What are Kalenjins known for?
The Kalenjin have been called by some “the running tribe.” Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honours in international athletics at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin.
Are kalenjins Nilotes?
Greenberg (1963) classifies Kalenjin as a Southern Nilotic language (Eastern Section, Nilotic Branch, Eastern Sudanic Language Family). Aside from Tatoga, which is spoken by a few small peoples of northern Tanzania, the nearest language to Kalenjin is Maasai.
Who are the Kalenjins in Kenya?
The Kalenjin live primarily in Kenya. They are an ethnic grouping of eight culturally and linguistically related groups or “tribes”: the Kipsigis, Nandi, Tugen, Keiyo, Marakwet, Pokot (sometimes called the Suk), Sabaot (who live in the Mount Elgon region, overlapping the Kenya/Uganda border), and the Terik.
Which is the largest tribe in Kalenjin?
The Kipsigis are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting Kenya. They are the most populous sub-group of the Kalenjin, and speak the Kipsigis as their native language.
Are kalenjins related to Maasai?
The Maasai speak the Maa language (ɔl Maa), a member of the Nilotic language family that is related to the Dinka, Kalenjin and Nuer languages. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili and English.
Why do kalenjins run?
Kalenjins have the advantage of high altitude, which means that, needing more oxygen, they are able to condition their hearts and breathing systems. When they come down to lower altitudes, they are able to run much faster than we lesser mortals.
Are there Kalenjins in Tanzania?
The Kipsigis (spelt phonetically proper as Kipsigiis), are a South Eastern Nilotic people who live in Kenya and Tanzania and are a part of the Kalenjin-speaking group of peoples who alongside other Highland Nilotes of the African Great Lakes Region make up the Kalenjin ethnic group.
What language do kalenjins speak?
Kalenjin, any member of the Kipsikis (Kipsigis), Nandi, Pokot, or other related peoples of west-central Kenya, northern Tanzania, and Uganda who speak Southern Nilotic languages of the Nilo-Saharan language family.
How many Kalenjins are in Kenya?
6,358,113 individuals
The Kalenjin comprise a number of ethnic groups indigenous to East Africa, residing mainly in what was formerly the Rift Valley Province in Kenya. They number 6,358,113 individuals as per the Kenyan 2019 census.
What do kalenjins call their god?
Names of God The main names for the Supreme Being in Kalenjin mythology were Asis and Cheptalel though other names were also used.
Why are Kalenjins so fast?
What is the origin of the Kalenjin myths?
The kalenjin myths claims that they are the miot lagokab lote (miot children of lote) Miot could also refers to Moabites in Bible which is an indication that they may have come across each other and intermarry at a place called Goshen.The current kalenjin council of elders are called Miot because of above.
Did the Asisian religion supersede the Kalenjin?
Ehret (1998) postulates that the Asisian religion superseded an earlier belief system whose worship centered on the sky and which dated back to the early Southern Nilotic period. Traces of this belief system were captured among the Pokot as late as 1911 though nowhere else among the Kalenjin were similar beliefs recorded.
What is the Kalenjin natural philosophy?
In Kalenjin natural philosophy all things are supposed to have been created by the union of the sky and the earth. In those first of days the Sun, who married the moon, proceeded to the earth to prepare the present order of things.
