Rusinga (Cultural) Festival

Rusinga Cultural Festival is an annual two-day celebration of the culture of the Abasuba people of Kenya.[1] It is held on the last Thursday and Friday before Christmas on Rusinga Island. The festival was founded by Anne Eboso[2] and administered through Chula Cultural Foundation.[1]

The cultural festival is the sole initiative preserving the culture of the Abasuba who are mainly found on the Rusinga Island and Mfangano Island on Lake Victoria on the Kenyan portion of the Lake. Abasuba culture is under pressure from the neighboring Luo community due to assimilation and intermarriage.[3][4] Suba language has been listed by the United Nations Educational Scientific and cultural Organization (UNESCO) in its Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger as one of the thirteen endangered languages in Kenya[5] where it is classified as vulnerable.

The festival addresses societal ills within the Abasuba community such as the sex-for-fish practice that impacts negatively on efforts to curb the spread of HIV.[6]

The Rusinga Cultural Festival is a mixed-type of festival; it incorporates more than one item of celebration with music, cultural sporting activities, art and food from traditional Suba cuisine being the main features of the Rusinga Cultural Festival. There is additionally a street procession that is used to invite residents of the Rusinga Island to the festival grounds.

The festival producer is a long-standing promoter of culture, education and literacy through book-reading.[1][2] The Rusinga Festival utilizes a boat-library that also serves the purpose of providing a safe space for discussion of various sensitive issues affecting the Abasuba.[6][7]

  1. ^ a b c The Star Newspaper Kenya. "The Rusinga Festival thrills". Star Newspaper website. The Star. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b IREX, IREX. "IREX Website". IREX. International Research and Exchanges Board. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  3. ^ The East African. "Extinction of languages in East Africa worries UNESCO". The East African Website. The East African. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  4. ^ Endangered Languages Project. "Endangered Languages Project: Suba Language". Endangered Languages Project. Endangered Languages Project. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  5. ^ UNESCO. "Endangered Languages". UNESCO Languages Atlas. UNESCO. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  6. ^ a b Daily Nation. "Homa Bay leads country in HIV/Aids cases, new study says". Daily Nation. Daily Nation. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
  7. ^ Capital FM. "Cultural Festivals in Kenya". Capital FM Kenya Website. Capital FM Kenya. Retrieved 10 January 2017.