THE ORIGIN OF THE KIKUYU TRIBE

The Kikuyu refer to themselves as Mbari ya Mumbi i.e. the clan of Mumbi

The reason being we are from the same mother (MUMBI—translated as creator) and the same father (GIKUYU—from whom our tribe is named).

Mumbi gave birth to ten daughters from whom the ten clans originated.

People (including a few Kikuyu) and books written have shown that the clans are nine which is totally incorrect. The clans have been named as nine from the times of the old because our fore fathers believed that head counts of people brought death. So they never gave the correct number in fear of bringing a bad omen to their loved ones. This is not known by many people because this information was supposed to be a secret of the tribe which was rarely talked about and also the current generation is not keen to pass the traditions to their children.

When a Kikuyu did a head count it was considered that they were tired of God’s blessings and wished that God would reduce them. So when they said that there are nine clans deep in their hearts they knew that they were ten in number.

Their names with clans’ names respectively are as follows

1.       Wanjiru----the clan  Aanjiru

2.       Wanjeri----Acera

3.       Wanjiku----Agaciku

4.       Wambui ----Ambui

5.       Nyambura ----Ethaga

6.       Wangari-----Angari

7.       Waithira-----Hildebrand

8.       Wangui -----Angui( or Aithiegeni)

9.       Wamuyu ----Aicakamuyu

10.   Wairimu-----Airimu

From these ten daughters, the clan grew into the largest tribe in Kenya from whom the 1^st, the 3^rd and the 4^th president of Kenya came from.

The clan that was never counted was the Aicakamuyu.  Some people say that the mother of the clan, Wamuyu never got married and that she gave birth out of wedlock and lived with her father but there is no enough evidence to support this.