Akhenaten’s Influence on the Kikuyu People of Kenya,
A Strong Link Between Kikuyu Culture and the Culture of Ancient Egypt
This post will show that Akhenaten had some influence in Kikuyu culture, language and religion. The Kikuyu live in Central Kenya, making up 20% of the total Kenyan population. Their myth of origin does not include Egypt but evidence points in that direction as will be shown in this hub.
Before we go into details, here are some signs in the language that indicate this influence.
1. The kikuyu say TENE to mean long ago. There is also a bygone era known as TENE NA AGU.
2. the founder of the tribe was called Gĩkũyũ or TENE. According to Kenyatta in his treatise on the Kikuyu, a grandchild of Gĩkũyũ, was overthrown due to his dictatorship tendencies.
3. The Kikuyu term for a Kind person is MUTANA and a mean person is MUKARE. MU is a prefix denoting a person or object with a spirit. In my interpretation, Akhenaten (TENE, TANA) was kind while his co-regent Smenkhare (KARE) was perceived to be mean.
4. There is reason to believe that a pharaoh was also called a 'Sycamore' tree. This is a fig and the word Gĩkũyũ (Kikuyu) means the great fig tree.Therefore, the founder of the tribe was the Great Fig.
5. From ethnographic material on the Kikuyu, I have gathered that there was a ceremony performed every 30 years called 'Ituika'. Just like the Hebsed in Egypt, the term translates to 'the becoming.' Egyptologists have given the same meaning to 'Hebsed'
A study of the Kikuyu Hebsed indicates to me that there were nine (9) fixed names for each 30 year period in 270 years. When arranged in chronology, the last name is MWANGI. When you break down the two syllables, you get MWA and NGI. Mwa stands for 'OF'.
I have interpreted NGI to be the ANKH in the name TUT-ANKH-Amen, since TUT and AMEN are a prefix and a suffix. THe root is ANKH.
In the same vein, one of the names in the chronology is MATHATHI which would mean 'of Thothmes' and another one is MAINA - of Amun.
From the foregoing, it is clear that a study of Kikuyu culture and language can help Egyptologists unravel some of the riddles in hieroglyphics and other codes in Egyptology.
Here is a word that indicates that Kikuyu language has a link with the religion of Akhenaten.
KIRIRA is the word for religion. The syllables are KIRI (it has) RA (ra - ancient god).
MBIRIRA is the word for a grave. literally, the ground has RA. This would have been the case if a pharaoh was buried since he was deemed to be God in a human body - a manifestation of RA.
Where Do You Find the People Called Kikuyu?
The Kikuyu, an agricultural community lives in central Kenya. Today, they all wear modern clothing, speak English and may look no different from an African American.
Kenya which bestrides the Equator, according to Ojany (Ogot, ed. 1980) has a landmass of 569253 km. As an East African state, Kenya shares the waters of Lake Victoria with Uganda and Tanzania. This lake is the source of the White Nile, which is the main tributary of river Nile - the lifeline of ancient and modern Egypt. While a cultural link has been denied as seen in the hub, "Falsification of AFrica's History http://hubpages.com/hub/Falsification-of-Africas-history, Kenya and Egypt are linked geographically. The other major tributary of the Nile, the Blue Nile, has its source in Lake Tana, in the Ethiopian highlands. Historian Prof. Mutu wa Gethoi who was interviewed by this writer, said that his own respondents in earlier researches mentioned Abyssinia (Ethiopia) as a place of origin which is corroborated by respondents of Muriuki (1974), and Kabeca’s undated thesis on the Embu. My own research indicates that the Kikuyu sojourned in Ethiopia for a while in the Kuyu Woreda where Lake Tana is found after departure from Egypt.
The Great Rift Valley runs through Kenya into Tanzania, forming one of the most important features of the Region. Some of the important Kenyan prehistoric sites within the Rift Valley are Lake Turkana, Kariandusi, Gamble’s cave and Olduvai gorge (Ogot, ed. 1980). Some rock art was sighted on Mount Elgon and the Turkana areas (Ogot, ed.1980). It is probable that the Rift Valley offered a natural ‘highway’ for migrating peoples to and from the North of Africa.
The earliest known Stone Age tools in the world were discovered in Kenya in 1969 by Richard Leakey at Koobi Fora, east of Lake Turkana (formerly Rudolf) in Kenya. They were dated at 2.61 million years old, using the Potassium Argon method (Ogot, ed. 1980). A National Geographic study on DNA (Hillary Mayell (January 21, 2003), National Geographic News, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman_2.html) has implied that genetic evidence shows that all of mankind came from East Africa. This firmly establishes East Africa as the cradle of Mankind.
Kenya has 42 communities the majority of whom are classified as Bantus. Two more classifications are Nilotes and Cushites in the west and north East respectively. Of these 42 communities (irrespective of their classifications) it is only the Luo and Turkana who do not practice circumcision (and the only Nilotes in Kenya not to perform the rite). The Maasai, Turkana and Kalenjin among others practice the rite. When Father Cagnolo (1933) recognised the importance of circumcision to the Kikuyu, he made a comparison with the Egyptians but was quick to add that “The Egyptians deemed it to be simply a distinguishing mark of the ‘Retu’ - The Egyptians from other … peoples”. While downplaying the coincidence, he supplied another clue - that a circumcised girl in Kikuyu is a Mũiretu, which is a compound word - Mũ and Iretu the second morpheme being similar to the Egyptian word retu. Mũ is a suffix to personify first class nouns of things with a spirit (Leakey 1989). Girls then and not boys were associated with an inclusive term to mean belonging to Egypt or being of an ‘Egyptian kind’. According to Middletone and Kershaw (1965), Boys were called Muma (a word that signified ‘those who had come out’) upon circumcision and thereafter, ‘anake.’ As is apparent, it is a compound word that can be broken down to the following morphs: Ana –children, Ake- belonging to him/ her. Pehaps ana is an archaic form of the current ciana – plural for children.
The language is GiGĩkũyũ, but as Muriuki (1974) rightly observed, the anglicised form of Kikuyu for the language and people has “gained wide currency in modern usage.” Kikuyu will be in reference to the people but Gĩkũyũ will be used to refer to the language or the mythical father of the tribe. The root in the words Gĩkũyũ (the people) GĩGĩkũyũ (the language), mũkũyũ (fig tree) is kũyũ.
The first letters in each word are prefixes. Since there has not been any dispute among scholars that the Kikuyu derive their name from the fig tree, I have concluded that the fig tree was called kũyũ in ancient times, including in Ancient Egypt.
The Ndia, Embu, Mbeere, Gichugu and the Tharaka, Chuka and Ameru sub tribes are assumed to be Kikuyu by this writer and to have subscribed to a Kikuyu state in the distant past. Mutu wa Gethoi, a cultural historian, agrees with the proposition that the above are Kikuyu. He however believes that only the Ndia, Chuka and Gichugu may be included with absolute certainty, the rest having developed an identity that may cause them to resist association with the Kikuyu. One reason for this resistance was the choice of the Kikuyu dialect by missionaries and administrators as the ‘standard’ form of Kikuyu to communicate state and biblical matters to all Mount Kenya peoples. For purposes of clarity, the Ameru will be frequently referred to as a distinct subgroup of the Kikuyu due to the importance of their version of the migration from a mythical place called Mbwaa. Their account is more believable from a historical point of view than the creation story of ‘Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi’ narrated within the Kikuyu ‘tribe.’ The Ki-meru language (of the Ameru) in particular is intelligible but slightly different from Kikuyu when compared to Embu for instance.
Middleton and Kershaw (1965), including Leakey (1977) differentiate between Kikuyu sub-tribes (Ndia, Embu, Mbeere and Gichugu, The Tharaka, Chuka, and Meru- Tigania, Igembe, Imenti, Miutini, Igoji, Mwimbi, Muthambi.) and Kikuyu proper – those from Murang’a, Kiambu and Nyeri. They seem to be all connected “in physical, character culture and language…Their social organization is similar…” to that of the Kikuyu (Middleton and Kershaw 1965, p. 11). Indeed, where Middleton is not sure about the nature of one rite or the other regarding the sub-tribes, whom he has labeled “northern tribes”, he assumes what is known about the Kikuyu to be true for all of them. He therefore highlights only the differences.
The Kikuyu were neighbours of the Maasai and had some practices in common such as the war regiments. The Kikuyu regiments were divided into two; a right hand Tatane called in Maasai Tatene” and a left hand - Gitienye, called in Maasai Kedianye (Muriuki G, 1974). Mwaniki Kabeca on the other hand stated that Tigania were known to the chuka and a few other neighbours “either wholly or in part as ‘kiriene’ or ‘kiriene’ (Kabeca nd), people of the left.
Is Tatane (Tatene) related in any way to Akhenaten?
Is Kiriene (Kadianye) related in any way to Akhenaten's co-regent Smenkhare.
It should be noted that the reigning pharaoh lived on the Eastern side of the Nile (right side if you face the map of Africa with Egypt at the top. The Funerary priests lived on the Western side (left side), and i suspect that Smenkhare was a high priest and head of funerary matters, a sort of Laibon. It would make practical sense therefore to recruit soldiers distinctly for the East (right - Tatene) and the West (Left - Kiriene). Coming to Kenya from the North will however make the west your rigtht hand. That is the side the Meru claim to have come from except the Tigania.
The Main Kikuyu Myth of Origin
Kenyatta (1938), Cagnolo (1933), and Gathigira (1933) have all narrated the story of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi. It is a story that was told to every Kikuyu child in the past as part of the tribe’s history. God made Gĩkũyũ and placed him near Mount Kenya at a place called Mũkũrwe wa Gathanga. God saw that he was lonely and gave him a wife, Mũmbi. Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi were blessed with nine daughters, but no sons. The daughters’ names, arranged from the eldest to the youngest were as follows: Wanjirũ, Wambũi, Njeri, Wanjikũ, Nyambũra, Wairimũ, Waithĩra, Wangarĩ, and the last one was Wangũi (Leakey 1977). There was a tenth daughter (who was not mentioned by Leakey) who according to tradition was not counted due to an incestuous relationship. Evidence from Egypt indicates that a 'father Daughter' sexual relationship within the ruling class was acceptable.
The daughters of Gĩkũyũ were always said to be ‘nine and the fill’ perhaps to imply that the tenth daughter was known but was unmentionable. The Kikuyu were averse to counting people to the exact number because it was believed that a curse would befall them.
Gĩkũyũ had to sacrifice to god (Mwene Nyaga or Ngai) to get husbands for the daughters. In a folk story collected by Cagnolo (1933) entitled “daughter of the Son”, it is implied that Kikuyu men could make a decision to go out and raise their status by marrying the daughter of the Sun.
Sixty youths of a certain village heard one day that no girl in the world was as beautiful as the daughter of the sun. – If we do not obtain her for our own, they said, we shall always be degenerate sons of the stock of ichagatae.
Mr.Waweru, who joined his maker in 2010 aged about 85years gives the meaning of Ichagatae as "those who lack."
Each of these nine daughters bore children and their children intermarried. The fact that these intermarriages are not remembered as incestuous may imply that the daughters were not biological siblings in the real sense. Gradually as the people increased, the original daughters of Mũmbi were accepted as the founders of the nine clans of the Kikuyu people (with the tenth as stated above being implied and not mentioned). Without giving details, Leakey states that there are traditions among the Kikuyu that show that the tribe was originally matrimonial.
I have collected other myths of origins which you can read in the hub < http://hubpages.com/hub/Kikuyu-Other-myths-of-Origin >.
Three different lists of the Daughters of Mũmbi
Leakey’s list of Gĩkũyũ’s daughters also gives the names of the clans derived from them. There are variations to this list in Nyeri as noted by Routledge (1910) and Gathigira (1933).
Below aret wo slightly differing lists of the daughters of Mũmbi. In Routledge’s list, only the clan is given because the girl who headed the clan can be identified by the clan name. However his list goes up to thirteen, which is unique to him and from what is generally accepted, he erred. Routledge’s odd spelling of some words has also been retained.
Leakey’s list from the first born to the last born
1.Wanjirũ - Anjirũ
2. Wambũi - Ambũi
3. Njeri - Aceera
4. Wanjikũ - Anjiku
5. Nyambura - Ambura or Ethaga
6. Wairimũ - Airimũ or Agathigia or Aicakamũyũ
7. Waithĩra - Athirandũ
8. Wangarĩ- Angarĩ or Aithe-Kahuno
9. Wangũi - Angũi or Aithiegeni
Gathigira’s list of clans
1. Wanjirũ - Anjirũ
2. Wambũi - Ambũi
3. Wanjeri - Aceera
4. Wanjuku (probably a spelling mistake for Wanjikũ) - Agacikũ
5. Wambura - Ethaga or Akiuru
6. Wairimũ - Agathigia (Airimũ)
7. Wangeci - Aithĩrandũ
8. Wangarĩ - head of the Angarĩ or Aithe Kahuno clan
9. Wangũi - Aithiegeni
10. Wamũyũ - Aicakamũyũ
It is significant here that the meaning of the 10th clan is 'of the spirit.' Not like the rest who are human. Kenyatta infered that Gĩkũyũ, the founder formed the tenth clan. Note that the English word for TEN and the Kikuyu word TENE for long ago may have the same root. The English word AGO and the kikuyu word AGO (meaning diviner priest) may also have the same root.
Routledge’s List of clans
1. Anjirũ
2. Ambũi
3. Achera
4. Agachiku
5. Ethaga
6. Airimu
7. Aizerandu
8. Angari – Aithe Kahuno
9. Angui
10. Akiuru – Mwesaga - Mburu
11. Aichakamuyu
12. Agathigia
13. Aiziegeni
It is clear that Routledge mixed up the clans by not taking into consideration that some had more than one name. For example, Aitheigeni and Angoi are one clan.
Religion of the Kikuyu People
The word religion is used here in the western sense of a theology. To the Kikuyu, religion was not a separate aspect of Kikuyu life. Every action by a member had religious significance. There were no atheists and everything a Kikuyu did or did not do had an impact on his relationship with the other tribesmen, god, and spirits of the ancestor.
Most writers agree that the Kikuyu were monotheists. The Kikuyu believed that God lived on sacred mountains. There were other sacred mountains besides Mount Kenya. - Kinangop in the Nyandarwa (Aberdares), Kiambiruiru and the Longonot crater. See Leakey (1977) for details on Kikuyu religious beliefs.
Ngai is the word for god including an apparently archaic form, Mũrungu. Mũrungu is a compound word – Mũ and Rungu. Mũ is the prefix belonging to class one nouns for an object with a spirit as outlined by Leakey (1959) above, and rungu means “under.” This is probably a word with the same origins as the Kiswahili, Mungu for God. God was also called “Mwene-Hinya…owner of power,” or Mwene-Nyaga” which Leakey (1977) confesses is “owner of brightness” and not “owner of ostrich” as he had assumed before.The deity was also called Baba - father. Tate (1904) reckons that the Kikuyu have three gods; one for cattle, goats and riches; another for good wives and healthy children and a third bad one, who brings illness, death or war. The first of the gods is stated by Tate (1904) to be the supreme deity. According to Stanley Gathigira (1986) there was a good God and a bad one. God had a duality - a good and bad; male and female. They also believed that he dwelt on fig trees where “sacrifices are made to him, and His power is manifested in the sun, moon, stars, rain and rainbow, lightning and thunder” (Middleton and Kershaw 1965).
The Kikuyu did not have a priesthood in the Western sense. However the mũndũ mũgo, (mũgwe in Meru) played a role that also covered the duties of a priest. The Kikuyu saying that (Gutirĩ kĩrĩra gĩtarĩ mũndũ mũgo wakĩo) “there is no kĩrĩra. (religion) that does not have its mũndũ mũgo” (priests) confirms this.
Look at the word kĩrĩra again. It appears to be a compound word kĩrĩ-ra (It has RA). RA was the name for Sun God in Egypt. Many Gods were 'solarised' by prefixing them With RA (AmunRA, AtenRA, etc.
Did the Kikuyu concept of religion have the sun god RA in ancient times?
Leakey differentiated the Mũkũyũ - Ficus sycamora, from the Mũgumo, which he has identified as ‘Ficus natalensis’. Both the above trees are sacred to the Kikuyu, but according to Leakey, where a Mũkũyũ was available, it was preferred for commune with god ‘Ngai’. The Mũgumo tree could also be used as a ‘peace tree.’ In Francis Hall’s biography (King and Salim, ed. 1971) Francis Hall and chief Kinyanjui planted “two limbs” of a Mũgumo tree, tied together with wire to symbolise their bond in a peace treaty. Read about Kinyanjui wa Gathirimu here: https://kikuyucultureandhistory.blogspot.com/search?q=Kinyanjui. Middleton and Kershaw (1965, p. 62) are of the opinion that the Mũkũyũ was a Maasai guild preference while the Kikuyu preferred a Mũtamaiyũ.I have since found out that the Olive tree was sacred to women and was seen as a female sacred tree. Leakey (1959) translates the Mũtamaiyũ as a wild Olive.
Due to the close association between the Maasai and the Kikuyu, the Kikuyu followed two traditions during important rites like circumcision and marriage. These traditions were referred to as Maasai guild and Kikuyu guilds (Muriuki 1974). Membership was hereditary but one could perform certain rituals to leave ones guild for another. There were minor variations to the procedures followed in the rites depending on which guild one belonged to. Strangers adopted by the Kikuyu were expected to follow the Maasai guild and could not leave it to enter the Kikuyu guild.
Death and the Disposal of the Dead
It was a great transgression for a member of the Kikuyu tribe to touch a corpse. In the biography of Francis Hall (King Kenneth, ed., 1971- Kenya Historical Biographies 1971 edited by Kenneth King and Ahmed Salim), he (Hall) had to bury victims of disease himself because custom did not allow Kikuyu to touch corpse’s. The dead were disposed off in the bush and the person who touched the corpse stayed in seclusion for seven days before purification rites were performed on him. From Leakey’s description below, there were exceptions.
After death, Leakey states that those who had children even if the children had all died were accorded respect during funeral rites that culminated in “a full Gũkũra ceremony… which meant among other things that the spirit achieved a status which it would not have had otherwise.”
Contrary to the belief that the Kikuyu threw all deceased to hyenas, a person of means was accorded a burial. The dead body was taken out to a burial ground called a kĩbĩrĩra (Leakey 1977, p. 989). Leakey continues that “In every case, the body had to be carefully wrapped up, with legs and hands in the sleeping position, and placed in the kĩbĩrĩra facing the homestead.” Leakey described it as an expensive affair in view of all the rites that had to be paid for in goats and rams.
About thirty jackal skeletons were found in Amarna, the site of Akhenaten's capital. This may imply that the common Egyptian who could not afford to build a tomb for himself and family was disposed off by the domesticated jackals. The Kikuyu may have carried over this tradition using the more abundant hyena instead.
Kũmama is an archaic word that means ‘to sleep’. Since the corpse was placed in a sleeping position, it therefore became a kĩ-mami – ‘lifeless thing that sleeps’. Note resemblance of this word to the word mummy which is used for ancient Egyptian bodies.
Where Does Akhenaten Feature in All This?
Note that the Kikuyu say TENE to mean long ago. This is the suffix in Akhenaten’s name.
· The originator of the tribe was called – Gĩkũyũ (the big fig tree) and was also known as TENE. Akhenaten was also referred to as a FIG as were other male pharaohs.
· The largest river in Kenya is called the TANA – likely to be a suffix from Akhenaten’s name.
· Akhanaten had a do-regent, Smenkhare. In Kimeru, a dialect of the Kikuyu, they say KARE to mean long ago. This is the Suffix in the name Smenkhare.
· Mutumwaya was a female relative of Akhhenaten – Mutamaiyu in Kikuyu is an Olive tree. The Olive tree was sacred in ancient Egypt, and Just like among the Kikuyu, it was the ‘female’ sacred tree. The Fig tree was the male sacred tree to both communities.
The Kikuyu had a ceremony that took place every thirty years – so did the Egyptians with their HEBSED. It is likely as I will show later that the Kikuyu HEBSED was a continuation of the ancient Egyptian one.
The Hebsed Festival
Sometimes called a jubilee by Egyptologists the Hebsed festival was celebrated every thirty years. A similarity is apparent between the Egyptian Hebsed and the Kikuyu Ituĩka.
Petrie (1924) believed that the ceremony was cyclical with fixed dates that were determined by the observation of the star called Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris’).
The Egyptian calendar had 360 days, which made their months shift every leap year. The star Sirius ensured that their religious events did not shift. The Egyptians had noticed that Sirius, which they called Sothis, made its first appearance of the season in the twilight before sunrise at about the time when the Nile’s flood began to make an appearance at the delta. All green things apart from the flood were therefore credited to Sothis their creator, (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1988).
Also called the Dog Star, it was the brightest in the sky and rose at about the time of the festivals. In a King’s long reign, the festival may have been celebrated twice but only once in a reign spanning slightly over thirty years. Petrie (1924) gives the reign of Tutankhamen as an example. Tutankhamen reigned for only nine years, yet it is recorded that a feast of thirty years took place in his reign. The star reappears exactly 365.25 days after the last appearance. Egyptian tradition expected the Nile flood to start around “19 July of the Julian calendar” which was about the time when star Sirius was seen for the first time in a year, just before sunrise. These two events - the sighting and the flooding marked the beginning “New Year’s Day” (Save-Soderbergh 1987). The Egyptians used the star to regulate their calendar. They had discovered that an extra four days needed to be added to their 360 days that resulted from a 12-month year with 30 days per month.
According to the Encyclopaedia Americana (1988), more than 10,000 years ago, a calendar with 12 months of 30 days each went into use with 360 days in a year. Around 4000 BC, an extra 5 days were added to the end of each year. This recovered the lost days except one ¼ . After every four years, a full day was lost this vague year which meant that a “holiday with a fixed date (such as New Year’s day) had to make a complete cycle of the seasons over a period of nearly 15 centuries…4 times 365.25 or 1,461 years.”
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In his debut venture into epic literature, Ngũgĩ presents the origin story of Kenya’s Gĩkũyũ people through a distinctly feminist lens. Historical accounts suggest that the Kikuyu once adhered to matrilineal and matriarchal structures in ancient times. This poetic narrative weaves together folklore, myth, adventure, and allegory. Kenda Mūiyūru follows the Gĩkũyũ founder’s journey to secure worthy partners for his ten radiant daughters—collectively known as “Kenda Mūiyūru” (The Complete Nine)—and the trials imposed on the 99 suitors vying for their hands. Packed with suspense, danger, wit, and sacrifice, the epic embodies all the hallmarks of a classic adventure.
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...................................................................................................................................................................The Egyptian lunar calendar caused religious events to fall on different months after a number of years.
In the 18th year of Pepy I; the 2nd year of Mentuhotep II; the 16th year of Hatshepsut; the 33rd year of Thothmes III and the 2nd year of Merenptah, the festivals were celebrated with astronomical accuracy as recorded on the monuments (Petrie1924), which implies a departure from reliance on the lunar calendar.
It is assumed that feasting, dance and music followed this festival. Giles (1970) states that the depiction of a King in a bull’s tail was evidence of a Hebsed. Petrie further attributes the origin of this feast to the reign of King Menes at the beginning of dynastic rule in 3118 BC (Millard 1981). Collier (1970) conjectured that the festival was a ritual re-enactment of the death of a senile king who was replaced by his son. It appears to this researcher that the Hebsed and the Ituĩka of the Gĩkũyũ served the same purpose - to signify the handing over of power to a new generation. The Kikuyu ceremony when translated into English means ‘becoming’, or ‘being’. Hebsed has been translated on the Internet as ‘the appearing.’
Petrie was so certain of the Hebsed’s regularity to the point of predicting that reference to the festivals of Sety I and Ramesses II will one day be found in an inscription somewhere.
One Hebsed is recorded in the tomb of Tutankhamen as having taken place in the month of Mysore. In any case, another Hebsed during the reign of Ramesses took place in the same month - Mysore. Was Moses called so because he deaprted from Egypt during the reign of Ramesses (RA - Moses)? Did the Month of Mysore cause mysery to the Kikuyu and the Israelites? Consider the following:
Maithori - Tears in Kikuyu
Machozi - Tears in Kiswahili
Mysery - Tearful situations as expressed in English (it is likely that 'Mystery' is from the same root.)
Mizraim - The nation of Egypt in hebrew
Misri - The nation of Egypt in Turkish Kiswahili and many African languages.
The Ituĩka ‘power handing over ceremony’ of the Kikuyu
In the Kikuyu political system, an entire age set was in power. This is unlike the western concept of government where one person is the supreme leader, with power passing on to a progeny, in the case of a monarchy, or an elected person, in the case of a democracy. When power changed hands, it changed from one retiring generation to a junior one. The ceremony in which this took place was called an Ituĩka. Each ruling generation ruled for a period between thirty and forty years before relinquishing power (Kenyatta 1938). A generation was either a Maina or a Mwangi. If the one in power was a Mwangi, then the next one was a Maina. These two names remained in rotation in spite of there being a list of nine names that were cyclical as will be shown below. Maina could also be called Irungu (Kenyatta 1938).Note the similarity between the word Irungu and Murungu (god).
Preserving Kikuyu memory takes time, care, and community support.
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1. Cagnolo, C.,1933, The Akikuyu, Their customs, Traditions and Folklore, Mission Printing school, Nyeri.
2. Collier, J., 1970, In search of Akhenaten ,Ward Lock Limited - London
3. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1988, 15th edition
4. Gathigira, S. K., 1933, Miikarire ya Agikuyu, this edition - 1986 by Scholars Publication (town not stated).
5. Giles, F. J., 1970,Ikhnaton: Legend and History,Hutchinson, London.
6. Hobley C.W, 1922,Bantu beliefs and magic,H.F.&G Witherby (publishers) London.
7. Kabeca, M. A., (n.d.)Pre-colonial History of the Chuka of Mount Kenya c1400 - 1908. Dalhousie university, n.p.
8. Kenyatta, J., 1938,Facing Mount Kenya,Kenway Publications, Nairobi.
9. King, K. and Salim A., 1971, Kenya Historical Biographies, East African Publishing House, Nairobi.
10. Leakey L.S.B., 1977, The Southern Kikuyu before 1903, Vol I,II & III, Academic Press, London.
11. Middleton, J. & Kershaw G., 1965,The Central Tribes of the North-Eastern Bantu,(including the Embu, Meru, Mbere, Chuka. Mwimbi, Tharaka, and the Kamba of Kenya), International Africa Institute, London.
12. Millard, Anne, 1981, Ancient Egypt, Usborne Publishing, London.
13. Ogot, B.A., editor, 1974,Zamani, a Survey of East African History, East African Publishing House, Nairobi.
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