Note: this is a draft. Please let me know if you have comments, suggestions, or pictures.
A wooden lmalasin with a woven lid, often narrowing to a point. Its primary use is to for blessings, whether the blessing is conducted by women or men. The blessing milk is mixed with water. It is poured onto a cow tail which is then shaken while saying ngai, God, in a rhythmic chant. It’s also the girls’ calabash, although the distinction in terms of usage between this calabash and the traditional boy calabash, naitu el laiyok, is weakening. Each child has her own calabash.
[Query. Is this less common in the Highlands?]
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Published by William Rubel
I am an author who writes about traditional food and foodways. My book, The Magic of Fire (2002) is about hearth cooking. I have written an introductory history of bread, Bread, a global history (2011) and am currently writing a history of bread for the University of California Press. Other areas of interest include wild mushrooms, and specifically the treatment of Amanita muscaria in the historic record. I also write about Early Modern British Gardens, and for a more general audience, I write for Mother Earth News on bread, gardening, and more. I have an ongoing research project into the smoke-cured fermented milk of the Kenyan Samburu tribe. I am a co-director of the Samburu Lowlands Research Station, Lengusaka. I am the founding editor (1972) of Stone Soup, the magazine of writing and art by young people.
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Samburu Research 