Names reveal a lot of information about a person. Ranging from emotions, time and place of birth, ancestry and so much more. Interestingly, there’s a Kenyan tribe that names babies three or two years after birth.
The Borana community from Northern Kenya holds naming ceremonies on occasional times. The children will grow up being referred to through random names until they turn a year or two.
Some names are so special that they are reserved only for firstborns.
The actual day of the naming ceremony is determined by the elders and the festivities, which include blessing, singing, dancing, and eating, could last for three days.
Parents who are unable to hold the ceremony probably due to financial constraints can seek help from relatives.
Eight days before the ceremony, a large hut, the Galma, is built and the child’s father invites the family’s numerous relatives to the naming ceremony.
Each guest to the event brings an Oodha full of curdled milk as a gift and that is why the ceremony takes place after the heavy rains have greened up pastures that provide abundant forage for cows.
The Borana takes the naming ceremonies very seriously because it's a culture that has been practised for a long time.
The Borana are one of the resulting groups of Oromo migrants who were reported to have left the southern highlands of Ethiopia in the 1500s.
The Oromo had migrated east but were pushed back by the Somali leading to greater southern expansion.
