The Ilmuget

June 06, 2021

The Ilmuget

Credit: Sankara Subramanian

Moses has very kindly described the Samburu age-set system and the Ilmuget – the intricate month long initiation ceremony through which Samburu boys enter manhood to become Moran Warriors – with direct reference to the explanation provided by Mohamed Amin in his book, The Cradle of Mankind[i]

Amin describes the Samburu age-set system and the Ilmuget as the ‘tricky way to the swamp’:

“The age-set system is spaced and designed to perpetuate the elitism of the elders and has therefore developed a number of mechanisms for controlling wayward warriors. When a man becomes too sullen they are brought nearer to the tribe; when they become too proud the tribe becomes aloof and keeps them at a distance.”

This age-set system is built around ceremonies which begin with circumcision. Each circumcision ceremony is known as an ‘Ilmuget’. Before this, a Samburu boy belongs to the tribe’s youngest age-set. Each initiate has a sponsor, a junior elder, who is akin to a godfather. Their role is to influence the initiate through their life and, as Amin describes it, ‘to hector their charges about their responsibilities'. Ultimately, they may call a special tribunal to make specific charges of delinquency or defiance of the clan; this the nearest the Samburu come to a judicial structure since they have no formal political rules.

The Ilmuget takes place about every fourteen years, as decided by the senior elders, and each time the clan builds a settlement where the huts are built in a clockwise circle in the order of seniority of the families in the clan.

The sponsors are also known as ‘firestick elders’ which alludes to their major duty. When the date of the circumcision ceremony is fixed, they kindle a fire to announce the spiritual birth of their ‘godson’ and his readiness to undergo circumcision. Of all the Samburu ceremonies, none is more intricate than this, the initiation into manhood. The actual circumcision takes minutes but the initiation lasts one month. As soon as the circumcision is over the boy is taken to his mother’s house to rest and is given a cocktail of curdled cow’s milk and blood as a tonic to ease the pain. Later, senior elders come to bless him, anointing his head with butter – an acknowledgement that he is ready to leave home. Three days after the ceremony he leaves the house, armed with a bow and arrows, to live in the bush for one month amongst the wild animals. He must also carry out a ritual hunt which rather than involving any of the big animals, involves the killing of a small bird which must be undamaged and worn as an ornamentation on his head dress for the period of his initiation. In addition, the initiate is forbidden to wash, to sit on stones, or to use his hands to eat - he must only use a knife or a spoon. He must not eat any meat of any wild animal, only that of domestic animals provided by his family.

The initiation ceremony is intended to show the young man’s prowess and his qualities as a man. At the end of the month long period he throws the head-dress away – a valued prize for a young lady to catch – and a great feast of roasted ox is prepared upon his return home. The young man takes the beast's thigh bone cleaving it in two with one blow of his wooden club as token of his vow that no married woman will see him eat meat until he is welcomed into the rank of the elders many years later. He is then elevated to the exalted warrior status.

Young Moran warriors off to a friend's wedding.

Young men spend about ten years of their lives as warriors, before becoming Ipayan, that is, young elders, a stage of life when they get married and have children.

Samburu warriors display their physique and fitness in a standing-jumping dance and by jumping higher than the other Morans, prove that they are fit for their intended wives.