When Tradition Woke me Up

I hope my Tiriki culture doesn’t get eroded. It is beautiful. I hope it stays around.
Well, it’s 3:57 am right now. I have been awake for a while now. Let’s put all the blame on the rain. Also, when I’m extremely excited, it’s usually so hard for me to sleep. 

Jubilation. Ululation.
From a distance.
Close by.
That has been the mood in (Gimarakwa), my village, and all the neighbouring villages for the past week. Lovely, to sum it all up.
There’s just this good energy in the air. And as easy as it is to hear, it’s even easier to feel.

I’m quite a mixture of everything: cosmos, tradition, spirituality, religion… Somehow, I just find myself relating to it all. My knowledge of each is, honestly, sparse, I must admit.
That’s why, if you’ve noticed, I usually stray from speaking about religion, spirituality, and all that stuff. But I deeply believe we’re spiritual beings. And I truly believe God exists.
I pray a lot. I mean, a lot.
I fast religiously when need arises. I manifest.
That’s beside the point, though.

It’s the circumcision period.
This is the first time I’ve actually experienced the real thing. All the other years it happened, I was either away or too shy. (Sorry guys, young Val was extremely timid.)
My brother went through the process a while back, before I was born.
My sister Doreen has been bragging about how amazing it was. She’ll find “amazing” an understatement, judging from the way she described it.

Well, word around has been,..
“We’re losing our tradition.”
Until yesterday, when everyone was rudely and beautifully proven wrong.

To be honest, I was a little snobbish about all the hype. I was even getting irritated by the excitement.
Until I wasn’t.
Now I’m here, too excited to sleep.
I literally had to force myself into sleeping, only to manage an hour.

Rain sounds are usually my go-to whenever I can’t sleep.
Funny enough, this morning they woke me up. And I haven’t been able to go back to sleep.

According to my tradition, our wazees are described as rainmakers.
They can hold the rain. And they can make it pour.
Stop sneering, I have my facts. As of today, 3:00 AM.
The clouds just released all the rain they’d been holding back.
And there’s a reason it’s supposed to rain today.
I’m not even sure I’m allowed to say it here, publicly…
But this morning’s rain?
It wasn’t because of climate change.
It wasn’t even God. (I’ll pray for forgiveness about this later.)
It was actually because of our wazees.
I kid you not.

I danced so hard yesterday, I surprised myself.
I’m not one to be comfortable in big crowds.
But I was.
It felt… so natural.

So now, our little lads will be going away into seclusion for almost an entire month.
And they’ll come back to us, not as boys anymore…
But as men.
Total transition.

I’m writing shyly about this because I’m still not fully aware of what is inappropriate to say and what is genuinely sacred to keep private.
You know I’m trying not to offend my people.

It’s 4:17 AM as I write this paragraph.
And drums and songs can be heard too close by.
The rain is equally competing.

I’d sworn I’d wake up to accompany everyone else, but my chest seems like it’ll betray me, asthma.
So anyway, the actual thing is happening today.
They’ll go through the cut this morning.

And according to my Tiriki culture, this won’t happen again until five years from now.
My fear of missing out is screaming.
Five years feels like forever.

After they come back from seclusion, it’ll be a party again.
We’ll get our dancing shoes back.
And then that will close it.

I’ll want to write more about this, because I genuinely want to keep it.
I’ll sit with my brother, ask him what’s appropriate to say and what’s too private to share…
Then I’ll come back here and yap all about it.
I mean, that’s one thing I’m good at. Lol.

In the meantime, this is just my sugar rush, sipping out.
God forbid a girl loves the sound of drums.

Honestly, I pray that my Tiriki culture stays around.
The songs.
The drums.
The tradition.
Everything about it is simply sacred.
And it should be kept.

Author: Miss Injairu

This is my best kept muse. Have fun. View all posts by Miss Injairu