Agĩkũyũ - Spatial Organisation

Spatial Organization:

The Gĩkũyũ country is spectacular by any account. It was then as it is now. This especially in the areas very close to the snow capped Mt. Kenya like Nyeri and Murang’a districts. The country consists of a series of huge valleys and ridges criss-crossed by various streams and rivers. This is however torturous, especially to the women who had to fetch water from rivers which were at the bottom of the of the ridge and then bring the water up. The advent of rain harvesting tanks made life much easier for the women.

The Agĩkũyũ due to their nature of worship had no need for ceremonial huge buildings which formed the main and spectacular architecture in pre-industrial European societies. God was worshipped under a sacred fig tree, a mũgumo or better a mũkũyũ (some even believe that it is this tree that gave the tribe it’s name) in the nature. Ngai was at home in the big mountains and his people didn’t need a special house to worship and sacrifice, Ngai having provided them with spectacular nature.

As such the only significant architecture was in the home, which was composed of a series of round huts, built in a cirle. This would house a man, his wife or wives and their kids. Further there might have been cattle pens for keeping cows, if a family was thus endowed. Apart from this there were also granaries ikũmbe where grain was stored.

There were a series of open spaces for collective or communal use. This included pasture lands where cattle from different families would graze. The other open space known as kĩhaaro was used for community gatherings such as social events like after initiation and also legal venues where cases would be presented and judged by the council of elders. Naturally connecting various homesteads were paths or roads known as njĩra cia agenda. It is not clear where markets were situated or whether the kĩhaaro doubled up as a market space.