Oral Tradition of Origin as a Remembered Memory and a Repeated Event: Sorghum as a Gift in Jie and Turkana Historical Consciousness

This article examines the implicit meaning of the well-known Jie and Turkana oral tradition of origin known as Nayeche, as a remembered memory and a repeated event. The images of the remembered messages of the past event contained in the Nayeche oral tradition are reproduced through storytellers' representations of them. These representations are not simple fixed historical messages that are expressed explicitly, but they are active and interconnected with present situations and thus are a part of the society's habitual actions. The memory of the journey of Nayeche and the gray bull Engiro from the Karamoja Plateau to the plains of Turkana is well remembered both among the Jie and among the Turkana people. The memory of this journey is symbolically embodied in the Jie and in the Turkana landscape, in the phases of the Jie marriage ceremonies as well as in the phases of the Jie harvest rituals. This article focuses on the relationship between the Jie people who live mainly along the banks of Longiro River and in the Nakapelimoru and Kotido area and the Turkana people who live on the upper Tarash River region.