Food Role on Social Events

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Description
The Broad Food Repertoire
Broader Patterns
Cultural relevance
Cultural comparison and contrast
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Food and culture are inseparable factors in a community. The food that people eat defines and shape their culture. For example, a community that feed practice farming feed on vegetables and cereals. A community that feed on meat are hunters or keep domestic animals. On the other hand, the peoples’ culture shapes their feeding habits. For example, an industrialized community depend on other communities for food.

As a result, their eating habit diversifies. They eat vegetables, snacks, traditional food, meat and other. Therefore, it is clear that food is at the center of culture while culture is the central point of feeding habits. Therefore, this paper will present a summary of a food event. The summary will include a description of the event, location of the food within a large repertoire of the community, the relationship between the food and traditions of the targeted group.

In addition, it will aim at giving the broader reflection of the groups’ culture and the traditional relevance in their community. Particularly, it will focus on a food event that they held in Kenya. I had a chance to visit the country and join in the celebration of his brother’s marriage. During the event, they prepared food known as Mukimo Wa Njahi.

Description

The food event was a wedding ceremony which they held in Kenya. Particularly, it was in the Kikuyu community. The Kikuyu community lives in the central region of the country. Their main source of livelihood is farming and doing business. The parents of the couples initiated the wedding ceremony for their child. The culture of the community allows parents to find spouses for their children and induce marriage.

They provided the necessary resources that the attendants required during the day. However, the two spouses must agree to the marriage before it takes place. Many people attended the wedding ceremony. They included relatives, parents from both sides, friends, elders, religious leaders and, the community member.

Distribution of responsibilities among the attendants followed the lines of expertise, gender, age, position in the community, and the relationship that they had with the family. For example, the religious leaders conducted players and offered spiritual guidance.

The elders welcomed relatives and made significant remarks concerning the expected behavior of the couple. However, there were some attendants who did not have responsibilities in the event. These included the young girls and boys, expectant women and the disabled members of the community. Younger children would be included in case of any emergency and simple commitments.

During the event, they cook Mukimo Wa Njahi as the main meal. This meal is an important food in the Agikuyu community. It is at the heart of their culture and traditions. When preparing the meal, they use traditional cereals called Njahi. Njahi is a traditional cereal that is rich in protein. The community associates the cereal with abundance. Also, the meal contains green vegetables that grow on the river banks.

The vegetables include the stinging nettle. In their native language, they refer to it as Hatha. The two components are mixed with potatoes and cooked together. The mixture is smashed and served to the attendants. Before the attendants eat the food, the bride and bridegroom tasted the food assuring the people that it had been good. Culturally, the bride serves the bridegroom first, and the bridegroom does the same thing for the bride.

Among the attendants, there were a group of women who made ululations. They made four ululations for the bride and five for the bridegroom. The ululations were made when each of them served Mukimo Wa Njahi. The bride then went round serving the parents and elders of the community. The rest of attendants were served by selected women in the community. The service women were required to be married.

The Broad Food Repertoire

The event coincides with the history of the attendants and remains relevant to the attendants. Most of the attendants are married. In fact, bachelors and spinsters do not get significant roles. The participants celebrate the newly married couples and consider them as being newborns. To them, a newly born couple enlarges their family. Therefore, the essence of celebrating is welcoming the couples into a new world.

As a result, the event coincides with the history of the participants perfectly. It reminds them of their obligation in marriage and strengthen the bond they made earlier. This is because they are proud of getting a new company.

In addition, the people consider the event as a holy authorization of reproduction. In this community, bearing children before marriage is evil. They consider premarital pregnancy as immoral. As a result, the community views the event as a clean and legal action. Therefore, it coincides with the communities’ morals and behaviors. Consequently, it is a component of the larger community culture.

Broader Patterns

There are various social-cultural events that exist in the community. During the events, they take the Mukimo Wa Njahi as the meal. These ceremonies are carried out in preparation of the marriage ceremony. In the patterns, one of the main events is the Irua ceremony. During Irua ceremony, boys are circumcised as a sign of passage from childhood to adulthood. The event is carried out in the same way as the marriage ceremony.

The attendants must be already circumcised. This creates bondage between the circumcised and the newly circumcised boys. During the ceremony, the attendants feed on Mukimo wa Njahi as as a sign of inducing strength of the newly circumcised boys. Also, they have Ngoima ceremony. They perform it before the marriage ceremony. During this ceremony, the bridegroom’s parents take goats to the bride’s parents for compensation.

They aim at compensating for taking the bride at their home. When marriage is due, it happens in patterns. For example, a girl will not get married before her older sister is married. This pattern is followed to the letter in the entire community.

Cultural relevance

The event has cultural similarities with other behaviors. The bride and bridegroom chose to adopt a traditional approach in their wedding ceremony. The choice aimed at showing the importance of their culture and the relationship it has with the other parts of practices of the community. From the description, we find various components and practices of the Agikuyu marriage ceremony.

The practices are culturally symbolic ad designate significant implications. The choices that are made in the ceremony carry relevant messages to the community. They have lessons that teach and inspire the young people in the community set up. In fact, the marriage ceremony is termed as the pure reflection of their cultural heritage and believes that govern the entire community.

For example, Mukimo W Njahi comprises of the stinging nettle and Njahi. Njahi is a cereal that grows in the abundance of rainfall. Therefore, it signifies a lot of harvest and abundance. The inclusion of Njahi in the Mukimo is a sign of blessings for the couple. The community wishes them a fortune and abundance in their marriage. On the other hand, they include the stinging nettle. The stinging nettle is a sign of challenges and problems.

It shows that the marriage will have flaws at times. Therefore, couples learn a crucial lesson that prepare them to handle the tasks before them with perseverance. The Mukimo Wa Njahi is made through smashing. When they smash, the three components appear like one. This is a powerful message to the couples. It suggests that they should remain in complete collaboration and togetherness. The bride and bridegroom serve food to each other.

This teaches them to serve each other and fulfill their obligations. The bride serves the elders to show respect to the community, parents and the people who are older than them. The unity that the attendants show during the ceremony is a reflection of the community’s culture.

Cultural comparison and contrast

The event has differences with other cultural event. They differ in several aspects ceremonial aspects. The aspects include the nature of attendants, emotions that prevail and the values induced in the community. Firstly, the marriage ceremony is accompanied by happiness and ululation. Some the cultural events are accompanied by sadness and tears. For example, a death ceremony is characterized by the grief.

Another example, that is carried out differently is Ikari. This ceremony prepares the warriors for war. During the ceremony, they feed on meat. Two mature bulls are selected from the herd. The two bulls engage in a fight against each other. The bull that wins is slaughtered for the warriors. This is to signify that the warriors would win the war against the foe. These are examples of ceremonies that differ the marriage ceremony.

On the other hand, the event coincides and show similarities with other events of the community. The similarities emerge in various aspects of the event. For example, the community has a ceremony during child birth. They celebrate the new born in total happiness and vigor. In fact, the ululations that are made by women are in a wedding ceremony are made at child birth. They make five ululation for a boy baby and four for a girl.

This is a perfect similarity to that of the wedding ceremony. According to the community, they signify happiness and fortune. Another ceremony that show similar emotions is the Ngoima. The Ngoima ceremony celebrated during the payment of dowry to the bride’s parents. Mukimo wa Njahi is the meal for the ceremony.

This coincides with the marriage ceremony in the community. The similarities show that the community is consistent with its culture and behaviors.

Conclusion

The ethnographic exercise that is described above is a perfect evidence that the food events show a strong relationship between food and culture. In addition, it shows show the reflection of cultural behavior on food events.

It analyses the importance and significance of every activity and the lessons they portray in the community. It reveals the patterns of the various events that take place in the community. Moreover, the paper shows the various similarities and differences that exist between the marriage ceremony and other events.

Works Cited

Jenks, Chris. Culture. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.

Kenyatta, Jomo. Facing Mount Kenya: the tribal life of the Gikuyu. New York: Vintage Books, 1965. Print.

Macpherson, Catherine. Food & culture. Owatonna, MN: Learning Zone Express, 199. Print.

Mathu, George W.. Gikuyu marriage: beliefs and practices. Nairobi: University of Nairobi, Institute of African Studies, 1971. Print.

Spring, Anita. Women farmers and commercial ventures: increasing food security in developing countries. Boulder, Colo.: L. Rienner Publishers, 2000. Print.

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