Tradition has it that the Agikuyu came from the Abacii in Abysinia (Ethiopia), belonged to the tribe of Judah and migrated passing through Meru, thereby settling and multiplying at mukurwe wa Gathanga from where they further dispersed…
Of the three traditions, the most popular is the one that traces the Agikuyu origin back to their ancestors Gikuyu and Mumbi…
It is believed that it is this tradition that controls the life of the Agikuyu best…
SOURCE;
(Kenya's Ethnic Communities Foundation of the Nation By Wangũhũ Ng'ang'a; 2006)
This tradition, which is well documented by Wachege (1992), is on the Jewish ancestry whereby the Gikuyu trace their origin among the Israelites…
This tradition says that Gikuyu came from Abacii in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) that belonged to the tribe of Judah, which originated from Ethiopia…
They then migrated through Meru and settled in Murang'a in Mukuruwe wa Gathanga…
It is there that they increased in number and dispersed to various parts of central Kenya - as they are today…
SOURCE;
(A Theological Analysis of African Proverbs about Women With Reference to Proverbs from Gikuyu People of Central Kenya By Catherine Nyambura Nwihia; 2005)
“In very many ways, the Kikuyu worship of God differed not very greatly from that of the Hebrews in Old Testament times."
In the interpretations put upon Old and New Testament events and stories a great divide is to be found…
We have, perhaps, to consider some of the practical issues associated with Old Testament affinities and used as material by the writers of Kenya…
“When the missionaries brought the Bible to the Kikuyu", wrote Mugo Gatheru, in his autobiographical story Child of Two Worlds (1964), “our people understood the Old Testament right away, for many of the customs of the ancient Jews were very much like ours. Like the Hebrew people of old, the Kikuyu are a God-fearing people, and when they approached Ngai they brought him a sacrifice. The Kikuyu adored Ngai because of the beautiful land which he had handed over to them. They recognised him as the one and only God. They had no idea, of course, about Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit or the devil, but they did recognise the existence of the ancestor spirits. They had no devil either. There was only Ngai, Creator of Heaven and Earth."
Similarly Karari Njama, writing of Mau Mau From Within (1966), when describing his wavering Christian faith, finds "the Holy Bible" to be "full of wars and conquering tribes and nations who worshipped other Gods. These wars were supposedly led by Mighty God to smash other nations. This was contrary to God's peace and mercy, I thought. The Old Testament which covers the greater part of the Holy Bible is mostly Israelite or Jewish religion which in all respects agrees with the Kikuyu religion before the arrival of the European. This only makes a Kikuyu believe that our religion was the right one. I had a strong thought that the Kikuyu were one of the twelve tribes."
SOURCE;
(The Mau Mau Rebellion of the Kikuyu
By John Cudd Brown; 1956)
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