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Gīkūyū Education – men
When the Westerner, Mūthūngū, came in contact with the Gīkūyū nation, he found in the words of one Missionary, “a savage tribe whose peoples mind’s were clouded with paganism and ignorance”. The...
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Stages of a Gīkūyū Man’s Life
Gakenge – A new born baby for the first few months or so. After that he is referred to as Kaana, baby. Major ceremony – Being born, gūciarwo kwa mwana. Kahīī – A young boy floricking about like a young...
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Gīkūyū Education – Children
A picture we used in the post, “Stages of a Gīkūyū Man’s Life”, showed an old man, whom we refered to as a library, sorrounded by a group of eager youngsters as he told them fairy tales. The old man,...
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Gīkūyū Traditional Skirt – Mūthuru
The Gīkūyū traditional woman’s skirt was called the mūthuru, a simple leather wrap-around that was accompanied by a soft leather pubic apron that was worn under the skirt opening, mwengū at the...
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Gīkūyū Gallery of Kenya Coins
In 1885 the Imperial British East Africa Company was founded to administer British East Africa after the Berlin partition of Africa. The dominant currency trading within the Indian Ocean Coast then was...
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Hair – African vs European
The Nordic woman has long blond hair which she uses as part of her winter attire. It falls over her shoulders as a blanket and keeps the neck warm. The neck carrying the crucial blood vessels and...
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The Great Africa Land Grab 2.0
We cannot give to the hyena twice – Tūtingīhe hiti keerī. A long time ago in the land of the Gīkūyū people before the coming of the tree frogs, ciengere, it was normal to dispose of the dead by leaving...
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The Woman and the ogre – A Tale of Deliverance
A long long time ago before the age of Ndemi and Mathathi, a man dwelt with his newly married wife on the edge of the forest. The man was a member of the Smith Guild, Aturi, a group in Gikuyu Society...
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The Squirrel and the Girls
One day a squirrel (Wakahare), was caught red handed by a group of monkeys in the act of stealing their food. Since Mr Squirrel had made a habit of stealing the food from them, the monkeys were very...
View ArticlePain and Gīkūyū Circumcision – Kūrua Ruo
Traditionally, young Gīkūyū men underwent coming of age ceremonies, Mambura ma irua, that included the surgical removal of the penis’ foreskin. These ceremonies and their preparations were protracted...
View ArticleGĩkũyũ Foundational Teaching for Initiates
One of the great resource books on the Gĩkũyũ people is a little known book of just 59 pages by none other than Jomo Kenyatta, the author of the more famous and more comprehensive “Facing Mount Kenya”....
View ArticleHail Mother with all her warts and dirt: Kūngū Maitū na Hunyū wake
The Gīkūyū have a proverb, Kūngū Maitū na Hunyū Wake. It means literally, Hail Mother with all her warts and dirt. The first and one of the best compilations of Gīkūyū proverbs was by the Consolata...
View ArticleThe Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Gīkūyū
When the Europeans came to Africa on their civilizing mission, their idea was to transform the savage into their own image. Any studies done on the natives were for the sole purpose of affecting a...
View ArticleGīkūyū Marriage Ceremonies. Ūhikania: Part 1
The coming together of a Gīkūyū man and a woman in marriage is not a union of merely two people but two families. By families it is meant the extended family or Mbarī. The Mbarī is still a very big...
View ArticleHow the Gīkūyū People Were Sold into the Money
In his 1935 book, The Akikuyu: Their Customs, Traditions and folklore page 259 Father C. Cagnolo of the Consolata Missionaries, Nyeri, wrote, With the Pax Britannica the Missions appeared who, side by...
View ArticleGīkūyū Greetings
Greetings in Gīkūyū can be complicated. In order to understand Gīkūyū traditional greetings it is necessary to first define some terms. Maitū means Mother and not just the biological mother but all...
View ArticleGīkūyū Documentation Centre – Mūkūrwe-inī
The Gīkūyū Documentation Centre is a Library, Archive, and Museum specializing in not just the archival material history of the Gīkūyū people of Central Kenya, but especially in exploring how the...
View ArticleGīkūyū Traditional Colors
What, may we ask, constitute the definitive Gīkūyū traditional colors? The answer to this question is particularly important to designers of “modern traditional dress” and to architects and interior...
View ArticleCancer Curse – Nyūmba na Riika Itiumagwo
Some time back I met an old flame and since Gīkūyū himself said, ‘no irīma itacemanagia’, that is, ‘only mountains never meet’, and since neither she nor I are mountains, I was not the least surprised....
View ArticleThe Yam and it’s Support – Gīkwa na Mūkūngūgū
The Mūkūngūgū tree, (Commiphora eminii), is a fast growing tree with very soft and light wood when dry. Its leaves are compound with usually five leaflets and sometimes seven. It grows vegetatively and...
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