To be Determined - Essay Example

The kradin is the soul-name, which gives the person his/her spiritual identity whereas the cultural or physiological identity is known as Abusuakuw and Abatumm (Afuraka Afuraitkait). The belief surrounding the kradin however is more common in other cultures such as the Akan than amongst the Swahili. The Swahili group is one of Africa’s largest. It is derived from the Bantu group but was later heavily influenced by the Arab culture and language, and the Islamic religion. It actually comprises of a number of sub-ethnic groups of which there are many.

The Swahili speaking region of East Africa comprises of the following countries in which Swahilis can be found in significant numbers: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. In addition, the region “also extends into southern Somalia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and parts of northern Mozambique and the Comoros Islands” (African Studies Center). The language (Ki-Swahili), a Bantu language, is spoken by the Swahili people but also functions as a widely used lingua franca. Thus, “it embraces diverse life styles, economic and aesthetic practices, religions and ideologies” (ibid) although our focus is on the ethnic Swahili group.

The population numbers for the main five Swahili countries are given below based on figures provided by the Population Reference Bureau for mid-2008 and rounded to the nearest 100,000, Amongst these wider populations, the ethnic Swahilis live alongside other ethnic groups such as the Maasai, Mijikenda, and Turkana. Most ethnic Swahilis are Muslims. In the video ‘Rites of Passage’ by Mary Ann Watson and Suki Montgomery, Athnam Lali Omar describes the traditional naming ceremony in Swahili culture based on indications at Gede, a ruined village occupied between the twelth and seventeeth centuries.

After birth, the baby was protected and kept in