History of Kenya
Mrs.
Nardi's 9th Grade World History Class
Lenox Memorial High School, Lenox, Massachusetts
Socio-Religious Traditions
The
Mbari
As the Kikuyu pioneers continued to settle on the land to the south and
west of Mt. Kenya, they chose to found their homesteads (mucii)
on individual ridges (rugongo) that surrounded Mt. Kenya and,
later on, the Aberdares forest (Nyanarua). A collection of dispersed
homesteads (ibura) would eventually develop on each ridge top
until they formed large family units called mbari (Muriuki 35).
Individual family units (nyumba) would consist of a husband and
wife (or wives) and their children (ciana). A mbari could
include as many as one hundred persons who were kin to the original pioneer
or one of his descendants. However, as both Muriuki and Kenyatta point
out, the elder or custodian of the land (muramati) was the titular
head and shared ownership with the other members of the mbari
(Muriuki 116). As Muriuki notes, this form of land ownership ensured protection
and guarded against exploitation by any one member of the clan (35). In
Muriuki's words, "...this was a form of communal solidarity".
However the word "communal" only applies to each individual
mbari not to all "borori wa Gikuyu"or
the land of Kikuyu. It would be equally incorrect to assume that each
of the United States were considered as one large area of communal property
belonging to each U.S. citizen.
Age-Set System
If the mbari is the institution established to manage family and land, the mariika system was established to “act as milestones of chronology” and to unite all age mates into their particular generation (15). These age-sets were given a unique name and that name corresponds to a particular period of time. ( This system does not keep a strict calendar so our Roman system is only an approximate equivalent.) Age-sets help the group mark the passage of time and to keep major events in order in an oral tradition. For example, the Iregi age-set was initiated in 1827 through 1861, a various intervals, according to Mr. Muriuki (16).
Mariika
The age-set initiation is one of the major events in the life of the Kikuyu boy or girl. It represents the crossing of the young person into full membership in the age group and is accompanied by adult responsibilities, especially for boys who graduate to warriorhood. Boys are charged with the serious role of protecting the clan. Each group of initiates has their own name and the name of the larger generational set. Kenyatta states that the boys become “as one body” (Kenyatta 4). In fact the mariika was the lynchpin which held the Kikuyu ethnic group together because it was the “deciding factor in giving a boy or girl the status of manhood or womanhood in the Gikuyu community” (128). (More information on oathing rituals in the Mau Mau section)
Elder Councils
The age-set system begins the long process of attaining membership in the Kikuyu social and political councils for the elder age-sets. In the words of Robert Bates, who has written about the political economy of Kenya, "Tribal councils formed the second critical institution of Kikuyu society (Bates 16)." There were many types of councils for various problems, for example: the councils of grazing, marriage relations, rituals, and capital offenses, etc. Any Kikuyu man wishing for social or political advantage must, first of all, have children and the more the better. As a man's first child neared his or her initiation ceremony so also did the man graduate to the first grade of the adult lodge. As time passed, he could move through the second to the third grade councils, each accompanies an increase in respect and power.
Bride-Price
In the time before the colonial invasion, one’s labor was highly valued as there was a plenitude of land but a shortage of labor to work it. Hence, when it came time to marry a daughter, a man would lose a full grown agricultural worker. In the economics of Kikuyu life, he must be compensated for his loss by the institution of bride-price. On the other hand, in order to acquire another wife or even just the first one, a man’s family must compensate the bride’s family for their loss. Therefore, it became customary to pay the bride’s family with cattle, sheep or goats in order to keep the “books” balanced. According to Kenyatta, at the time of his writing, Kikuyu customary law established that thirty sheep or goats were to be provided as a bride-price (roracio) to the bride’s family. He also notes that cattle, being more valuable, were worth ten sheep or goats (162). It should be noted that bride-price
Kikuyu had
strong beliefs in the powers of magic and the magician. Magicians
in Kikuyu society were the traditional “guardians of the ancestral
cult [ogo]” (Kenyatta 280). Magic could be used for a wide
variety of reasons, for example, as a protective “charm” for
hunters, a “love potion”, healing the sick, “defensive
magic” and, finally, the taboo of evil magic (269). Magic involved
belief in occult power or “powers of second sight” where Kikuyu
individuals who are seen as having such talents become seers or prophets
(280). These individuals were often people who might be considered different
or "other" in terms of our own "traditional" behavior.
Also, these individuals would address some imbalance or anomaly developing
within their culture. (One could compare this need today to going to a
therapist, doctor or healer.) Availing one’s self of these services,
also, required an oath of secrecy regarding the tools of the magician’s
trade. Defensive magic, designed for the welfare of the community, at
times, called for magicians who accompany warriors into battle. As Kenyatta
explains, some magicians were the leaders of the battle, and “…magicians
of war had to insure his (sic) position and confidence on the general
public by leading a successful battle” (287).
Last Age-Set
Godfrey Muriuki notes in The History of the Kikuyu:1500-1900 that it is difficult to determine from various diaries and journals of British persons writing during this time period exactly went the last age-set or mariika (initiation) was celebrated because of the spaces and differing dates in the documentation. He estimates (to his best educated guess) that the Kabete mariika in Kiambu between 1890 and 1900 never occurred because of cataclysmic social upheavals due to "disease and famine" (20).