The Luhya community is known for its strong cultural and traditional practices that date back decades.

It is one of the few communities in Kenya that still follows cultural practices passed down through various generations.

Like any other African community, Luhya traditions and culture had restrictions on women's participation, although some of them have faded away.

Joseph Lumbasi, a Luhya elder from the Abasotoso sub-tribe, Wanga clan, told that a woman in the community was initially not allowed to even slaughter a chicken.

The restriction was based on the fear that performing such duties would expose them to becoming barren, among other things.

"Women were not allowed to slaughter any animal during our days. This could lead them into barrenness, some may develop beards, and others would go mad. The activities were done by men in the society, unlike nowadays when you may find a woman skinning a cow," Lumbasi, 65, told TUKO.co.ke in an exclusive interview.

There were many other tasks that women in the Luhya community were prohibited from doing, including clearing bushes behind the matrimonial houses, taking part in land surveying, building houses and digging graves.

According to Benjamin Sakwa, a Luhya elder from the Marama clan, only a man of the house was allowed to clear bushes behind the house.

In his absence, the wife was allowed to request a male family member to do so, or her elder son.

"During our days, women were not supposed to clear bushes around their matrimonial house because it could lead to a marriage collapse. Sometimes, if the husband is not around, a wife would instruct her elder son or husband's brother to clear the bush, mainly the bushes that grow at the back of their house,” explained the 55-year-old.

He said failure to comply with this requirement would lead to the breakdown of marriages.

When it came to land surveying, even if it was the woman buying, she would not be allowed to take part in the process. Instead, the woman was to send her husband or male relatives.

“Even her name was not allowed to be in the land title deed,” Sakwa said.

That practice no longer applies with the changing times and existing laws that allow women to also own land.

On issues of building houses, it was also a no-go zone for a woman. She was not even allowed to buy a plot and construct a house on her own.

According to Luhya elders, if a woman were to build her own house, it would lead to barrenness.

Construction of houses also had several rituals, including a chicken being prepared by a man, not a woman, before work begins.

“Slaughtering a chicken was meant to cleanse and please ancestors who lived in the place where the house is being constructed,” Lumbasi told .

He noted that women were only accepted at the construction site to serve food to men at work, but not to be involved in building.

Luhya elders believed that if a woman were to be part of the workers at construction sites, there would be a lot of confusion, leading to the collapse of the house.

Perhaps the only Luhya tradition still being practised relates to the digging of graves. Since time immemorial, it has been a task exclusively set aside for men.

It is believed that if a woman is involved, the dead will haunt her family.

Women were also prohibited from carrying corpses, especially when in their menstrual periods.

Digging of graves was usually done at night, using special jembes – similar to those used to cultivate sweet potatoes.

Previously, reported about an elaborate manner in which members of the Abatsotso sub-tribe within the larger Luhya community prepare and send off newlyweds.

An elder from the community said the preparations involve several rituals.

Some of the rituals include that of the father blessing his son and the wife-to-be before they are formally engaged.

Source: TUKO.co.ke