Agĩkũyũ - Religion

Religion:

The Gĩkũyũ religion is monotheistic. There is one God known as Ngai who is the provider and the divider of the universe (Mũgai). He is the creator of the first father and mother of the Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi and who gave them the best lands to settle on and from the Agĩkũyũ are descended. He is invisible. He was also referred as Mwene-Nyaga (possessor of brightness), which is associated with Kĩrĩ-Nyaga, the Gĩkũyũ name for _Mt. Kenya which means that which possesses brightness or mountain of brightness.

Mount Kenya (Kĩrĩ-Nyaga) is the resting place of God, whenever he comes to inspect the deeds of men. The sacred fig trees (mũkũyũ and mũgumũ, the latter more common) are the sacred centre where the people perform their rites. Ngai promised Gĩkũyũ that whenever he had need he should sacrifice facing Mt. Kenya (Kĩrĩ-Nyaga) and he would come to his aid and thus we pray facing Mt. Kenya. The Gĩkũyũ saying goes that Ngai ndagiagwo, meaning God does not concern himself with small matters. As such Ngai was approached in the old days in cases of national calamities and disasters like famine and praying for rain. He was also approached at the birth of an individual, at initiation, at marriage and at death. He is not worshipped approached by individuals but was only approached by at least a family group with the father as the head or by elders of the tribe under the sacred fig trees, mũkũyũ and mũgumũ.

Ngai while not visible to mortal eyes manifests himself in many ways. Through the sun, the moon, the stars, thunder, lightning, the rainbow and rain.

Gĩkũyũ religion had no priesthood and was closely interwoven with traditional customs of the people. At birth one automatically acquired the religion, which was taught by the parents. The Elders led the prayers and sacrifices to Mwene-Nyaga. Apart from them, the Gĩkũyũ had seers called Arathis to whom God communicated messages in their sleep to impart to the tribe. Such a person was C(h)ege or Mũgo wa Kĩibirũ who predicted the coming of the Europeans.

Most if not all early European writings about the tribe revolve about whether the savage, at a much lower evolutionary stage according to them, could conceive the concept of a deity. Most early literature concerning the tribe is written with such thoughts at the back of the authors mind. Worship was done in form of prayer and sacrifice.

Religious rituals are partly determined by natural rhythms, as with rites performed at seed time and harvest, and partly by recurrent needs. Gĩkũyũ society is highly conscious of the divine and spiritual hierarchy. Thus if a man falls sick, first ordinary treatment is tried, including traditional tribal medicine. Then it may be necessary to consult the ancestors, who even if not displeased, the sick person may not recover, in which case the elder of the family may institute a sacrifice to Ngai, supported by the invisible family members. From Facing Mt. Kenya by Jomo Kenyatta. The rain making ritual.

”When they finish feasting, the heap of the small pieces of meat and all the bones are collected together and put on the fire, together with some leaves and twigs of sweet-scented wood. While these are burning and the smoke is going up towards of sky, the elders rise and begin to chant a prayer round the fire. They stand up with their hands aloft and their heads lifted towards Kĩrĩ-Nyaga (Mt. Kenya) in the north. In a few minutes they turn right towards Kĩa-Nyaga (another sacred mountain) in the east, and then towards Kĩa-Mbirũrũ in the south Kĩa-Nyandarwa in the West, finishing towards the north where they started. They do this seven times and then on the eighth the procession formed homeward. On leaving they take with them a small quantity of the contents of the lambs stomach to be used in a planting ceremony. This completes the procedure in the ceremony for the sacrifice of the rain.”

Ngai is worshiped in communion with the ancestors. The Gĩkũyũ believe that dead relatives live on in the spirit world and continue to be part of the family and are treated as such. In fact they visit their homesteads from time to time to hold communion with the living. Land thereby plays a very central role the Agĩkũyũ life as the indefinable link between the living, the dead and the unborn. Land is also considered the mother of the tribe. In offering sacrifices the ancestors are also present. It was customary to pour a little of whatever one was drinking to the ground for the ancestors also to partake, a custom strangely similar to the black American one of pouring a little liquor to a dead friend or relative as exemplified by black American rap stars and singers in several videos. The ancestral spirits can be either benevolent or malevolent and so might require appeasement from time to time.