History
The Kikuyu come from Bantu-speaking people who migrated from Lake Chad (Nigeria and Cameroon area) to Southern Africa before migrating upward to North and East Africa. They entered the Nyeri area where the Kikuyu villages are around 1000 A.D. Because of previously acquired iron working skills they tamed the area quickly, settling along the ridges. Each ridge formed a community or sub-clan. There were ten clans that had all, at one point, been named after women. Because the land was so fertile the people prospered greatly. In 1895 when Britain took over, everything changed.
Kikuyu traditional wear at the time of the Mau Mau uprising.
From the 1920s onward the Kikuyu people were at the forefront of the anti-colonial struggle. It was from among them that the Mau Mau warriors came (the warriors that led the struggle for independence from Britain). The colonization left a large imppression on Kenya. The cultures of the natives were shattered through the forced introduction of new people and new ways of life. One example of the impact of colonization on Kikuyu society is theorized to be the current imbalance of division of labor between the sexes. When money was introduced the men had to got to work to pay taxes and the women had to do the mens' jobs and their own too. Another impact was unemployment. There were too many men and not enough jobs, so some of them didn't have jobs.
Today the Kikuyu culture is a combination of colonization, new customs, and newly revived pre-colonial culture.
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Kikuyu elders sitting at the hearth.
Cheif Waiyaki Wa Hinga of the Kikuyu Comminity in 1890
Food
The Kikuyu were a mixed farming community. Their diet was mainly from agricultural produce. They kept cattle and goats, but mainly for ritual purposes and as a currency for the purchase of goods and the payment of dowry.
Traditionally, the Kikuyu prepare and cook their food in earthen or clay pots, the food is served in wooden plates. The Kikuyu use three stones put together and firewood to make fire to cook their food. Kikuyus mainly plant their own food in their gardens (shambas) or their do batter trade with their neighbours E.g the Maasai.
Kikuyu cultural food. This meal (above) is called Mukimo (mashed green peas and potatoes).
In most rural Kikuyu homes, typical traditional Kikuyu includes the following: maize & beans (Gītheri), mashed green peas and potatoes (Mūkimo), mashed beans and potatoes (Kīmitū), mashed dry beans, corn and potatoes (Irio), sausages made using goat intestines, meat and blood (Mūtura), fermented porridge made from flour of corn, millet or sorghum (Ūcūrū). They also eat roast goat, beef, chicken and cooked green vegetables such as collards, spinach and carrots. Meat was rare in the Kikuyu diet in early times.
Kikuyu cultural food. This meal (right) is called Mutura (sausages made using goat intestines, meat and blood).
Things are very different today. They Kikuyu eat all kinds of meat including the previously despised fish and pork. Their mixed farming now includes poultry, rabbits and even fish farming. The only animal that is yet to be domesticated by a Kikuyu is the camel.
Kikuyu cultural food. This meal (above) is called Githeri.
This is another meal from the Kikuyu culture. It is called Mukimo.
The Video above shows some professional making a really famous Kikuyu dish called Githeri.
This is another meal from the Kikuyu culture. It is called Mukimo.