The Untold Symbolic Significance of African Cultures, the Case of the Bukusu Circumcision Ritual in Kenya

Most Africans cultures were observed and practiced within the confines of their moral values that carried coded meaning which required more attention to understand hidden symbolism contained therein. Among the Bukusu people of Western Kenya for instance, circumcision was perhaps a cultural routine that was practiced with strict observance of several stages and rituals that indirectly communicated important messages to the initiates and the society at large. Hence, this paper examines key stages that are involved in order to successfully complete a Bukusu circumcision ritual. Such phases contained unique features and moral values that have not been told in many academic and scholarly writings since the inception of African leadership after colonialism. For the success in this objective, the tenets of the structural functionalism approach were very relevant in the illustration of the significance of the ritual itself and its key components that are deeply embedded and enshrined in the doctrines that dictated the operations of this rite. The study heavily relied on primary data which was corroborated by the existing secondary date to generate findings contained in this paper. Much of the primary data was collected through Oral Interviews (abbreviated as O.I in the entire text) and also through extensive readings from the Kenya National Archives (abbreviated as KNA in the text).