINGDOM

In the book entitled "The Luhya Nation" by Shadrack Bilimo (2006), he described the Abakhoone military as having been mighty and legendary. John Osogo (1965) in his book entitled "History of the Baluyia" said that of all the Luhya clans and subethnic groups, there is no one single clan that did more to shape the modern Luhya socio-political structure than the Abakhoone clan. Osogo (1965) says that the Abakhoone were a large and very powerful clan that lived at the mouth of River Ndekwe. They arrived there around 1350 AD from Uganda   by crossing Lake Victoria. Their migration to this place was not much different from the migration of other Luhyas. The main difference between the Abakhoone and other Luhya clans was their approach to conflict. While other clans or subtribes used to engage in mere skirmishes and taunts during war, sometimes with hardly any bloody confrontation, the Abakhoone introduced the concept of military warfare. Their military underwent...

Mufula was the general in charge of Abakhoone army during the war of Ifunikho in 18oo. This is the war that led to the emigration of Abakhoone from Bunambo. As I had mentioned in an earlier post on "The war of Ifunikho", Mufula was a feared warrior. He was a brave one-eyed giant. He was killed during the war of Ifunikho at the present day Budala Primary school near Ndekwe. At his homestead which stood between Budala Primary and Erukala, there is very big African Teak or in Kiswahili  it known as " Mvule " tree. In luhya language is known as " Murumba ". Scientifically known as " milicia excelsa ". This tree has a long history. In the early 1700 when slave traders from Buganda used to cross lake victoria to capture slaves on the shores in the Budalang'i, abakhoone warriors used this tree as their sentry. They used to send a young warrior to climb on top to observe the oncoming boats far away in the lake. The mature experienced warriors ...

As I had earlier posted on this blog the genealogy of Akhudu Mbaye the son of Mbingi. In that post, I had said that Akhudu Mbaye had a number of sons. There was Okechi, Obanya, Khabunga, Makadia, Wabidonge and Suucha. I will now present the descendants of Okechi. Okechi gave birth to Sieke Okado, Wamaya, Okunya and Ong'esa. SIEKE OKADO  Sieke married his first wife called Namwaya. They gave birth to Mbaye who is the father to Timoteo Okado. Sieke married a woman from mariachi called Nebere. They gave birth to Radoli and Ademba. Sieke married his youngest wife, Nabonwe. She was nicknamed "Okoya Kosi" because she was married quite young and had the childish behaviour of acting coy all the time. Okoya Kosi is derived from a Luhya phrase " okhukoya elikosi" meaning to coyishly throw the head around. Nabonwe was from the clan of ababonwe from Wakhungu village in Samia. Nabonwe delivered the following sons: Okechi, Okuda, Mumuli and Olwande  aka kachenga who S...

Once a baby was born, the father in law was not supposed to share food with his daughter in law for at least four days if it was a baby boy or 3 days if it was a girl. During this period all the left over food eaten by the new mother was simply thrown away lest it get mixed with father in law's food. For example where ugali is recycled. This practice was driven by the belief that if the father in law shared food with his daughter in law, then it will bloc her from getting more children. If the born baby is a  girl, the baby was supposed to be kept in the house for 3 days ( 4 days if it is a boy) then it will be taken out and laid near the granary for public viewing (those days homesteads used to construct a special type of granary). On that the relatives of the girl visited with grains and chicken as well as gifts for the baby. On this day, the paternal aunt also visited to shave the baby off the hair it was born with. This hair is called lifanda. The Shaved and bathed the baby...

Amongst the Abakhoone, it should be noted, death always took a gender dimension. A woman's corpse was supposed to lie in state for two days with the burial taking place on the third day. For a man, the corpse remained in state for three days and the burial was on the fourth day. On the day of the burial, the eldest son of the deceased was handed his father's spear. A bull was brought by the graveside. His son would then carry out a mock spearing of the bull. The bull would then be led away to be slaughtered. After slaughtering the bull, the corpse was wrapped in the skin of the bull for burial. Normally, the most preferred colour of the bull for this function is reddish-brown in colour. In the event this was not available, then a blackish-brown bull (Known as “Rapenda” in Luhya) would be procured. Polygamy was common amongst the Abakhoone. Therefore, a man used to build his special hut in the middle of the homestead. This hut was called " lichibi ". Sin...