Noun
Pronunciation: XXX
Heavy lmala that is large and can hold a lot of milk. Its purpose is to collect milk. This is the only lmala that can be used by anyone — children, grownups, men, women, elders, and guests. [This is the same basic definition as the nklip. Is this correct? Leave your remarks in Comments below.]

The nairoshi has no social distinction, so it is interesting to note that its basic shape and coloration come from outside the Samburu culture. Its core is painted over in patterns usually associated with the Turkana. The lid or cap is distinctively Turkana. Ochre is painted around the top of the cup, the flared hat part, and then four wide vertical bands down to the slightly outwardly curved base, leaving four black rectangles. A similar pattern is repeated below, with the black rectangles being more square than rectilinear. What makes the nairoshi decoration Samburu is the use of skirai (cowry shells) on the leather straps. 

Description

Capacity: 1 to 1 1/2 liters

Cylindrical storage vessel with a leather cap. Colored stitching ending in downward-pointing triangles holds the inner leather lip in place. The line from the base to the top of the lmala is almost straight, though there is a slight outward curve at the bottom, just before the cap is reduced to fit within the mouth of the main container. The main part of the cap is a cylinder, wider at the base than the top. What makes the cap distinctively Turkana is that before the main portion of the cup narrows it again angles out forming a hat with a flared rim. The main part of the cap is a cylinder that is wider at the base than at the top, with a slight outward curve at the bottom, just before the cap is reduced to fit within the mouth of the vessel. 

Return to Types of Milk Containers.

This is the draft manuscript of the Samburu Milk Project, © 2024 William Rubel. 

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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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