Epic poem

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Epic Poem: Scholarly Introduction
War comes out as one of the common phenomena, which apply to comprehending abstract entities within the specific society. Among the Luo people, war tends to date back to the duration of their settlement in the current region, Nyanza. “With the first settlements, there was a great deal of inter-clan warfare (Cohen 1974; 155). According to Cohen, the Luo people focused on making wars together while fighting collectively with the intention of defending their lands. In this context, this cultural genre provides the platform for understanding the civilization among the Luo community. Across the early period of their settlements through later war encounters with Maasai, Nandi, and Baluhya, the Luo people, in Kenya, had the platform to develop the feeling of unity. These warring encounters were critical in the generation of the legendary figure within the community, Luanda Magere.
Luanda Magere had the opportunity to lead the Luo community in diverse wars the Nandi community while symbolizing the route towards the achievement of civilization. There are various properties, which tend to characterize war for the metaphorical obligations or duties. Some of these properties include strategies, agents, fighters, enemies, and weapons. These techniques and equipment were ideal in enabling the communities in the traditional context to preserve what they had, as well as acquire what they did desire in the form of civilization.

Across the 19th century AD, the Luo community did migrate into the current area they occupy in Kenya, thus, the platform to move away from the savanna grasslands for the higher, as well as cooler regions to offer reliable rainfall. Evidently, the migration was a critical element in supplementing focus on cattle by farming, as well as significant of crops in the economy.
Like other tribes in the nation, the Luo community tends to demonstrate conversant in at least three languages concerning English, Kiswahili, and Dholuo. From one generation to another, stories, legends, riddles, and proverbs have been critical elements of the Luo culture. In most cases, the boys and girls would gather in the evenings to have lessons about the traditions and cultural attributes. Evidently, integration of the language was a form of civilization, which did facilitate communication among the communities. Categorically, integration of the morality tales was critical in enabling all listeners the proper approach to coping with the life’s circumstances.
The Luo community tends to consider or perceive their traditional way of life as an important community resource. Similarly, there proves to be a great deal of disagreement over what should undergo preservation, as well as transformation. This provides the platform for the increased debate on the issues and customers concerning gender relations and marriage. Similarly, the community associates with songs, which are popular in the contemporary society as they were in the past generations. Musicians aim at praising or lamenting the economic, political, and cultural issues or contradictions in the generational life (Gromov, 201).
Of all the legends in the Luo community, Luanda Magere stands out as a legendary image with the most recent and tangible implications on the cultural heritage. Among the community, the story of the legendary hero tends to have a significant position on the current and past generations. Luanda is a term, which refers to ‘rock.’ On the other hand, Magere is a Luo term, which relates to ‘the one that builds.’ From this perspective, the name Luanda Magere would mean ‘the rock that builds.’ The folklore of the Luo community tends to narrate the story of the mighty warrior cum legend, Luanda Magere (Gromov, 201). Categorically, it is essential to note that Luanda Magere did belong to the Sidhoo clan, Kano.
According to the historical professionals from the community, Luanda Magere did walk the shores of Lake Victoria. The Sidhoo clan tends to occupy the current sugar belt, which is at the foot of the Nandi Escarpment (Selman and John 159). The legendary figure had unearthly powers, as well as flesh made of stone. From this perspective, the Luo community would depend on his prowess and power to facilitate the effective and efficient defense of the community since arrows, clubs, and spears would deflect from his body making him invincible during the warfare encounters. Luanda Magere had the opportunity to foster a valuable reputation or image based on his capability to tear the entire army apart during the communal warfare activities. During his generation, the traditional enemies of the Luo community were the Nandi. It is essential to note that the Nandi focused on organizing night attacks to execute their goals and tragedies during the night.
On the other hand, the Luo community, under the guidance of Luanda Magere did prefer to engage their enemies during the day. From this illustration, the Nandi did come out as good fighters at night in comparison to the daytime. One of the most interesting features regarding Luanda Magere relates to his activities during the conflict. For instance, during the conflict, Luanda Magere would be seen at his home engaging in the consumption of tobacco (Selman and John 161). Nonetheless, when the members of his clan were in any threat, Luanda Magere would seek his spear and shield. At the battlefield, he would engage in killing so many enemies at a go, thus, forcing them to retreat to their various homes.
Categorically, Luanda Magere was so powerful to the extent that the enemies were afraid to engage him in any physical battle or encounter. For example, when the Nandi went to war, they would retreat to their homes or communities upon realizing that Luanda Magere was also on the battlefield. In other instances, Luanda Magere would consider going into the homes of their enemies with the objective of taking their cattle and valuable items without any resistance. He would do these practices during the day. In certain instances, he would consider killing the individuals who did resist his attempts to confiscate the animals or commodities (Gromov, 201). The enemies could not kill him because the legend was made of hard stones, thus, the conceptualization of the term ‘Luanda.’
When the enemies sought to spear him, the spears would bend because of inability to penetrate through his body, thus, the creation of substantive worry among the Nandi on how to overcome the challenge (Selman and John 159). Following diverse encounters of the trial, the Nandi did conclude the fact that Luanda Magere was a God’s creation, thus, could do no more about the issue rather than let him be among the Luo community. One of the Nandi’s leaders thought it appropriate to offer one of their beautiful women or daughters to Luanda Magere for marriage with the intention of enabling him to stop subsequent raids, which led to the loss of numerous cattle. The objective of the arrangement was to enable the girl to unveil Luanda’s secrets, which made him unbeatable at the war. In spite of valuable advice from the Luo elders, Luanda Magere sought to go against the contribution by his relatives to take the girl as a present from the Nandi community.
Evidently, the eventual downfall of his legendary figure in the Luo community would be the present he did obtain from the Nandi community in the form of a second wife. When he fell ill, in the absence of his first wife, Luanda Magere sought to call his Nandi wife for some medicine before instructing her to cut his shadow with a knife and instill the drug. The Nandi wife was amassed when she saw blood from the shadow. She would use the information as a motivation to creep out of Luanda’s home to return to her people with the valuable message on how to kill Luanda Magere (Selman and John 159). The Nandi community would use this information to attack their Luo counterparts during the night. The encounter would lead to the eventual death of Luanda Magere. In spite of this fateful encounter, Luanda Magere had the opportunity to achieve a legendary status as one of the most reputable entities in the community. He had songs and poems documented for his remembrance and celebration. In the presentation of the epic poem, the focus will be on the elaboration of the influence of the poem to symbolize civilization, as well as invocation of the muse.
In the epic poem, there proves to be an integration of the invocation to muse. This is through the integration of the prologue at the beginning of the poem with the intention of illustrating the things to come. Evidently, the poem demonstrates the inspiration, skill, and knowledge, as well as the right emotion to facilitate the conclusion of the poem regarding Luanda Magere as the subject matter. “Let’s hurry! We might be late, and the queue would be too long to wait. You know last time we had to spent a night in Luanda’s home because we were late,” chanted a woman to her colleague who looked tired and could not match the pace of the other members of the team. Similarly, the poem focuses on the integration of the mechanisms with the intention of symbolizing the essence of civilization. This is through assessment of the traditional relationship between the Luo and Nandi communities.
The Luo legend tales tend to speak of the might warrior who did hail from Sidhoo, Kano in the form of Luanda Magere. The phenomenal body structure, hard rock, was critical in enabling Luanda Magere to have or document the legendary status within the society. During his generation, there were diverse conflicts between the Luo and Nandi communities. The presence of this legendary figure would play a critical role in ensuring that the Luo community had an advantage over their counterparts (Gromov, 206). The Nandi community sought to use one of their beautiful daughters to achieve two goals: make peace with the Luo community, as well as identify the source of power or secrets to the legendary figure. The eventual encounter among the communities would end following the death of Luanda Magere in the circumstances mentioned above.
Works Cited
Cohen, Erik. “Who Is A Tourist: A Conceptual Clarification1?” The sociological review 22.4 (1974): 527-555.
Gromov, Mikhail D. “Children’s literature in Kenya: a mirror of Kenyan culture?.” Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa 1.2: 198-207.
Selman, Jan, and John Battye, “Telling Old Stories in New Ways,” Working the Margins of Community-Based Adult Learning, Sense-Publishers, 2016; 157-168