Soma
Resources => Other Cultures [Public] => Topic started by: tangerine dream on November 17, 2008, 09:16:51 AM
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A few weeks ago I had a really interesting 'dream' that I was watching a tribe in Kenya. It has intrigued me ever since.
Kenya lies across the equator in east-central Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It is twice the size of Nevada. Kenya borders Somalia to the east, Ethiopia to the north, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. In the north, the land is arid; the southwest corner is in the fertile Lake Victoria Basin; and a length of the eastern depression of the Great Rift Valley separates western highlands from those that rise from the lowland coastal strip.
Paleontologists believe people may first have inhabited Kenya about 2 million years ago. In the 700s, Arab seafarers established settlements along the coast, and the Portuguese took control of the area in the early 1500s. More than 40 ethnic groups reside in Kenya. Its largest group, the Kikuyu, migrated to the region at the beginning of the 18th century.
A series of disasters plagued Kenya in 1997 and 1998: severe flooding destroyed roads, bridges, and crops; epidemics of malaria and cholera overwhelmed the ineffectual health care system; and ethnic clashes erupted between the Kikuyu and Kalenjin ethnic groups in the Rift Valley.
Another drought ravaged Kenya, and by Jan. 2006, 2.5 million Kenyans faced starvation.
Kenya descended into violence and chaos following December 2007's presidential election.
By February 2008, more than 1,000 people had died in the ethnic violence.
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Kikuyu
Having migrated to their current location about four centuries ago, the Kikuyu now make up Kenya’s largest ethnic group. The Kikuyu people spread rapidly throughout the Central Province and Kenya. The Kikuyu usually identify their land by the surrounding mountain ranges which they call Kirinyaga-the shining mountain. The Kikuyu are Bantu and actually came into Kenya during the Bantu migration. They include some families from all the surrounding people and can be identified with the Kamba, the Meru, the Embu and the Chuka. The Kikuyu tribe was originally founded by a man named Gikuyu. Kikuyu history says that the Kikuyu God, Ngai, took Gikuyu to the top of Kirinyaga and told him to stay and build his home there. He was also given his wife, Mumbi. Together, Mumbi and Gikuyu had nine daughters. There was actually a tenth daughter but the Kikuyu considered it to be bad luck to say the number ten. When counting they used to say “full nine” instead of ten. It was from the nine daughters that the nine (occaisionally a tenth) Kikuyu clans -Achera, Agachiku, Airimu, Ambui, Angare, Anjiru, Angui, Aithaga, and Aitherandu- were formed.
The Kikuyu rely heavily on agriculture. They grow bananas, sugarcane, arum lily, yams, beans, millet, maize, black beans and a variety of other vegetables. They also raise cattle, sheep, and goats. They use the hides from the cattle to make bedding, sandals, and carrying straps and they raise the goats and sheep to use for religious sacrifices and purification. In the Kikuyu culture boys and girls are raised very differently. The girls are raised to work in the farm and the boys usually work with the animals. The girls also have the responsibility of taking care of a baby brother or sister and also helping the mother out with household chores. In the Kikuyu culture family identity is carried on by naming the first boy after the father’s father and the second after the mother’s father. The same goes for the girls; the first is named after the father’s mother and the second after the mother’s mother. Following children are named after the brothers and sisters of the grandparents, starting with the oldest and working to the youngest. Along with the naming of the children was the belief that the deceased grandparent’s spirit, that the child was named after, would come in to the new child. This belief was lost with the increase in life-span because generally the grandparents are now still alive when the children are born.
Though they are traditionally agricultural people and have a reputation as hard-working people, a lot of them are now involved in business. Most of the Kikuyu still live on small family plots but many of them have also seen the opportunities in business and have moved to cities and different areas to work. They have a desire for knowledge and it is believed that all children should receive a full education. They have a terrific reputation for money management and it is common for them to have many enterprises at one time. The Kikuyu have also been active politically. The first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, was actually a Kikuyu. Kenyatta was a major figure in Kenya's fight for independence.
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The Meru people live primarily on and adjoining the northeastern slope of Mount Kenya. The name "Meru" refers to both the people and the location, as for many years there was only one geo-political district for the Meru people. This changed in 1992 when the district was divided into three: Meru, Nyambene, and Tharaka-Nithi. These people are unrelated to the Meru people in north Tanzania, other than that they are both Bantu-speaking.
(http://www.africanews.com/documents/ac/3d/ac3d42772efbf837356c8056cbaa0e24.jpg)
History:
Depending upon who one asks, Meru history spans about 270 years. There are no written records for the first 200 and what may be learned must come from memories of the community's elders. The predominant tradition has to do with a place called "Mbwa." This tradition tells how the Meruan ancestors were captured by the Nguuntune (or Nhuuntune, meaning "Red People") and taken into captivity on the island of Mbwa. Some analysts interpret this "Red People" tradition as referring to Arabs.
Because conditions were intolerable, secret preparations were made to leave Mbwa. Some analysts interpret Mbwa as re;ated to present day Yemen. When the day came to leave Mbwa, a corridor of dry land is said to have been created for the people to pass through the Red Sea. They later followed a route that took them to the hills of Marsabit, eventually reaching the Indian Ocean coast.
There they stayed for some time; however, due to climatic conditions and threat from Arabs, they traveled farther south until they came to the River Tana basin. The Chuka separated from them there, and inland toward Mt Kenya. Most traditions say the rest went as far south as Tanzania until finally reaching the Mount Kenya area.
There is a confusion here, since you cannot get to Mt Kenya by going south form the mouth of the Tana River, as the mountain is northwest up the Tana from there. They could have gone south, even as far as what is now known as Tanzania, and then swung inland and back northwest.
This confusion or combination of geographical features and directions seems to combine two separate myths of origin from different segments of Meru ancestral history, one from the north and another from the east. In trying to make sense of the confusing geography of the oral tradition, some identify Mbwa with Manda Island near Lamu and the water as the ocean channel. The eastern origin tradition indicates westward migration from the coast. This correlates with traditions of other Bantu peoples like the Giriama and the Pokomo.
Identity:
Since the language of the Meru people is a Bantu language, they have traditionally been classified as Bantu. Some studies on Meru history shows some of the Meru are Cushitic in origin. Language history can be more easily reconstructed, but ethnic merging is more subtle. Insights are provided by the complex oral traditons of multiple origins. The Meru groups themselves have multiple myths or legends of origin, indicating they are actually of mixed origin.
Some claim an origin from the north or west, while others claim coastal origins. Cushites referred to as Mwoko in Meru traditions were already living there when the Bantu groups arrived in the Mt Kenya area in various stages of migration. Other Bantu-speaking peoples in central Kenya have a multiple orign.
This is, in fact, the case with most peoples of the Eastern Africa region, which has experienced a swirl of movement and settlement, displacement and resettlement, through all the oral and recorded history we know. All the Bantu languages of the Mt Kenya region are very similar, as well as cultural patterns. The Meru are most closely related to the Chuka, but share many similarities with the Embu and Kikuyu as well.
Language:
The languages of Meru, Chuka, Embu and Kikuyu are somewhat understandable to one another with some substantial differences. The Meru speak at least seven different dialects, but the Bible translation being used is in the Imenti dialect. The differences in the dialects reflect the varied Bantu origins and influences from Cushite and Nilotic, as well as different Bantu, neighbors. As a whole Meru exhibits much older Bantu characteristics in grammar and phonetic forms than the neighboring languages. Even so, it still bears a close resemblance to Kikuyu and Kamba.
Customs:
The Meru have fairly strict circumcision customs that affect all of life. From the time of circumcision, boys no longer have contact with their mother and girls no longer have contact with their father. A separate house is built for the sons and the mother leaves their food outside the door. This does vary to some degree depending on the level of urban influence, but is still practiced in Meru town. This is one of the major reasons that all secondary schools in Meru are boarding schools.
The Meru are primarily agrarian, with some animals. Their home life and culture is similar to other Highland Bantus. The Tharaka live in the dry desert area, a much harsher life than most Meru. Meru have had a strong educational foundation has been provided by Christian mission schools.
(http://www.salem4u.com/dev/salem1.nsf/(Images)/CBE8F97A7928DFF8862574270056D605/$File/peoplekenya.jpg)
Religion/Christianity:
Traditionally, the Meru followed persons called "Mugwe" who served as a prophet and spiritual leader. Mugwes still exist today but are said to have only an ornamental purpose. In the days of mission comity agreements, Meru was given to the Methodists. Methodism has therefore become the primary religion of the region. In many cases, church membership is a cultural rather than spiritual matter.
Even within the Methodist Church, three groups are recognized: Christians--all church members, Followers--those members who are "saved", and the Team--those saved members who are into the "deeper life." Most see this division as resulting from the East African Revival movement which started in the early 1930's. Researchers report the Meru to be 45% Christian.
Baptist and Pentecostals have experienced fairly active response in recent years. Much effort is being given to leadership training. Training workers report that one frustrating hindrance to training and church development has been a political power attitude by church leaders.
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Oral Myth: Mbwaa and the Red People
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The predominant oral tradition concerning the Meru's early history is a fantastic fable that seems to combine elements of both truth and fiction.
In brief, it recounts that the Meru were once enslaved by the "Red People". They eventually escaped, and in their exodus came across a large body of water called Mbwaa or Mbwa, which they crossed by magical means. The details of the tradition are replete with parallels to the Old Testament, and also contain references to events described in the New Testament. This has led many to speculate that the Meru are perhaps the descendants of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel, or that they were once Jewish, or had been in profound cultural contact with a people that certainly were (such as the Falashim of Ethiopia).
I've based the following version of the tradition on that recounted in Daniel Nyaga's book, Customs and Traditions of the Meru (1997: East African Educational Publishers, PO Box 45314 Nairobi). Although there are many variants, the basic outline is pretty much the same for all.
The Red People and the Exodus
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According to tradition, the Meru once lived in a state of slavery far away from their present homeland, under a people called antu ba nguu ntuune (or nhuuntune or nguo ntuni, meaning "Red People" or "Red Clothes"). The king of the Red People was powerful and often harsh upon his subjects, but no one knows for sure who the Red people actually were.
If we take 'red' to refer to skin colour, then these people were most likely Arabs, for the Europeans had not yet arrived in East Africa. If 'red' refers to dress, however, then their identity if anyone's guess, especially as the Maasai, Samburu and other Nilotic tribes - who are nowadays known for wearing red - only adopted that tradition a century or so ago.
The place where the Meru were enslaved has also not yet been convincingly located. Some say that it was called Mbwa or Mbwaa (the same name given by other versions of the myth for the body of water the Meru later crossed); others suggest that it may have been Mbwara Matanga on the western peninsula of Manda Island in the Lamu archipelago, off the northeast coast of Kenya; others still posit that it may have been in Yemen or in some other place on the other side of the Red Sea.
Whatever the exact location, this state of bondage lasted until the leader of the Red People started killing all the Meru's male children immediately after birth. But one child, apparently very handsome, escaped this fate, having been kept hidden in the riverside in a basket his mother had made. As a result, the prodigal child became known as Mwithe, the Hidden One.
Mwithe, who also became known as Koomenjwe (Koomenjoe) and Muthurui, grew up to become a very great prophet, and was known as one who had spoken to God. Assisted by another elder called Kauro-Beechau, Mwithe organized a council of wise elders to lead the Meru out of bondage. They went to the leader of the Red People and asked to be set free. The leader agreed, but on condition that an impossible task be successfully performed by the Meru.
This task required them to produce a shoe that had hair on both sides. As shoes were normally made from leather, this took some thinking, until Koomenjwe told the people to cut the dewlap of a bull. Before it was completely severed, it was stitched on the side that had been cut. By the time the bull recovered, the lap had made the shoe that was required. But when they took it to their masters, it was rejected and the Meru were given a second task.
This was to provide a steer (or an ox) that produced diatomite (a very fine chalk). Koomenjwe advised them to feed a calf on milk, and eventually it started passing out white dung. Some versions of the myth have it the other way around: the steer was to produce white dung, and so they fed it on chalk; yet another version replaces the ox with an elephant. Nonetheless, the successful completion of the task was also rejected by the Red People, and they were given a third task to do.
This required them to remove a fruit from a very deep pit, without piercing it or having anyone descend into the pit to pick it up. Koomenjwe advised them to fill the pit with water until it overflowed, and the fruit floated out. Though it succeeded, this test was also rejected.
The next test required them to kill all the elders until their blood flowed like run-off during rains. Koomenjwe advised that the elders be hidden and all old livestock - cows, goats, sheep and donkeys - be killed instead. When that was done their blood was enough to flow as the enemies wanted. But the success of this test was not accepted either.
The fifth test was truly impossible. It required the Meru to forge a spear that could touch both the earth and the sky. The Meru started making it straight away, but it kept breaking. Koomenjwe and the elders, failing to come up with a solution, simply abandoned the whole task of making it, and instead conceived the idea of organizing the people to escape on foot. For this reason, the Meru later on called this spear itumo ria mwito (the spear made for the trek), for it was the impossibility of making it that had given them the idea of the exodus.
In order to have an opportunity to make good their escape, Koomenjwe went to ask the Red People to give them eight days to complete the task. He said the Meru were making charcoal from people's hair because it was the type of charcoal that was required to make the spear. The enemies granted the request.
Koomenjwe organized the first group of old people, because they could not walk fast, and they were grouped together with the older livestock that had remained. The second group was made up of mothers and children, and the third group consisted of young people and young livestock. Keeping the rear were the warriors, well armed and ready for battle. The three groups were, according to some versions, the ancestors of the three main Meru clans from which all other clans descend.
The exodus took place at night. The warriors collected a very big heap of dry dung and animal droppings and set it on fire with all the houses. Meanwhile, Koomenjwe had gone to explain to the masters that the fire they were seeing was being used for making the spear which would be ready by noon the following day. After that, he returned. The following day the enemies waited for the spear, but it was never brought. The Meru had gone.
Mbwaa and the great sacrifice
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During their exodus, the Meru reached a very large body of water which they called Mbwaa (or Mbwa). Here, they suffered a lot (presumably from their pursuers, or possibly from malnourishment), so much so that a sacrifice had to be made to seek answers, as these could be read from entrails. There are two main versions of this sacrifice.
The first has it that the Meru elders went to a prophet called Mugwe for help (whose name later became the word to describe all prophets and leaders). Mugwe asked for three young men to sacrifice themselves. The three who volunteered were named Gaita, Kiuma and Muthetu, after whom the three main Meru clans are named (all other clans stem from these). When the sacrifice had been concluded, Mugwe instructed the people on how to escape successfully. He placed them under the leadership of Koomenjwe to whom he gave a magic stick or spear (gitumo) about three feet long, with which he was to strike the water to make it part.
The second main version of the sacrifice story says that by then, Koomenjwe was called Muthurui, and it was he who came up with a solution. He had carried out his divination by examining the entrails of cows, goats and other animals, but all without success. As he wondered what to do, it dawned on him that the situation could only be saved by examining the entrails of a human being. He said: "Let someone be examined."
The elders asked: "Who is going to be examined?"
Muthurui begged to be given one person from each family so that if a person from one family failed to give an answer, the next one could be examined. Muthurui's brother offered himself and said: "I am ready to be sacrificed."
Muthurui asked: "Who is going to be his mathinjiro?" (slaughtering leaves or an altar).
Another person volunteered and said: "I will be the one."
Again, Muthurui asked: "In case the first person is not accepted by God, who else will be offered?"
Another said: "I am ready."
Then another person volunteered to provide milk for washing the entrails, and another person provided a string with which the volunteer had to be stitched, and yet another person - having conceived the idea that the first person might fear the operation - went to cut sticks to flog him if he did so. When everything was ready, Muthurui operated on his brother, and got the answer he was looking for. Surprisingly enough, Muthurui's brother did not die. He had only his intestines mounted and stitched, and thereafter was called Murorua.
The crossing of the great water
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Following the answer, Koomenjwe/Muthurui struck the water with his magic spear, and it parted. Some flowed to one side and the rest to the other side, forming a wide corridor of dry land in the middle, along which the people went across.
The crossing of the water lasted all night, and took place in the form of several groups or nchienu. Some versions say there were three groups, who were either identified with those men who had been sacrificed, or were identified with the time of the crossing: the first to cross when it was still dark were the Njiru (black); the second crossed just after dawn and were called Ntune (pale or red); and the last to cross at sunrise were the Njaru (white). Other versions say that there were more groups, either five or seven, who were to become the ancestors of the various Meru clans that exist today; still other versions say that these groups had nothing to do with the clans, but that all the Meru were members of one of these groups.
When the last group had crossed, Koomenjwe/Muthurui struck the water again and it came again into one mass, drowning the army of the Red People who had followed them. So it is that the Meru now say that they came from Mbwaa.
The problem for anthropologists and historians alike is put places and dates to these events, which is no easy task given the many variations, fictional elements and elaborations of the myth.
In one version, one of the groups which crossed was the Antu-banthanju. They got to the other side of the water early in the morning, just before sunrise, when the sky was reddish. When this group saw the water they had crossed looking red, they called it Iria Itune: the Red Sea.
Despite the initial excitement of European scholars keen to find confirmation of the literal truth of the Biblical Exodus, it is now generally accepted that the Meru never actually crossed the Red Sea we know now, but that the "Red Sea" mentioned in the myth was most likely Lake Victoria (Nyanza), in the southwest of Kenya. This hasn't been proved beyond doubt, though, and the Manda Island theory remains attractive: according to this, the "Red People" were probably East African coastal Arabs, who had invaded Manda Island around 1700. As this was a time of great expansion for the principalities of the Lamu Archipelago, slaves were needed for cultivation to feed the increasing commercial population, as well as to assist in the menial aspects of the ivory trade. The subsequent flight from enslavement could possibly have been accomplished at low tide across the narrow channel which separates Manda Island from the mainland, whilst a rising tide could have disorganised pursuit.
A third possibility is that the 'Red Sea' was the Tana River in spate. As I've seen with my own eyes, this is for most of the year a relatively small river, but when it floods - as it did in the winter of 1997-98 - the effect is astonishing. Instead of a narrow river, the Tana delta floods huge areas of land to either side of it. As I saw in early 1999, the last floods had left watermarks sometimes five metres up the trunks of trees, below which all leaves and vegetation had died. The colour of the river, too, is red, through carrying so much eroded topsoil, ironically much of it from the present land of the Meru.
Ancient Meroe
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In yet another version of ancient Meru history, this one more academically-inspired than the myth, it has been convincingly argued by Alfred M. M'Imanyara, if not beyond doubt, that the Meru came originally from the ancient Nilotic empire of Meroe (circa 300BC - AD100), which is sometimes referred to as an island, as it was bounded by both the White and Blue Niles, and swamps in the south. The linguistic similarity between the words 'Meru' and 'Meroe' is certainly tempting, as is other linguistic evidence, which - although far from conclusive - does suggest at least that the Meru were at some point in contact with civilisations from further north. Indeed, some Meru elders refer to their early origins as being a place called Misiri, which is identical to the Arab and Berber name for Egypt still used today. The idea that the Meru came from the north is in any case common enough among Meru elders. Whether or not this ties in with Meroe is mere speculation, but it does neatly lead on to the next section, which describes the not-so-neat migrations which followed the crossing of the "Red Sea".
Migrations
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Alas, things do not become any easier for historians following the crossing of the "Red Sea", as it seems that the Meru migrated far and wide in Kenya (and possibly also in Ethiopia, Somalia and maybe Tanzania) before settling in their present location northeast of Mount Kenya, the sacred mountain which the Meru call Keremara (meaning, Mountain of the Splendour).
There are two main versions of their migratory history, each depending on whether one considers the Meru to be originally Bantu or Cushitic (in other words, it's likely the reality was a combination of both these ideas).
'Bantu' migrations
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If one follows the Bantu idea, it is generally assumed that the first Bantu entered Kenya from the southwest, from where they began fanning east and north across Kenya. Their northward expansion was considerable, possibly bringing them as far north as Ethiopia and Somalia. There, the Oromo-speaking peoples' military expansion from around 1300-1500 onwards (there's no consensus on exact dates or even centuries) pushed the Meru back into Kenya, where they eventually settled near Mount Kenya (they are still the northernmost of Kenya's Bantu-speaking groups). The route they followed back down into Kenya may well have brought them to the Indian Ocean coast, where their enslavement by the "Red People" may have taken place. From there, they moved west and inland to their present location.
Alternatively, the "Red People" myth may have taken place much earlier in their history, shortly after the first Bantu immigrants arrived in Kenya, next to Lake Victoria.
'Cushitic' migrations
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This theory is inherently more complex, as no one knows for sure where the Meru actually came from. In any case, 'Cushitic' is a misnomer, as most of these theories have the Meru coming from the region of the Nile, making them Nilotes like the Maasai and Turkana.
Most of these theories posit that the Meru have - for the most part of their history - been moving south, most recently from Ethiopia or Somalia, and before then from the Nile (Sudan) or elsewhere, whether as a remnant of the ancient Meroe civilisation, or from much further north - Egypt, North Africa, or even ancient Israel.
An ex-chief quoted by M'Imanyara says that they came from a place called ruteere rwa Urio, which he equated with Misiri (the Arab and Berber term for Egypt).
Later migrations
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Whichever of these two theories you subscribe to, it's generally accepted that a substantial proportion of the Meru were certainly on the coast at some time in their migrations, and that they were pushed south by the Oromo-speaking peoples' expansion. Here's where things differ yet again. Some say the Meru just veered inland, ending up at their present location. Others, however, say that they continued down the entire Kenyan coastline as far as Tanzania, where they turned inland. There, they split with the Tanzanian Meru west of Mount Kilimanjaro, and slowly made their way back up into Kenya from the south, eventually ending up near Mount Kenya.
Yet another theory more reasonably takes both possibilities into account, and refers to the Oromo having invaded the coast of Kenya in the form of a wedge, thereby splitting the Meru in two.
Meru are an amalgam of several different groups, who after many centuries of being hounded all over the place, and once even enslaved, at some point between 1500 and 1800 found themselves together in the same place, and became one people - the Meru.
Some came from the east, others from the north, and some may already have been there when the other groups arrived. As the "Red People" story sounds so similar to the Old Testament, I'd say that the dominant group of the Meru were at some time in close contact with a Jewish people, such as the Falashim of Ethiopia, where the legend was adapted to fit actual Meru history of enslavement and exodus.
(http://frysingerreunion.org/1/africa/meru04.jpg)
on the road to Meru
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(http://frysingerreunion.org/1/africa/meru03.jpg)
Sugar Cane for Sale
(http://frysingerreunion.org/1/africa/meru02.jpg)
A mosque in which the maternal grandmother of Ali Musani, laid the foundation stone, and the Muslim community in Meru.
(http://frysingerreunion.org/1/africa/meru05.jpg)
A camp in Meru
(http://frysingerreunion.org/1/africa/meru11.jpg)
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Kenya mob burns 15 women to death over witchcraft
May 21, 2008
NYAKEO, Kenya (AFP) — A rampaging mob in western Kenya burnt 15 women accused of witchcraft to death, a local official and villagers told AFP Wednesday.
"This is unacceptable. People must not take the law into their own hands simply because they suspected someone," said Mwangi Ngunyi, the head of Nyamaiya district. "We will hunt the suspects down," he added.
The gang of about 100 people moved from house to house late Tuesday, tied up their victims and set them ablaze, the official said.
Ngunyi added that the mob also torched 50 houses in Nyakeo village, located some 300 kilometres (180 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi.
"I can't believe my wife of many years would be killed so brutally by people who cannot prove their case even before God," said Enoch Obiero, a pastor.
"My mother has always been a role model to the entire village and why the mob had to kill her will remain a mystery to me forever," lamented 32-year-old Emily Monari.
The region, populated mainly by the Kisii tribe, has been dubbed Kenya's "sorcery belt" due to mob attacks on women suspected of witchcraft.
Efforts by the authorities to clamp down on vigilante and mob justice have been unsuccessful.
Dozens of suspected people were killed in western Kenya in the 1990s, amid allegations of sorcery.
Several cases were also reported in recent months in neighbouring Tanzania, forcing President Jakaya Kikwete to order special protection for albino, who were being murdered and mutilated for good luck by with-doctors.
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(http://www.africadreaming.com.au/store/html/images/masks/longcoloured.jpg)
(http://www.africadreaming.com.au/store/html/images/masks/witchdoctor.jpg)
Kenyan Witch Doctor Mask
(http://www.davidwallphoto.com/images/%7BF2AA1494-FA9A-4D72-A85D-D80CB58B437D%7D.JPG)
Kikuyu Traditional (Witch) Doctor
(http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/PF_New%5C142007/PF_2342304.jpg)
Kikuyu Witch Doctor and His Assistant
(http://www.webbpage.co.uk/USERIMAGES/2%20kikuyu%20witch%20doctor.jpg)
Witch Doctor
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http://www.youtube.com/v/D7n9KXLm2H4&hl=en&fs=1
Traditional Tribal Dance
http://www.youtube.com/v/IfMRe39c8zA&hl=en&fs=1
The Maasai Tribe
http://www.youtube.com/v/KbG5FGL_B9A&hl=en&fs=1
Kikuyu Folk Song
http://www.youtube.com/v/ziNe5Z08Woc&hl=en&fs=1
Kenyan Music Festival
http://www.youtube.com/v/Wq40RSPcObc&hl=en&fs=1
Kenyan Children singing
http://www.youtube.com/v/5jXxnr-FzQU&hl=en&fs=1
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I've been researching today and trying to find info on the tribe of my dream. They were a mountain people, definitely a Shaman or two among them. I haven't found anything, but I suspect that may be because Witch Doctors and Shamans are quiet about their practise. I can surely see why since alleged Witches have been murdered in Kenya (and other parts) recently.
Still, I will continue my search, hoping to find some info on this Mysterious Mountain tribe of Shamans. If I don't find them, at least the researching of Kenya and it's people is very rewarding. I especially am drawn to the singing and dancing and the beautiful colours in their dance and dress.
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Very cool dances indeed!
I'm enjoying your thread very much, all around.
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Maasai - Religion and Beliefs
Ngai - God
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Also spelled 'Ngai, En-kai, Enkai, Engai, Eng-ai
The Maasai believe in one God, whom they call Ngai. Ngai is neither male nor female, but seems to have several different aspects. For instance, there is the saying Naamoni aiyai, which means "The She to whom I pray". There are two main manifestations of Ngai: Ngai Narok which is good and benevolent and is black; and Ngai Na-nyokie, which is angry and red, like the British. For a story which has them as separate gods, see Thunder and the Gods.
Ngai is the creator of everything. In the beginning, Ngai (which also means sky) was one with the earth, and owned all the cattle that lived on it. But one day the earth and sky separated, so that Ngai was no longer among men. The cattle, though, needed the material sustenance of grass from the earth, so to prevent them dying Ngai sent down the cattle to the Maasai by means of the aerial roots of the sacred wild fig tree, and told them to look after them.
This they do to this day, quite literally taking the story as an excuse to relieve neighbouring tribes of their own livestock. Any pursuit other than a pastoral one was considered insulting to Ngai and demeaning to them. No Maasai was willing to break the ground, even to bury the dead within it, for soil was sacred on account of its producing grass which fed the cattle which belonged to God... Equally, grass has acquired a semi-sacred aura, and is held in the fist as a sign of peace, and similarly held is used for blessings during rituals, a sheaf of grass being shaken at the people or animals being blessed.
No surprise, then, to find that cattle play an important role in ritual occasions, such as initiation, marriage, and the passage of one age-set to the next, where their sacrifice bridges the gap between man and God. Yet for all the deep significance cattle embody for the Maasai, a stupid person will still be referred to as a cow or a sheep!
Guardian spirits
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At birth, Ngai gives each man a guardian spirit to ward off danger and carry him away at the moment of death. The evil are carried off to a desert, while the good unsurprisingly go to a land of rich pastures and many cattle.
The wild fig tree
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The wild fig tree mentioned in the myth about the origin of cattle (above) is called oreti or oreteti by the Maasai (ficus nalalensis), and apart from its mundane use as the raw material for bark cloth, is not surprisingly given a primary role in ritual. The cosmological significance in the light of the cattle myth is obvious, though its size, shape, sturdiness and long life also epitomise an ideal of life. It is sung about in dances, and invoked in prayers and blessings as a symbol of life.
The Origin of Death
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Ngai created the first warrior, Le-eyo (or Leeyio), and gave him a magic chant to recite over dead children that would bring them back to life and make them immortal. However, in the manner of such fables, Le-eyo did not utter the chant until his own son had died. By then, however, it was too late - because of the selfishness of Le-eyo, death will always have power over men.
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This is more along the lines of what I was looking for and what interests me about Kenyans in general (and Maasai)
Laiboni - diviners, ritual experts and medicine men
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Also spelled loiboni, oloiboni, olaiboni; singular: laibon, loibon, olaibon, etc.
The Laiboni are the ritual and spiritual leaders of Maasai society, whose authority is based on their mystical as well as medicinal/healing powers. They are aided in their tasks by age-group leaders called olaiguenani, who are chosen before circumcision to lead their age-group until old age.
There is usually only one Laibon per clan. Their role is multiple: to officiate and direct ceremonies and sacrifices, to heal people of both physical and/or mental or spiritual ailments, and to provide advice to elders on the spiritual aspects of community matters. They are also prophets, shamans and seers, and are the ones -with help from the elders - who name the successive age-sets, and open and close the various ceremonies of age-set transitions. The post of Laibon is confined to only one family in the Nkidong'i location and is inherited.
They have no political power, although the British installed a number of them as quasi-paramount chiefs during the colonial period, whose rivalries ensured that the British would always remain in control. A Laibon also command a lot of power depending on his personality and, of course, efficacy. This was the case with Mbatiany (Batian, whom Mount Kenya's highest peak is named after), who managed to command many Maasai sections at the time of the British colonisation.
The main function of the Laiboni, like those of sacrifices, is essentially to bridge the gap between man and God (or "the other world"), though a Laibon's influence is generally limited to 'reading' the mind or the intentions of God through divination, for example by reading stones thrown from a cow's horn. The Laiboni in this capacity are especially consulted whenever misfortune arises, be it the failure of rains, disease epidemics or military losses.
They are also healers, deeply experienced in the medicinal properties of the plants which grow in their environment, and whose leaves, roots or bark can be used to treat a wide variety of ailments (the word for tree, olchani, plural ilkeek, is the same as the word for medicine). According to popular myth, it was the folk of the forest who taught the Maasai the medicinal uses of various plants - whose descendants might well be the Ndorobo and other surviving groups of hunter-gatherers today.
The conditions treated in this way range from headaches, stomach worms and other stomach ailments, to colds, venereal diseases, barrenness, chest complaints, malaria, cuts and bruises, eye diseases, and many other conditions. Noteworthy, too, is the fact that long before western medicine was introduced, the Maasai used to inoculate people against the deadly small-pox virus (entidiyai) by making scratches in the person's forearm in which a small amount of pus from a dying patient was smeared.
Even today, the role of the laiboni is still very important, being so deeply entrenched in the social life of the people to the extent that physical ailments that cannot be treated by a traditional physician are taken to the diviner. As a people known for not having forgotten the past, the Maasai Laiboni have in recent years also earned a reputation as being the best healers in Tanzania, dispensing herbal remedies to treat physical ailments, and ritual treatments to absolve social and moral transgressions. So-called Laiboni can also be found peddling their knowledge and herbs in towns and cities throughout Kenya, admittedly alongside very many imposters - it's a lucrative business, especially in the AIDS era.
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the word for tree, olchani, plural ilkeek, is the same as the word for medicine .
;D
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These people, the Rendille seem to most closely fit the description of my Dream tribe. The only inconsistency I can find is that they are not Mountain dewllers. But who knows for sure? Perhaps a small group do live in the Mountains.
The Rendille lead a peaceful nomadic life in north central Kenya. They cling to a nomadic life of herding camels, goats and cattle. Harassed
constantly by the more powerful groups of Oromo and Turkana, these people lead an extremely harsh existence. Some sources also report problems
with the Somali, but the Somali have had a relatively benevolent view of eh Rendille as distant relatives.
History: Before 1500, the ancestors of the Rendille were part of the same people and speaking the same "Somaloid" or Proto-Somali language with
the ancestors of the Somali, Sakuye and Gabbra people. This people were already organized round a complex camel culture at that time. This
included an extensive ritual calendar, based on dual lunar and solar calendars involving ceremonies for the well-being of camels and humans.
The 16th century Oromo expansion brought great disruption to these Somaloid peoples causing migrations south and westward from their southern
Ethiopia and Somalia homes. These peoples were further separated when some groups of them developed ritual kinship arrangements with Oromo
(Borana) peoples for protection. The Rendille were the southernmost of these Somaloid peoples and maintained their own culture and language more
intact.
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/rendi2002jpg/spsunset03.jpg)
The Rendille--A story of nomads in Northern Kenya arid land
Located in north-central Kenya. The area of the Rendille is between 15000 to 37000 square Km of arid, infertile low lands. Bushland and semi-desert grassland covered more than 80% of this area.
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/rendi2002jpg/rendiland03.jpg)
The Rendille form settlements and livestock herding camps as a "set" to maintain both social and economic activities with a ruling principle of clanship. Married men with their wives and infants mainly live in settlements. A settlement is a big circle consisting of several families's huts. Inside the settlement a central circle is always constructed for ritual events. Only married men are permitted to enter this central circle.
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/settle01.jpg)
Camel is recognized as the most important livestock species by the Rendille for its remarkable ability to thrive in this arid lowland. Normally the Rendille form a large camel camp consisting of all herds from the same clan or subclan. The camp is managed by warriors, and daytime herding tasks are carried out by young boys. Women are restricted to stay in the camel camp. Milk mixed with blood (called "Banjo" in Rendille) is the only reliable food.
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/camp03.jpg)
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/rendi2002jpg/spkoralle02.jpg)
Although there are two wet seasons in the RendilleLand (one from March to May, another in November), the annual rainfall is less than 200mm and unpredictable. However, when the rains do come, we can see the tremendous power of life release.
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/flower19.jpg)
Warriors and Dance
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/dance05.jpg)
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/dance01.jpg)
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/dance03.jpg)
The Rendille are the real survivors of the harsh natural environment because of their knowledges and experiences and their courage and confidence.
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/sunhphoto/girl03.jpg)
(http://www.africa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~sun/rendi2002jpg/spgirl19.jpg)
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This is a headrest from the Rendille people. These were carved from the branches or roots of trees and are about 6 to 9 inches long.
(http://www.randafricanart.com/images/Rendile_headrest_Kenya_306_03.jpg)
Headrests are used by many nomadic people of Eastern Africa while resting or sleeping. It is popularly believed that the headrest serves a
protective function by elevating the head off the ground during sleep, thereby preventing any possible attack by snakes or scorpions.
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In all the research I've been doing over the last couple of days, I've seen that Kenya has hit some hard times. There's been political strife and religious issues which sometimes divide the people. But I think what I admire most about the people of this country is their connection to the land and it's animals and also a sense of community and love and music and song and dance. All these things which keep a spirit strong and make a soul want to sing!
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The Kaya Forests
Along the southern coast of Kenya, the sacred kaya forests of the Mijikenda tribes are a living legacy of the people’s history, culture and religion. For centuries, these once-extensive lowland forests shielded the homesteads, called “kaya,” of the Mijikenda from invading tribes and served as burial grounds and places of sacred ritual and prayer.
Social taboos prohibited the cutting and removal of trees and other forest vegetation for all but a few select purposes. Because of the forests’ protected status, they became repositories of biodiversity, harboring many rare species of plants and animals. Although the Mijikenda eventually moved out of their original settlements, the forests have continued to serve as ceremonial centers and burial grounds. However, in recent decades the kaya forests have been shrinking in number and size. An expanding tourism industry, industrial demands for natural resources, and a growing population in need of farm land are claiming kaya forest land. Diminished respect for traditional values, spurred by poverty, has also taken a toll.
Fortunately, the kaya forests and the Mijikenda people are aided by a collaboration of government and nongovernmental agencies, which have recognized the threats to the forests and the importance of protecting them to ensure the future of their cultural and biological treasures. Nevertheless, challenges persist in the struggle for kaya preservation.
Abdalla Boga, a member of the Kaya Diani elders’ group, one of many that has suffered serious threats from land developers, said, “I spend sleepless nights when I imagine that this kaya will one day disappear due to (the activities of) greedy human beings, and that we shall have nothing to show our future generations.”
:-[
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The kaya forests are the domain of the nine Mijikenda tribes: the Giriama, Digo, Duruma, Rabai, Kauma, Ribe, Jibana, Kambe, and Chonyi. Although culturally and linguistically distinct, the tribes trace their history to a common forced migration from southern Somalia. According to oral history, they began settling in the hills and plains of the Kenyan coast at least three centuries ago to escape the marauding tribes that had driven them from their former settlements.
In order to protect themselves, the Mijikenda built their homesteads in clearings within thick belts of forest. The entire community lived within the central clearing, which was accessible only by a few guarded paths through the forest. A protective talisman called a fingo, which represented the community’s identity and history, was buried at a secret spot within the kaya clearing. Burial sites were located within the surrounding forest, and shrines often honored the graves of great leaders.
Ancient trees and other unique landforms also held ritual importance. Social taboos, enforced by the kaya elders, regulated activities that could damage the kaya forests and sacred places. Cutting trees, grazing livestock, and collecting or removing other forest material was strictly forbidden. Villagers stayed on traditional paths to avoid disturbing vegetation and secret sites. The only permitted activities were the collection of medicinal plants and the use of forest materials to build ritual structures. A code of behavior, emphasizing decorum, respect and self-restraint, also protected the forest. Those who broke the rules typically paid a fine of livestock or fowl, which was then sacrificed to placate the offended spirit. Illness and other community misfortunes often were attributed to an unconfessed offense.
In the 19th century, as external threats diminished and populations grew, the Mijikenda groups began to establish new settlements outside the kaya forests. Surrounding areas were increasingly cleared for farming and livestock grazing, but tribal elders continued to live at the old settlement sites and care for the kaya forests. Thus, the kayas and surrounding patches of forest were preserved and continue to be used as ceremonial sites, burial grounds and places of prayer, as well as a source for medicinal plants.
Today many kaya forests are still the focal points of existing communities, and taboos often remain a powerful force in restricting access and regulating conduct. Because they have been protected over many generations, kaya forests are rich in biodiversity and high in conservation value. More than half of Kenya’s rare plants grow in the coastal region; most have been identified within the kaya forests, which comprise about 10 percent of Kenya’s coastal forest, and some are found only in the kayas. The forests also harbor rare and endemic species of birds, reptiles and insects. To date, surveyors, working with local communities, have identified more than 50 kaya forest patches in the coastal districts of Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi and Malindi. Kaya forests range in size from approximately 20 to 2000 acres.
The Mijikenda Kaya Forests consist of 11 separate forest sites spread over some 200 km along the coast containing the remains of numerous fortified villages, known as kayas, of the Mijikenda people. The kayas, created as of the 16th century but abandoned by the 1940s, are now regarded as the abodes of ancestors and are revered as sacred sites and, as such, are maintained as by councils of elders. The site is inscribed as bearing unique testimony to a cultural tradition and for its direct link to a living tradition.
Spread out along around 200km of the coast province of Kenya are ten separate forested sites, mostly on low hills, ranging in size from 30 to around 300 ha, in which are the remains of fortified villages, Kayas, of the Mijikenda people. They represent more than thirty surviving Kayas.
The Kayas began to fall out of use in the early 20th century and are now revered as the repositories of spiritual beliefs of the Mijikenda people and are seen as the sacred abode of their ancestors.
The forest around the Kayas have been nurtured by the Mijikenda community to protect the sacred graves and groves and are now almost the only remains of the once extensive coastal lowland forest.
Criterion (iii): The Kayas provide focal points for Mijikenda religious beliefs and practices, are regarded as the ancestral homes of the different Mijikenda peoples, and are held to be sacred places. As such they have metonymic significance to Mijikenda and are a fundamental source of Mijikenda’s sense of ‘being-in-the-world’ and of place within the cultural landscape of contemporary Kenya. They are seen as a defining characteristic of Mijikenda identity.
Criterion (v): Since their abandonment as preferred places of settlement, Kayas have been transferred from the domestic aspect of the Mijikenda landscape to its spiritual sphere. As part of this process, certain restrictions were placed on access and the utilisation of natural forest resources. As a direct consequence of this, the biodiversity of the Kayas and forests surrounding them has been sustained. The Kayas are under threat both externally and from within Mijikenda society through the decline of traditional knowledge and respect for practices.
Criterion (vi): The Kayas are now the repositories of spiritual beliefs of the Mijikenda and are seen as the sacred abode of their ancestors. As a collection of sites spread over a large area, they are associated with beliefs of local and national significance, and possibly regional significance as the sites extend beyond the boundaries of Kenya.
The Kayas demonstrate authenticity but aspects associated with traditional practices are highly vulnerable. The integrity of the Kayas relates to the intactness of their forest surroundings which has been compromised for Kaya Kinondo.
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The Kaya Forests
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/189/480591942_6d89ea0b24.jpg?v=0)
(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/461716720_4c6e8e6274.jpg?v=0)
(http://www.sacredland.org/images/Kaya_Forests.jpg)
(http://blog.hotelclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/the-mijikenda-kaya-forests.jpg)
(http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/sites/site_1259.jpg)
(http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/sites/site_1231.jpg)
(http://www.eastandard.net/images/thursday/nh_140808_02.jpg)
Kaya Elder Pekeshe Ndeje
Published on 14/08/2008
By Patrick Beja
There are cheers in Coast Province following the elevation of the Kaya Forests to world heritage status.
The forests were last month included in the list of renowned heritage sites. Located on the Coastal plains, they are a living legacy of the people�s history, culture and religion.
Because of the forests� protected status, they are repositories of biodiversity, and a home to rare species of plants and animals.
Prayers in forests
One of the Kaya Forests in Kindondo.
Mr Ali Abdalla Mnyenze, 75, has been a leader of the Mijikenda Kayas for 20 years and has led prayers in the sacred forests.
"We have conserved the forests for worship and we really value their existence," he says.
Prayers are said at the central part of the forests where the "portent and most revered charm" locally known as �fingo� is planted.
Strangers are not allowed to the sacred site where all worshippers must speak the local language. Mr Pekeshe Ndeje, also a Kaya elder, says conservation of forests is at the centre of the Kaya institution, which covers Mijikenda homeland of lower Coast Province
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Beautiful forests!
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Mount Kenya
Although it straddles the equator, Mount Kenya is usually capped with ice and snow. At 17,058 feet, it is Africa’s second-highest mountain; glaciers nest in its ragged peaks, forests blanket its slopes. This ancient extinct volcano, which rises in the center of the country that shares its name, has long been a wonder to all who beheld its icy peaks gleaming with sunlight. To the local African communities who live under it, Mount Kenya is not just an awesome sight but god’s earthly home. It is a holy place, a cultural symbol and a source of livelihood. But Kenya’s growing population and the poverty they endure is placing tremendous pressure on the mountain and its wealth of resources. Global warming may also be melting the famous glaciers. It will take the cooperative effort of local communities, the national government and international agencies to sustain this sacred mountain and its culture. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president, described the importance of the mountain to the local communities, saying that it “supplies their material needs and enables them to perform their magic and traditional ceremonies in undisturbed serenity, facing Mount Kenya.”
(http://www.claytor.com/photographs/images/picMountKenyaSummit.jpg)
(http://www.mountainmadness.com/images/expeditions/africa/Twin-summits-of-Mount-Kenya.jpg)
(http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/Content/mt-kenya-north-face-663454-ga.jpg)
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I believe this is what I have been searching for. Mountain witches of old. Looks like a fascinating book, I'll share parts that I can.
(http://www.escholarship.org/editions/data/13030/4c/ft8199p24c/figures/ft8199p24c_cover.jpg)
Whatever this book contains is the result of the knowledge shared with me by the men of Meru, old and young. My thanks and thoughts go out to them, for their wisdom:
To Fabian Njage, Simon P. K. Bengi, Franklin Mugambe, Gerrard Kithinji, and a dozen others, all young men in their early twenties when I began my research in 1969. Their total dedication to the Meru people led to the recovery of this portion of their past.
To M'Thaara M'Mutani, Matiri wa Kirongoro, Hezikiah M'Mukiri, M'Muraa wa Kairanyi, Gituuru wa Gikamata, and more than one hundred others, all men of the Miriti, Murungi, and Kiramana age-sets and thus in their seventies, eighties, and nineties when I collected this data. Their willingness to pass on their wisdom to a stranger will have preserved it for Meru generations yet to come.
To William Henry Laughton, Hugo E. Lambert, Dr. Howard Brassington, Father Bernard Bernardi, Rev. Dr. Clive Irvine, Father B. Airaldi, Capt. Victor McKeag, and J. Gerald H. Hopkins, K. K. Sillitoe, and several others, all of whom had served in Meru long before I began my work there. Their love of this region and its people also makes them "men of Meru."
Men of Meru, thank you for what you have given me. I salute your past.
(http://www.escholarship.org/editions/data/13030/4c/ft8199p24c/figures/ft8199p24c_00004.gif)
Their narrations touched on every aspect of their tribal past. The most historically significant traditions, however, are those that deal with the system Meru speakers call Urogi, which English speakers translate as witchcraft . The system has existed for more than three hundred years. It is composed of continuously evolving tools—verbal formulae (curses, incantations), physical acts (rituals), and herbal, mineral, and animal compounds (potions, medicines)—that are used to invoke specific supernatural powers. The words, actions, or compounds themselves, not the person using them, have the power. Nonetheless, from the perspective of observers, successful users are cloaked in an aura of both respect and fear.
From a historian's perspective the witchcraft traditions provide unexpected windows into the Meru past, windows that permit analysis of smaller segments of the social structure. The Meru have never functioned as a single social unit. Throughout their history smaller segments within the body politic have competed constantly with one another. Often, these segments differentiated themselves from competitors by developing their own specific rituals (incantations, rites, potions). These were intended primarily to invoke a response from the supernatural, but secondarily they were used against rival groups. Thus in the 1700s mainstream Meru cultivators contended with Meru hunter-gatherers while migrating. In the 1800s descendants of both groups competed for the exclusive use of land. In the 1900s their descendants competed, in turn, against one another and the newly arrived British colonialists. In all cases the weapons of choice were invocations, potions, and related ritual. Thus can witchcraft become history.
The Urogi traditions are not quasi-fiction. Their narrators spoke in such detail as only actual practitioners (or their victims) could. The hunting magic of "bite" and "blow," the chanted, clanging curse that tribal smiths banged out on iron, the witchman's curse to stop one's breath: these details did not originate in their imaginations but had been taught them by their grandfathers and practiced throughout their lives. To the people of Meru, the "witchman," "witch doctor," "witch finder," and other supernatural practitioners were real. They were men, now very old, with whom one could visit and from whom one could learn.
http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft8199p24c;brand=eschol
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Ritualized "Cleansing": The System Dissolves
The Meru responded to the destruction of their witchcraft system in several ways. One was an increasing willingness to accept European forms of healing. The shift was perhaps most dramatically illustrated in Igembe, where the United Methodist Mission had commissioned Dr. Brassington to construct a medical facility. Earlier reaction to the clinic had been a universal boycott, explained by those willing to discuss it as an unwillingness to enter an area where "curses [here, illnesses] are collected and people come to die." After the enforced removal of Igembe ritualists, however, much of this aversion disappeared. Nonetheless, those who did reach out for Western healing approached in desperation, and the "anxiety of the elderly over [the loss of] their former Aga [here, healers] was often pathetic to behold."[30]
Cleansing rituals were clearly rooted in Meru tradition. Even before the conquest those accused of sorcery, adultery, or repetitive theft were almost always allowed to recant, taking a cleansing oath to proclaim that any return to antisocial practices would result in their death. Oaths varied from region to region, but followed a similar pattern. The most common was that used by Mbogore: accused individuals consumed the raw liver (in other areas, the heart) of a slaughtered goat while chanting oaths declaring that further practice of the supernatural would lead the oath itself to kill them.
Neither Hopkins nor his Meru advisors saw any reason why the oath could not be modified to meet a modern need. The rituals that subsequently developed adhered closely to the Meru way, deviating only rarely because because of British sensibilities. After 1929, persons accused of witchcraft, including those released from their imprisonment, would walk with a committee of elders chosen by the administration to the edge of a river. There, each slaughtered a goat, drawn from their own herds, removed the liver, then held it high for inspection by ancestral spirits. The consumption of raw meat had been eliminated from the ritual at Hopkins's order. Instead, the liver was cast into the flowing waters, accompanied by an appropriately worded sequence of oaths.
Symbolically, each man thereby cast away his capacity to practice sorcery. The oaths, however, were also modified to preserve the most respected aspects of the witchcraft system. No oath forced those recently jailed to admit prior guilt. Nor did they prevent anyone from healing. Rather the oaths were rephrased to reaffirm the elder's declaration of innocence in the past, which allowed the practice of "innocent" rites in the future: "If I practice sorcery [in the future], let this oath kill me. If I curse [someone in the future], let this oath kill me. If I harm [someone in the future], let this oath kill me," and so on.[31]
Elders throughout Meru embraced the restoration of a cleansing oath with enthusiasm. Over time these basic versions were extended to include whatever social deviations tended to reappear (e.g., "if I ask for cows, let this oath kill me"), until every action formerly associated with the fringe societies had publicly been cast away.
Thus by the early 1930s, practitioners of the more beneficial aspects of Meru magic—such as the healers, the diviners, and the foretellers—returned unobtrusively to their work, always to the relief of elders in their communities. In theory the shadowy figure of the sorcerer returned as well, for "good" ritualists of every type still proved eager to accuse their competitors of practicing "bad" magic whenever conflicts emerged or individuals fell ill. Having thus identified the cause, they felt free to combat it in traditional fashion.
The same was not true, however, for the A-Athi, the Kagita, and the smaller fringe societies. Their songs, feasts, dances, chants, and drumming, as well as the entire complex of supernatural rites that gave them meaning, were finally dissolved, remaining only in the memories of their aging former members. Hopkins, writing in 1932, could thus declare with considerable accuracy: "The campaign against both the Aathi and Kagitha secret societies was carried out by me personally . . . as Mr. Lamb's assistant in 1928. Neither society is now active. Witchcraft has ceased."[32]
Meru informants, however, add more to the story of the fringe groups' demise. "The Kagita [or, Aathi, Mwaa, Wathua, and so on] stopped," the elders declare, "because people feared whites more than they loved feasting." Members of every group were long aware that whites were not affected by their curses. They were increasingly concerned at the spreading belief among imitation whites (Kamuchunku) that working for the British or professing their religion might also render them immune.
Fringe group members were also increasingly aware of the demonstrable effectiveness of Western forms of healing. This proved particularly true in Imenti and Mwimbi (still administered from neighboring Embu), where enthusiastic and aggressive Protestant missionaries also proved highly competent medical practitioners. Perhaps the most striking example can be found in Mwimbi, where Rev. Clive Irvine, the founder of that branch of the Church of Scotland Mission in 1923, soon perceived himself as locked in battle against what he considered the quackery of local witch doctors.
Irvine began by systematically acquainting himself with the areas of healing in which ritualists specialized.[33] Discovering, for example, that the "witch doctors of Kagita" were known to cure diseases of the feet, he actively solicited people with foot and leg problems to approach him for treatment, usually with great success. Each cure shook both the medical monopoly of the Kagita healers and the collective confidence of those who had heretofore been forced to seek its aid. To them Irvine proved a welcome alternative. As his influence grew, tolerance of his fringe competitors decreased in relative proportion.
Missionaries had also struck at the fringe societies in other ways. Their Victorian morality placed them squarely alongside Meru tradition in condemning drunkenness, dancing in darkness, and, certainly, illicit copulation. To most Europeans of that era those activities were objectionable for Africans of any age. Among the Meru they were only forbidden to youths, warriors, and family heads, who were perceived as encroaching on prerogatives (such as beer drinking) explicitly reserved for ruling elders.
Thus by the 1930s, men of the former fringe societies were trapped between two fires. On one side, rising numbers of Christian converts actively opposed their restoration. On the other, Meru's traditionalists no longer sanctioned their actions as permitted deviations from an ancestral norm. Behind them both stood the government, personified in Hopkins, prepared to reach out and imprison anyone who dared restore that portion of the past.
It was thus the change in Meru's social climate that ultimately destroyed its fringes. The unprecedented sequence of physical arrests, public trials, and subsequent imprisonment was shattering, but the shift in public tolerance was the final blow. The change was partially based on fear. What had always been perceived as minor social deviation was now redefined as serious transgression. What had once been punished by the whack of a warrior's spear and the command to disburse was now cause for arrest and imprisonment. What could once be protected by wooden sticks and creeping vines was now an invitation to destruction by a mob.
Under such circumstances, permitted social deviations became private affairs. The earlier practice of assembling at dusk to feast, drink, drum, chant, and dance "in Kiama" was gone. Over time everything the fringe societies espoused was held up to public scorn. Youngsters, now enmeshed in mission schools, were taught to belittle many of their own traditions, and none more fiercely than those once tolerated as permitted deviations. Thus meat feasts, beer drinking, nocturnal dancing, traditional drumming, and "pagan" songs were increasingly associated with sorcery and held up to the rising generation to scorn as things of a "primitive" past.
Unable to refute or even reply to these charges, former members of the fringe societies retreated into silence, many denying they had ever joined such groups or even that they had existed. Today, memories of their existence have all but disappeared, remaining only in the tales—often obliquely told—of the men of the oldest living age-set. When these men die, the rites, oaths, songs, riddles, and laughter of which the fringe groups were composed will pass away as well, and with them yet another priceless portion of the Meru past.
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Im gonna move these posts over here cause fits better I didnt know Lori had a Kenya thread and remove them off the Bon thread:
Another thing I should add, found this article when I read that - but the christian missionaries - while some are good if they just 'gave' less trying to convert and proselytize - unfortunately they only worsen the problem, create 'more' superstition and duality - if Buddhists went to africa (im sure some do), then perhaps we'd see less of this stupid crap. ive spoken with christian missionaries whove been to africa many times trying to rid them of 'witchcraft' and their ways are unfortunately, far different than when the buddhists went to tibet. (though certainly was conflict but not to the level of the christian missionaries in africa). Unfortunaly some of their damage only fuels others to cause them to be 'more superstitious' than less and creates more of the witchhunting spirit.
In this country, you cannot burn a witch and all that shit - but in africa - its allowed
Sarah Palin Linked Her Electoral Success to Prayer of Kenyan Witch Hunter
http://www.alternet.org/election08/99118/sarah_palin_linked_her_electoral_success_to_prayer_of_kenyan_witch_hunter/
By Hannah Strange, The Times of London UK. Posted September 18, 2008.
The pastor who accused a Kenyan woman of causing car accidents through demonic spells "laid his hands" on Palin in prayer.
The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witch hunt against a Kenyan woman whom he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.
At a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8 this year, Palin described how Thomas Muthee had laid his hands on her when he visited the church as a guest preacher in late 2005, prior to her successful gubernatorial bid.
In video footage of the speech, she is seen saying: "As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he's so bold. And he was praying "Lord make a way, Lord make a way."
"And I'm thinking, this guy's really bold, he doesn't even know what I'm going to do, he doesn't know what my plans are. And he's praying not "Oh Lord, if it be your will may she become governor," no, he just prayed for it. He said, "Lord make a way and let her do this next step. And that's exactly what happened."
She then adds: "So, again, very, very powerful, coming from this church," before the presiding pastor comments on the "prophetic power" of the event.
An African evangelist, Muthee has given guest sermons at the Wasilla Assembly of God on at least 10 occasions in his role as the founder of the Word of Faith Church, also known as the Prayer Cave.
Muthee founded the Prayer Cave in 1989 in Kiambu, Kenya, after "God spoke" to him and his late wife, Margaret, and called him to the country, according to the church's Web site.
The pastor speaks of his offensive against a demonic presence in the town in a trailer for the evangelical video "Transformations," made by Sentinel Group, a Christian research and information agency.
"We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place," Muthee says.
After the spirit was broken, the crime rate dropped to almost zero and there was "explosive church growth" while almost every bar in the town closed down, the video says.
The full "Transformations" video featuring Muthee's story has recently been removed from YouTube, but the rest of the story is detailed in a 1999 article in the Christian Science Monitor, as well as on numerous evangelical Web sites.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, six months of fervent prayer and research identified the source of the witchcraft as a local woman called Mama Jane, who ran a "divination" center called the Emmanuel Clinic.
Her alleged involvement in fortune-telling and the fact that she lived near the site of a number of fatal car accidents led Muthee to publicly declare her a witch responsible for the town's ills and order her to offer her up her soul for salvation or leave Kiambu.
Says the Monitor, "Muthee held a crusade that 'brought about 200 people to Christ.'" They set up around-the-clock prayer intercession in the basement of a grocery store and eventually, says the pastor, "the demonic influence -- the 'principality' over Kiambu -- was broken," and Mama Jane fled the town.
According to accounts of the witch hunt that circulated on evangelical Web sites such as Prayer Links Ministries, after Muthee declared Mama Jane a witch, the townspeople became suspicious and began to turn on her, demanding that she be stoned. Public outrage eventually led the police to raid her home, where they fired gunshots, killing a pet python they believed to be a demon.
After Mama Jane was questioned by police -- and released -- she decided it was time to leave town, the account says.
Muthee has frequently referred to this witch hunt in his sermons as an example of the power of "spiritual warfare." In October 2005, he delivered 10 sermons at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the audio of which was available on the church's Web site until it was removed around the time Palin's candidacy was announced. The blog Irregular Times has listings and screen grabs of the sermons.
It was during these sermons that Palin, who was then preparing for her gubernatorial run, was anointed by Muthee. His intercession, she says, was "awesome."
Her June 8 speech was to mark the graduation of students from the Wasilla Assembly of God's Masters' Commission, which, as Pastor Ed Kalins explains, believes Alaska will be the refuge for American evangelicals upon the coming "End of Days." After her speech, Palin was presented with an honorary Masters' Commission diploma.
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This is mama jane. If anyone cant see this woman's spirit dont know what to say.
Of course, there can be abuses in sorcery, in africa - but still, plenty of good who work in spirit. But christians cause of their devil and so forth, only worsen things.
A Buddhist would never 'kill' a python. Might stun one with electricity tho, lol:
(http://www.womensenews.org/images/ci/Njengu-3773.jpg)
Kenyan Who Blessed Palin Chases Witches at Home
Run Date: 10/12/08
By Zoe Alsop
Sarah Palin's Kenyan pastor has made a name crusading against witches and particularly cherishes his victory over Mama Jane Njenga, whom he claims to have run out of his town. But Mama Jane is still there, in her own church just down the road.
Mama Jane Njengu
KIAMBU, Kenya (WOMENSENEWS)--Back in 2005, when Sarah Palin was mayor of the tiny Alaskan town of Wasilla, nobody made much of a visit from a Pentecostal pastor by the name of Bishop Thomas Muthee from the somewhat larger Kenyan town of Kiambu.
Scores of African men and women of the cloth routinely travel to the better heeled nations of the world, bringing along the credibility of a continent of congregations that have had their share of brushes with war, famine and disease on a biblical scale. U.S. churchgoers hear how righteousness might prevail against the starkest of evils in faraway Africa. They might even be inspired to make a donation to support a pastor's work there.
It was one of these ecclesiastical visits that brought Muthee to speak at the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005, when he asked God to protect Palin "from every form of witchcraft." He was speaking as a man who had already made his name around the world as a champion fighter of witches.
Palin was then a candidate for governor, but it wasn't until she rocketed to prominence as the Republican vice presidential nominee that the bishop's protective prayers drew public notice. Videos of the blessing circulated on the Web while critics compared Muthee's brand of religion to the fiery sermons about race from Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former minister of Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama who became a political liability.
In June, before she joined the national race, Palin credited Muthee's blessing with her election victory while addressing her congregation. "He said, 'Lord, make a way and let her do this next step,'" she said. "And that's exactly what happened."
Saved Town From Mama Jane
In a video produced in 1999 by the Sentinel Group, a Christian research and information agency based in Lynnwood, Wash., the Kenyan pastor relates the story of how, in 1989, he saved the city of Kiambu from the clutches of crime, car accidents, speakeasies and even late-night discos by driving a particularly formidable witch called Mama Jane out of town.
"We have not had a single accident since," Muthee said in one widely published sermon. "In fact, since that woman moved out of Kiambu, the entire atmosphere has changed. Whereas people used to be afraid to go out at night, now we enjoy one of the lowest crime rates in Kenya."
Muthee claimed that police rescued Mama Jane from a lynch mob at the time, and then whisked her away for good after gunning down a pet python they mistook for a demon.
But some residents of Kiambu were somewhat skeptical of Muthee's claims.
Not least among them is the herbalist Jane W. Njenga, a pastor with the African Mission of Holy Ghost Church, who is best known as Mama Jane.
She says she didn't own a pet python and she's never left her compound, located about a half-mile from Muthee's immense new church. Last week Women's eNews spoke to her there, next door to the Superkid Solid Foundation Faith in Every Footstep daycare center just off Kiambu's main street.
"If I am bad, why haven't people attacked me?" Njenga says, in the first interview she has given to the media. "Why haven't they burnt this building down? That is what people here do to witches."
Eleven elderly Kenyans, mostly women, were burned to death in May after locals accused them of being witches. Thirty houses were also torched. Witchcraft is often blamed here for personal misfortunes, including the death of a child, HIV-AIDS and even crimes like cattle rustling, rape and murder.
Awakenings in a Growing Town
Located amid some of the finest farmland in all East Africa, Kiambu, once the site of grim colonial work camps, is now jammed with young rural migrants in search of urban dreams. They rent rooms and compete for jobs as security guards, teachers or civil servants in the neighboring cities of Nairobi and Thika.
Amidst the influx more than 500 churches have sprung up, provoking some skepticism as to their altruism among longtime residents.
"If you want to get rich very fast, just start a church," says Jane Karande, a 46-year-old community health worker who was born here.
Mama Jane Njengu at her church in Kiambu.
Karande admits car accidents have dropped since 1989, but, like many, she attributes that more to paving the main road and adding speed bumps than to Bishop Muthee's arrival on the scene. In the 20 years Karande has spent volunteering to distribute HIV-AIDS medicines and setting up centers for orphans and at-risk children, she hasn't gotten much help from clergy.
"We don't have any support from churches," she says. "Except maybe the Catholics."
Behind a marketplace full of women selling potatoes, tomatoes, spinach and maize off of burlap mats, an administrator at the freshly built offices of Muthee's Word of Faith Church explains that the bishop is in the United States, though he won't say where.
Across the street workmen heft cinder blocks high onto the walls of the church, which will seat 4,000 people when it's completed.
On the other side of main street Mama Jane Njenga's premises have a rundown feel. Scattered about the pocked lot outside Njenga's modest office are a stained bathtub, a caved-in outhouse, two haphazard strings of laundry, an old well with a rusted crank, a few shy schoolchildren and a church only slightly bigger than a tool shed.
"The only miracle Muthee has done is to chase away Mama Jane," she says with a booming laugh. Robust and topping six feet in the trademark shiny white robes of her church, Njenga is undeniably still in town.
Photos Bear Witness on the Wall
Njenga points to old photographs along the wall of all the people she says she has healed. In one of them, she cradles a newborn baby in each arm.
"The mother was barren until she came to me," says Njenga, who never had any children of her own, though she raised many.
Angela Wambui, 34, is one of them.
"She has so many adopted children, she educated us, fed us," Wambui says. "There are over 30 or 40 orphans, so many, even now there are some who are still there."
Another, a mechanic in Kiambu, has even worked on Muthee's car, Njenga says.
At a tailoring shop a couple miles from the center of town, Agnes Muchaba, a member of Muthee's congregation, says that not all of Njenga's children came willingly. More than 20 years ago, she says, Njenga promised to cure Muchaba's brother-in-law of mental illness in exchange for his first-born child.
Four years after the child was taken to Njenga, the man's condition continued to deteriorate, and the family finally brought the child home.
"Since Bishop Muthee came, the powers of Jane diminished," Muchaba says. "He talked about Jane openly, saying she was a witch."
Njenga denies she ever took a child as payment. But she does remember being called a witch.
"When Muthee came, he took a loudspeaker into the street and he told people to pray for seven days that I would die," Njenga says. "If I was not known in the town, I could not have survived even to put my children through school."
Zoe Alsop is a freelance writer based in Kenya.
Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
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http://www.youtube.com/v/S62Z37bIZHk&hl=en&fs=1
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
http://www.youtube.com/v/BmYb6lVKTEk&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/33h_h7mtoN0&hl=en&fs=1
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And of course - as all things are never a coincidence - the odd irony that Palin's minister attacked a Kenyan woman, and Obama's roots in Kenya:
His grandmother from Kenya, where his father grew up - his father is buried in her back yard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UreJZMY_2IY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MLKH7__IEo
His Kenya village of his family:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TldmoSfisKM