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The Kalenjin people are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to East Africa, with a presence, as dated by archaeology and linguistics, that goes back many centuries. Their history is therefore deeply interwoven with those of their neighboring communities as well as with the histories of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.
The creation story varies slightly among the various Kalenjin sub-tribes, the account given here is from the Nandi section. In Kalenjin natural philosophy all things are supposed to have been created by the union of the sky and the earth.
The fall of the Long'ole Clan is another popular tale based on a true story and is told to warn against pride. In the story, the Long'ole warriors believing they were the mightiest in the land goaded their distant rivals the Maasai into battle. The Maasai, though at first reluctant eventually attacked wiping out the Long'ole clan. [68]
Kalenjin folklore consists of folk tales, legends, songs, music, dancing, popular beliefs, and traditions communicated by the Kalenjin-speaking communities, often passed down the generations by word of mouth.
Maintaining peace and amity, especially between relations, is particularly important for the Kalenjin and ranks high on their scale of values. This type of peaceful relationship is known as Tiliet and is rooted in ancient Kalenjin culture. It is the root word of Tilionutik a person's wider relationship circle
Traditional Kalenjin society is the way of life that existed among the Kalenjin-speaking people prior to the advent of the colonial period in Kenya and after the decline of the Chemwal, Lumbwa and other Kalenjin communities in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
The Kalenjin languages are broadly similar with most of the dialects being mutually intelligible. The Nandi use Kalenjin nomenclature , which is similar across most communities apart from the Marakwet where names of persons may be inverted gender-wise; certain folklore indicates that this may have been as a result of a genocide that targeted ...
According to the Kalenjin narrative of origin, the Nandi identity formed from the separation of what had been a combined group of Kipsigis and Nandi. They had been living at Rongai near Nakuru as a united group for sometime before they were forced to separate due to antagonistic environmental factors, notably droughts and invasion of the Maasai from Uasin Gishu.