Kuria people

The Kuria are an ethnic group that lives in the border region of Tanzania and Kenya to the east of Lake Victoria. Of the up to 400,000 Kuria live about two-thirds in Tanzania ( Mara region ) and a third in Kenya ( Nyanza province, especially in the Kuria District ).

The language of the Bantu language Kuria Kuria. The most closely related ethnic groups are the Kisii or Gusii, and also the Luhya. Other neighbors are the Luo, Maasai and Marach.

Traditionally, the Kuria cattle herders, but today they also run farming. Major agricultural products include coffee, sugar cane, tobacco and corn. In Lake Victoria is also fished. Cattle continue to play an important role for diet with milk and rare blood in ceremonies and to pay the bride price.

The marriage traditions of the Kuria have also catered for controversy, mainly because poorer parents who are dependent on the bride price give their daughters often early in arranged marriages. The circumcision of both boys and girls (in the form of clitoridectomy ) is common.

Approximately 59% of the Kuria are Christians, 41 % are followers of traditional religions.

Swell

• Jens Finke, Traditional Music and Cultures of Kenya: Kuria - Introduction ( English)
• Jens Finke, Traditional Music and Cultures of Kenya: Kuria - Society (English )