Samburu lmala njongor, Wamba, Kenya

Noun
Pronunciation: XXX
Wooden lmala with a woven lid, used to hold milk for blessings conducted by either women or men.

The blessing milk is mixed with water. The diluted milk can be poured into the cap and then poured onto the ground. For example, when dedicating a building, the milk will be poured around the foundation perimeter. With somewhat more ritual, the blessing milk can also be poured onto a cow tail, or the tail can be dipped into the milk and then shaken onto the ground while rhythmically chanting ngai (God). The blessing might be conducted sitting or moving. Women walking into the mountains to pray under a sacred tree will dip leaves into milk and chant the blessing while walking to bless each tree found growing around pooled water in otherwise dry river beds. 

The njongor is also the girl’s lmala, although the distinction between this and the traditional boy’s lmala el laiyok is weakening. Each child has her own njongor.

The njongor‘s lid is not carved from wood, as with other containers in the nklip group. Instead, it is woven of grass (the tan-colored bands in the photo above) and plastic sacks (the red bands in the photo).

The njongor is now rare in the Samburu Highlands and in communities near roads.

Description

Capacity: XXX liters

Cylindrical wooden vessel with a separate woven lid. The vessel’s long, straight sides swell outward gently below its neck to a swollen, rounded base. The vessel’s exterior is stained red with ochre or painted black (made from ash mixed with blood), and it has decorative leather stitching in white and green at its neck that support a collar. Leather carrying straps of varying widths encircle its sides. The straps are often decorated with skirai (cowry shells). The detachable lid is roughly urn-shaped and woven of grass ( Its sides slope outward from a flat top to a leather collar that slides over the vessel’s neck. 

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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