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Clothing

Traditionally, the Kikuyu would wear a piece of clothing called shukas. These are large square pieces of cloth done in red and blue. These they would fling over their bodies and tie around the neck or over the shoulder. Kikuyu people wear different clothing and attire for different occasions and festivals. They have their own traditional clothing for marriages different from the ones for other festivals and occasions. 

A woman wearing the traditional Kikuyu clothing with many necklaces.

Kikuyu cultural clothing worn by a group of Kikuyu women above.

The Kikuyu have different types of clothing for different age sets, the clothing are vary from the young to the old. 

 

Children in the traditional kikuyu tribe wear skins around their waist, they normally wear no cloth on their upper body.

 

Men also wear skins on their waist and walk bare chested but during the cold seasons, the cover themselves up to the knees with shukas.

 

Women in the Kikuyu tribe normally have their whole bodies covered with a shuka that is tied on their left shoulder and extends all the way to their ankles. They also wear earrings, necklaces, bracelets and anklets that are made from multi-coloured beads and cowrie shells. 

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In the Kikuyu culture, earholes were large, which was believed to be a sign of beauty. The ear lobe would hang all the way down to the shoulder. 

Today, the Kikuyu, like most of Kenya, have been thoroughly influenced by Western culture. Many dress in the jeans and t-shirts of the west, or in trousers and shirts. 

Kikuyu women dressed up in the traditional attire.

Language

Kikuyus speak the Kikuyu language as their native tongue, which is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger–Congo language family.

 

Additionally, many speak Swahili and English as lingua franca, the two official languages of Kenya. 

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All the alphabets in the Kikuyu Language.

Kikuyu is spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi. Kikuyu is one of the five languages of the Thagichu subgroup of the Bantu languages, which stretches from Kenya to Tanzania.

 

The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya which is called KÄ©rÄ©nyaga by the Kikuyu.

Pronunciation of different letters in the Kikuyu Language.

This is the Swahili alphabet, this was used in Kenya by the Kikuyu as a lingua franca.

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