SOCIALIZATION IN KIKUYU CULTURE

FOREWORD

Having migrated to their current location about four centuries ago, the Kikuyu now make up Kenya’s largest ethnic group. The Kikuyu people spread rapidly throughout the Central Province and Kenya. The Kikuyu usually identify their land by the surrounding mountain ranges which they call Kirinyaga-the shining mountain. The Kikuyu are Bantu and actually came into Kenya during the Bantu migration. They include some families from all the surrounding people and can be identified with the Kamba, the Meru, the Embu and the Chuka. The Kikuyu tribe was originally founded by a man named Gikuyu. Kikuyu history says that the Kikuyu God, Ngai, took Gikuyu to the top of Kirinyaga and told him to stay and build his home there. He was also given his wife, Mumbi. Together, Mumbi and Gikuyu had nine daughters. There was actually a tenth daughter but the Kikuyu considered it to be bad luck to say the number ten. When counting they used to say “full nine” instead of ten. It was from the nine daughters that the nine (occasionally a tenth) Kikuyu clans -Achera, Agachiku, Airimu, Ambui, Angare, Anjiru, Angui, Aithaga, and Aitherandu- were formed. The Kikuyu rely heavily on agriculture. They grow bananas, sugarcane, arum lily, yams, beans, millet, maize, black beans and a variety of other vegetables. They also raise cattle, sheep, and goats. They use the hides from the cattle to make bedding, sandals, and carrying straps and they raise the goats and sheep to use for religious sacrifices and purification. In the Kikuyu culture boys and girls are raised very differently. The girls are raised to work in the farm and the boys usually work with the animals. The girls also have the responsibility of taking care of a baby brother or sister and also helping the mother out with household chores.In the Kikuyu culture family identity is carried on by naming the first boy after the father’s father and the second after the mother’s father. The same goes for the girls; the first is named after the father’s mother and the second after the mother’s mother. Following children are named after the brothers and sisters of the grandparents, starting with the oldest and working to the youngest. Along with the naming of the children was the belief that the deceased grandparent’s spirit, that the child was named after, would come in to the new child. This belief was lost with the increase in life-span because generally the grandparents are now still alive when the children are born. Though they are traditionally agricultural people and have a reputation as hard-working people, a lot of them are now involved in business. Most of the Kikuyu still live on small family plots but many of them have also seen the opportunities in business and have moved to cities and different areas to work. They have a desire for knowledge and it is believed that all children should receive a full education.




INTRODUCTION

The study of the Gikuyu system of education reveals how the character of individuals is formed within the family circle and then within the whole tribal organization through a course of initiation ceremonies. The process of character formation and socialization is based on the various age-groups or levels of development i.e. infancy, girl/boyhood and initiation (circumcision). Each step in the ladder is marked by a corresponding standard of manners of behavior

IINFANCY

The education of small children is entirely in the hands of the mother and nurse. It is carried on through the medium of lullabies. In these the whole history and tradition of the family and clan are embodied and by hearing these lullabies daily, it is easy for thee children to assimilate this early teaching without strain.

At the time when the child begins to learn how to speak, care is taken by the mother to teach the child correct manner of speech and to acquaint him with all important names in the family past and present. These are given in songs when he likes. If the mother notices that he does not like certain songs, she at once introduces others with different phrases and melody embodying the same teaching.

When the child is able to speak, he can answer many questions which are asked gently and naturally to test how much he has learnt. Such question as these might be asked: What is your name? Who is your father? What is his age-group? What is the name of your grandfather? What is the name of your grandmother? What are their age-groups? This type of question goes back for several generations, and children are able to answer freely without any effort or strain on their part. These questions are never asked seriously, they are always taken in the form of amusement or conversationally. In this way the history and traditions of the child’s family become a stimulating influence in his life and form a lifting background to his environment.

GIRL/BOYHOOD

When the child has grown beyond babyhood the father takes charge of the boy’s education, while the mother takes the whole responsibility of the girl’s education and a part of the boy’s education. After passing the stage of infancy the education of the child takes a different shape, the child is taught how to sit and walk properly to avoid having bow legs, for a straight figure is admired by the Gikuyu, especially amongst the warriors it is one of the qualities of handsomeness.

As soon as the child can walk the sphere of his education is extended. The lullabies and other songs are continued to soothe children, especially when they are in a bad mood; but this age is considered the best time to teach the children how to use their hands in the various spheres of tribal activities. At this juncture the parents take an almost equal responsibility, and a system of co-education is introduced in the form of children’s games.

The parents do not particularly choose the kind of games their children play; they are free to indulge in any games that appeal to them, providing of course that the game is not injurious to their health. The children do most things in imitation of their elders and illustrate in striking the theory that play is anticipatory of adult life. Their games are, in fact, nothing more or less than a rehearsal prior to the performance of the serious business of all the members of the Gikuyu tribe. The little boys indulge in fighting like big boys. Running and wrestling are very common, and the best performer is marked for leadership. They play with small wooden spears and shields made of banana tree bark, bows and arrows, sling stones, and acquire no less proficiency in hitting the mark. They play, too, the games of husbands and wives, and build models of houses and cattle-pens with the material lying nearest to their hands. The little girls plait baskets of grass and grind corn, like their mothers and make little pots of the local clay and cook imaginary dishes of the same material. The boys play the role of husbands and behave in the same way as they see their fathers do in their respective homesteads.

Of course, not all their games have this aspect of preparation for the serious business of life. Recreation is an essential part of adult activities and those of children.

The father has to teach his boy various things. As an agriculturalist he has to take him in the garden for practical training. He makes a digging-stick, moro, for his boy to play with while the father is doing the actual work of weeding or turning the soil. Through watching his father in these activities, the boy gradually learns how to handle his digging-stick, and thus becomes a practical agriculturist.

While this training is going on, special attention is paid to acquainting the child with the names of various plants and roots and their uses especially those which are used as antidotes for insect or snake-bites. If the father is a woodcarver, smith, hunter or beekeeper he will teach the boy by example in the same way. Through moving in the forests and jungles with his father the boy learns about numerous wild fruits and flowers, and comes to know those which are poisonous and those which are edible. Along with these special tasks goes a very important general training. The boy is taught family, clan and tribal lands and their boundaries are carefully pointed out to him.

Care is taken to teach the boy how to be good observer and to reckon things by observation without counting them as counting especially of sheep, goats, cattle or people is considered as one of the Gikuyu taboos, mogiro, and one which would bring bad luck to the people or animals counted. For example a man with a hundred head of cattle, sheep and goats trains his son to know them by their colors only or by their size and type of horns, while every one of them has a special name.

The mother also takes the same responsibility in teaching her daughter all things concerning the domestic duties of a wife in managing and harmonizing the affairs of a homestead. The girl’s training in agriculture is the same as that of the boy. The mother is in charge of the co-education of her children. In the evening she teaches both boy and the girl the laws and customs, especially those governing the moral code and general rules of etiquette in the community. The teaching is carried on in the form of folklore and tribal legends. At the same time the children are given mental exercises through amusing riddles and puzzles which are told only in the evenings after meals, or while food is being cooked.

There are children’s dances held occasionally at which praise songs are sung. Special care is devoted to physical development, and many of these dances are the means of providing healthy and bodily exercise. In his respect boys have more facility than the girls. For apart from these dances, the boys have their games of wrestling, running and jumping and spurring with sticks and shields, lifting weights and stones and club-throwing.

It can be said that through work and play both sexes get their physical training. The girls have their share in housework, nursing the babies, cutting and gathering firewood and fetching water. The boys are sent out to herd the sheep and goats and cattle. They help their fathers in stumping the gardens, cutting trees and building.

There is health teaching for both boys and girls; they learn that certain things are not safe and regard them as taboos. Children are trained not to go into house where there is small-pox, not to touch clothes of a leper, nor touch a dead animal, or the bones of a dead man. These and countless other prohibitions are part of the instruction in health and bodily hygiene.

In all tribal education the emphasis lies on a particular act of behavior in a concrete situation. While the emphasis lies in the sphere of behavior, it is none the less true that the growing child is acquiring a mass of knowledge all the time. The very freedom which marks the period or child-hood gives unrivalled opportunity for picking up all sorts of information about the environment. As he roams the country-side he learns to distinguish a great variety of birds, animals, insects, trees, grasses, fruits and flowers. His interests bring him in contact with these things, since they constitute the furnishings of his play activities. He does not observe or understand them as lessons in natural history, but knows their names and as much about their habits and life-history as he needs for his purpose

When the boy is with his father or the girl with her mother in the garden, as they constantly are, they learn about the birds they see, the birds that are harmful to the crops, how they can they can be dealt with, and what birds can be eaten. In the same way they learn the trees that are good for firewood or building, for supporting the yams or propping the bananas, those that resist white ants or make the best bee-hives, stools or grain mortars and pestles. But here again the knowledge is so practical, so much preconditioned by behavior, that it can be taught and is taught mainly by doing what they are told to do on particular occasions and by not being allowed to do or to touch certain things that are always within their experience.
It is with personal relations, rather than with natural phenomena, that the Gikuyu education is concerned right from the beginning. Growing boys and girls learn that they have one thing to learn which sums up all the others, and that is the manners and deportment proper to their station in the community. They see that their happiness in the homestead, their popularity with their playmates, their present comforts and their future prospects depend on knowing their place, giving respect and obedience where it is due. Presumption, conceit and disobedience to those above them are grave offences. The whole Gikuyu society is graded by age and the prestige which accompanies a status in age-grouping, and this is done in such a way that even small children are aware of it.

INITIATION

The biggest and most drastic step is circumcision, which admits a boy or girl into full membership of the community. This used to be done when the youth could be expected to prove himself as a warrior. The customary age was thus 18 or 20. But nowadays a boy goes through this ceremony between 12 and 16.

The education given at initiation does not concern only sex, but the youth is taught with equal vividness and dramatic power the great lesson of respect for elders, manners to superiors of different grades and how to help his country. The trials of initiation teach the youth how a man must bear pain, meet with misfortune and bear himself like a warrior. He is taught to think matters over carefully and not to act on the impulse of the moment. It is borne in on him that he must work hard in the garden so that he may get the wherewithal to marry. He is taught to obey parents and older people, to help men and women who are and enfeebled and destitute, and to obey the leader by the people. He learns in particular how to behave to certain people of his wife’s family; he must use a special salutation to his mother and sister-in-law.

Boys are taught to look forward to marriage as a duty to themselves to the clan and tribe. They have to provide for wife or wives and children by working hard and multiplying sheep, goats and cattle. The breeding of children and cattle, sheep and goats are regarded in the same moral scheme as natural activities to be encouraged for the public good.

At marriage the husband is taught his duties towards a wife; to treat her well, to establish good relation with his parents-in-law and to receive their blessing before he takes their daughter to his home.

The same parallelism of grade privileges and knowledge is seen in the training of girls. When a girl is ready to be circumcised she is taught manners such as how to behave when married. It is understood that she will be married and bring wealth to her family so that a poor brother can find the guarantee necessary for marriage. She will bear many children, bring honor to her family and to the tribe, and she will provide food for the poor relation. She is taught to be gentlewoman, not to raise her eyes or voice talking to men in public, not to bathe in the open, not to eat in the presence of men other than those of her own age or kinsfolk. This teaching is given by her mother and the older women who are in the women’s advisory council, ndundu ya atumia. The women of this rank deal with all matters concerning circumcision of girls, births and other religious duties.

The girl is taught to treat strangers with the proper mixture of courtesy and suspicion. Respect for her husband’s people is inculcated and obedience to him; she is warned against hasty and impetus behavior. She is taught her husband’s right in sexual matters and her rights over against his.

CONCLUSION

The Gikuyu socialization system is emphasized by the classification of age-groups. It starts from infancy through to girl/boyhood and culminates in initiation. Further instructions may be given at marriage. The parents take charge of the responsibility of educating their children all through their lives. In fact they maybe described as custodians of tradition representing the public teaching on life and duty.








REFERENCES
Kenyatta Jomo, Facing Mount Kenya, (6th Kenyan Edition), Heinemann Kenya
Ltd. Nairobi, 1989.
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