#HistoryKeThread: Titbits On The Nandi 
What is the origin of the word “rungu”? Is the word used to refer to a club part of the Kiswahili lexicon?
I don’t know the answer to this.
I don’t know the answer to this.
But among the Kalenjin, the traditional club was in the 19th century known as a “rungut”.
There were different kinds of rungus. A longer rungu, such as the one in the middle here, and which slightly resembles the one a famous member of the Kalenjin Tugen tribe, the late President Moi, brandished in public, was reserved for older men.
The one on the extreme left, on the other hand, was used by warriors.
Something else that also existed among the Nandi in those days was snuff and tobacco, which the community may have grown for recreation purposes.
Although tobacco was enjoyed by both sexes, many of the younger warriors preferred snuff to it. Tobacco was seen as something for older men. Overall, smoking tobacco wasn’t as common a habit among the Nandi as it was among their neighbours, the Luo.
Indeed, the Nandi purchased tobacco pipes from the Luo.
Bhang, which the Nandi called nyasoret, grew wild, and though not used by them, according to pioneer British administrator Alfred C. Hollis, it was fairly popular with both the Bantu (Luhya) and Nilotic Kavirondo.
The other popular commodity with Nandi warriors was snuff. Many of the older folks chewed tobacco, which was also smoked by elderly men and women alike. Snuff boxes called chepkiraut were made of wood or ox-horn and were decorated with beads.
In a previous thread, I referenced accounts in which the Taita retrieved, minced and then sprinkled hearts of vanquished Maasai raiders around the valleys and hills of this Bantu-speaking community, believing that this act made them braver.
According to Nandi lore, the community’s warriors in days before the advent of the white man also ate small portions of an enemy’s heart in order to “summon bravery”.
Nandi warriors also carefully dripped the enemy’s blood from the sword or spear and into a cup made of grass, and drunk it. If a warrior didn’t do this, it was believed that he would end up mentally possessed.
A blessed week ahead to all of you.
