The Kikuyu (Agĩkũyũ) people of Kenya comprise 22% of the country’s population, so it is likely that visitors to the country on a Kenya walking holiday, safari or sightseeing tour will encounter some of them. Visitors to Mount Kenya will be walking in the birth-region of these people, according to their traditional history.

The beginning of creation

Mount Kenya’s icy peak was the home of Ngai, Supreme Creator of the Kikuyu people, who journeyed there from the heavens to survey the land of what is now Kenya. Walking across the plains were only the animals. From his mountain-top throne, Ngai changed this by summoning into existence the father of the Kikuyu people, Gikuyu. Ngai told him that all the lands surrounding the mountain would forever be the home of Gikuyu and his children.

As producing children requires a woman, Gikuyu was next sent to a grove of fig trees where he found a woman, Mumbi. This grove later became known as Mukuru wa Nyagathanga, the Kikuyu people’s birthplace. To this day it is revered as a sacred place by the Kikuyu, although visitors to Kenya, walking or sightseeing in the region, are able to visit it.

The nine daughters and their husbands

Gikuyu and Mumbi made love among the fig trees, producing nine daughters: Wanjiku, Wanjiru, Wanjeri, Wambui, Wangari, Wacera, Waithera, Wairimu, and Nyambura. They grew into beautiful women who lived by Mount Kenya, walking across the plains each full moon in search of men so that they could make their own children. Each time they found no one but each other. Desperate, they pleaded with Gikuyu to petition Ngai for help. Gikuyu relented and bowed before the mountain, passing on his daughters’ request; in response, Ngai commanded him to light a fire among the fig trees and make a sacrifice.

The Kikuyu of today sacrifice goats beneath a fig tree to call rain in times in drought. In these early times, it solved a rather different problem. After making the sacrifice and lighting the fire, Gikuyu plunged nine sticks into the flames and prayed for men. The fire turned into an inferno, from which nine strong young men appeared. Gikuyu took them to his daughters, and the nine marriages were blessed by Ngai.

The nine Kikuyu clans

The marriages were performed together at Mount Kenya; walking to their own areas of land afterwards, the nine daughters and husbands made their own homesteads, creating the nine Kikuyu clans. However, they still honoured their birth at the mountains. All Kikuyu homesteads were traditionally built facing Mount Kenya, while they speak of a unity among the clans, Nyumba ya Mumbi, in honour of Mumbi.