From fishing, to farming, to rearing livestock, the Luo’s strategic settlement around the resourceful Lake Victoria gave them a variety of occupations to consider. Designing a homestead and building the houses within it was a combined effort. Men erected the structures while their wives plastered the walls using mud. It was however taboo for wives to thatch huts.
To begin with, the location assigned for building was fenced using Ojuok (Euphorbia Tirucalli). Then houses were built, and each was designated to a different person in the family. Nearest to the Boma entrance on the left was the ‘Simba’, a small hut for the unmarried sons. To the right was the grandmother’s hut where girls slept and spent most of their time in, learning from the older woman how to handle their future families. Directly across from the Boma entrance was the main and largest hut, belonging to the first wife where all ceremonies and beer drinking parties were held. Other huts and granaries were scattered within the compound and there were also outside sitting areas for the family and animal sheds.
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