Mbwaa

Last updated

Mbwaa is an origin narrative of the Meru peoples of Kenya. It is a widely told tale that has been narrated for at least three centuries. These traditions have been widely linked to the Shungwaya origin narrative. However it has been noted that a number of inconsistencies appear in the telling of this narrative. [1] It thus may be, a conflation of two or more peoples origin narratives. Indeed subsequent events in the narrative lead up to the assimilation of two peoples, referred to as Muku-Ngaa and Murutu, both of whom contribute to the present Meru identity.

Contents

Name

The location is commonly referred to as Mbwaa. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Time period

Meru traditions agree that their identity formed on Mbwaa. [3] [6] According to traditions captured by Fadiman (1960's), the last age-set recalled to have lived on Mbwaa were the Ntangi, a period dated to circa 1700.

We began on Mbwaa...It was the time when the men of Ntangi were warriors.

Meru chronicles [7]

Way of life

The way of life practiced on Mbwaa includes practices of both communities. It is presently unclear to whom what pertains.

Trade

In the telling, the people of Mbwaa were traders. They sold ivory to a figure referred to as Mukuna Ruku around whom a body of related folklore has grown. [6] [3] According to certain traditions, this ivory was sourced from a group of people referred to as Nguo Ntuni who lived within small walled villages that were scattered at various points on the mainland and used as trading centers.

Mukuna Ruku lived behind a log stockade that the Nguo Ntuni had constructed on the mainland. He had red skin, which he kept covered at all times with cloth, a fact the islanders found odd. Mukuna Ruku is described to have been unique in that he never appeared or spoke to the islanders. Instead, men of Mbwaa left heavy loads of ivory at the narrow gate of the stockade. Then they beat upon a piece of wood that hung nearby (gakuna ruku: to beat a piece of wood) and having drawn attention they withdrew from view.

The gate then opened, and Mukuna Ruku took the tusks, leaving prescribed amounts of beads in exchange ("placing tucu, marutia, and ngambi (beads) into the horn"). He beat the wood once more to attract the islanders' attention, then left. No word was spoken on either side. [2]

Fishing

As told, the economy of the island was based largely on fishing. Men carved small wooden hooks to catch tiny fish along the reefs. [8]

Agriculture

Accounts indicate that men of Mbwaa also kept goats, sheep, and short-horned cattle. Through trade they acquired donkeys from a people re-called as Cucu (Somali). The donkeys drew water from shallow wells dug near the island's center. The wells also supported crops of millet and yams, supplemented by sugar cane, bananas, and sap from a palm that was brewed into beer. [8]

Conquest & Invasion

In all accounts, the people of Mbwaa were conquered by an invading people that appear to have a different way of life. Inconsistencies however are found in the description of the invaders. [5] [9] The conquest and invasion traditions contain within them a number of narratives that can and have been tangentially linked to either the Ngaa or Murutu communities.

Ngaa traditions

In some accounts, the invaders arrive in a large sailing vessel that landed on the mainland opposite the islands western shore. Invaders from the ships then crossed the intervening waters on crude wooden rafts. [5] [9]

These accounts tend to refer to the invaders as Nguruntune, or red-legs, a term that the Batu speaking peoples used in olden days to refer to non-Africans such as Europeans, Persians and Arabs. [10] Writing on these traditions, Fadiman states...

They appeared in a large sailing vessel that landed on the mainland, opposite the island's western shore. The ship's crew then crossed the intervening waters on crude wooden rafts. The invaders are remembered as taller and lighter skinned than the islanders...Informants differ on the nature of the conquest. Some state that there was a single battle in which the use of the guns proved decisive...

Fadiman, 1994 [7]

These elements of Fadiman's narrative bear similarity to Osório's account of The Battle of Brava (1507). This city, present day Barawe in Somalia is located due east/north-east of where the people of Ngaa, who migrated west, would later end up. It is peopled today by the people of Somalia, with whom the people of Ngaa are said to have traded with. Further the general region is Cushitic speaking as the Ngaa (Yaaku) people are thought to have been. All these tangential links would seem to be affirmed by the apparent link between the early Mukunu Ruku narrative and the accounts of the Captaincy of the Malindi coast. Moreover, they are borne out by the remarkable similarity in narratives, set almost two centuries apart. Osório states that...

Cugna having finished his business at Melinda, now (sailed north). He steered next for Brava...Having anchored in this port, he immediately sent Leonel Coutign (on a long boat) to wait on the heads of this place...Cugna, having discovered this artifice, resolved immediately to assault the city...He drew up his men on the shore, and formed them into two lines: the first which consisted of 900 men, he gave to Alphonso Albuquerque and he himself headed the second, in which there were 600 soldiers. In the city there was a garrison of 4000 men; of these 2000 immediately sallied forth...The conflict was severe, but the Portuguese charged the enemy with so much fury...The fight was continued with the utmost fury on both fides, till Cugna came up, whose approach struck such a damp into the enemy, that they fled with the greatest precipitation...

Osório, 1752 [11]

Flight

The narratives concerning the flight from Mbwaa, more so those that deal with the immediate escape also bear remarkable similarity to Osório's account.

...elaborate plans were made for the flight. Specific clans were designated to carry and protect certain objects while on the march. The yam, for example, was carried by the clan now known as Abwekana (gikana: yam stem)... When night fell, every dwelling in the village was set afire, thereby providing the great glow in the sky...The warrior band set out immediately afterward, leaving by the light of the moon.

Fadiman, 1994 [7]

Fadiman's understanding of the narratives he took lead him to state that in his estimation, "...The Nguo Ntuni may originally have come merely to plunder, perhaps attracted by the occasional tusks the islanders brought to trade.". here too, the Meru narratives and Fadiman's understanding of them find exceptional congruence in Osório's narrative;

The city being plundered, vast booty was carried aboard the ships... The Portuguese lost about fifty of their men, and several were dangerously wounded; eighteen more perished in the long boat, which through insatiable avarice they had loaded so immoderately...The city being plundered, Cugna ordered it to be fired, and thus it was reduced to ashes, the enemy at a little distance beholding this dismal spectacle...

Osório, 1752 [11]

Murutu traditions

There are narratives that give a picture of an invasion, as opposed to a single instance conflict. In these accounts, the residents did not immediately leave. [5] [9] Rather they refer to invaders who wore a single, red cloth, tied around the waist and at the shoulder, and bound another around their heads. Each carried a short sword of the scimitar type, of which the blade curved backwards and only the outer edge was honed. [5] [10] These narratives tend to portray a period of submission to the new rulers before which the islanders grew hostile, refusing to herd flocks and till fields as commanded. All these are congruent with present understanding of Shungwaya traditions.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crossing the Red Sea</span> Part of the biblical narrative of the Exodus

The Crossing of the Red Sea or Parting of the Red Sea is an episode in the origin myth of The Exodus in the Hebrew Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rennell and Bellona Province</span> Province in Tigoa, Solomon Islands

Rennell and Bellona is one of the nine provinces of Solomon Islands, comprising two inhabited atolls, Rennell and Bellona, or Mu Ngava and Mu Ngiki respectively in Rennellese, as well as the uninhabited Indispensable Reef. Rennell and Bellona are both Polynesian-inhabited islands within the predominantly Melanesian Solomons. They are thus considered Polynesian outliers. The first known European to sight the islands was Mathew Boyd of Camberwell, London, commander of the merchant ship, Bellona, in 1793. The province has a combined population of 3,041, the least populous province of Solomon Islands. The Samoic language of the islands is, in English texts, called Rennellese. The province's capital is Tigoa, on Rennell Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaga people</span> Ethnic group from Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania

The Chagga are a Bantu ethnic group from Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. They are the third-largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They historically lived in sovereign Chagga states on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in both Kilimanjaro Region and eastern Arusha Region.

Yam was a god representing the sea and other sources of water worshiped in various locations on the eastern Mediterranean coast, as well as further inland in modern Syria. He is best known from the Ugaritic texts. While he was a minor deity in Ugaritic religion, he is nonetheless attested as a recipient of offerings, and a number of theophoric names invoking him have been identified. He also played a role in Ugaritic mythology. In the Baal Cycle he is portrayed as an enemy of the weather god, Baal. Their struggle revolves around attaining the rank of the king of the gods. The narrative portrays Yam as the candidate favored by the senior god El, though ultimately it is Baal who emerges victorious. Yam nonetheless continues to be referenced through the story after his defeat. In texts from other archaeological sites in Syria, attestations of Yam are largely limited to theophoric names. In Emar he was among the many deities venerated during a local festival, zukru, which took place once every seven years.

The Yaaku are a people who are said to have lived in regions of southern Ethiopia and central Kenya, possibly through to the 18th century. The language they spoke is today called Yaakunte. The Yaaku assimilated a hunter-gathering population, whom they called Mukogodo, when they first settled in their place of origin and the Mukogodo adopted the Yaakunte language. However, the Yaaku were later assimilated by a food producing population and they lost their way of life. The Yaakunte language was kept alive for sometime by the Mukogodo who maintained their own hunter-gathering way of life, but they were later immersed in Maasai culture and adopted the Maa language and way of life. The Yaakunte language is today facing extinction but is undergoing a revival movement. In the present time, the terms Yaaku and Mukogodo, are used to refer to a population living in Mukogodo forest west of Mount Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meru people</span> Kenyan ethnic group

The Meru or Amîîrú are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit the Meru region of Kenya. The region is situated on the fertile lands of the north and eastern slopes of Mount Kenya in the former Eastern Province.

The Agumba people were an ethnic group who inhabited the forests of Mount Kenya, but are now either extinct or assimilated.

Kurahaupō was one of the great ocean-going, voyaging canoes that was used in the migrations that settled New Zealand in Māori tradition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yam Island</span> Island in Queensland, Australia

Yam Island, called Yama or Iama in the Kulkalgau Ya language or Turtle-backed Island in English, is an island of the Bourke Isles group of the Torres Strait Islands, located in the Tancred Passage of the Torres Strait in Queensland, Australia. The island is situated approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Thursday Island and measures about 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi). The island is an official locality known as Iama Island within the local government area of Torres Strait Island Region. The town, also called Yam Island, is located on the north-west coast of the island. In the 2021 census, Iama Island had a population of 275 people.

<i>The Log from the Sea of Cortez</i> Book by John Steinbeck

The Log from the Sea of Cortez is an English-language book written by American author John Steinbeck and published in 1951. It details a six-week marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the Gulf of California, with his friend, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts. It is regarded as one of Steinbeck's most important works of non-fiction chiefly because of the involvement of Ricketts, who shaped Steinbeck's thinking and provided the prototype for many of the pivotal characters in his fiction, and the insights it gives into the philosophies of the two men.

The Rwa or Meru sometimes Rwo are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based on the south and eastern slopes of Mount Meru in Meru District of the Arusha Region of Tanzania, the Rwa population is estimated to number 198,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bajuni people</span> Bantu ethnic group

The Bajuni people are a Bantu ethnic group who live primarily in the Bajuni Islands of Somalia and coastal areas between the port city of Kismayo and the city of Mombasa in Kenya. They relocated from Shungwaya (Somalia) to their current location due to war with Cushitic groups, who drove them out from their ancestral territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuka, Kenya</span>

Chuka is a town on the eastern slopes of Mount Kenya, in Kenya about 65 km south Of Meru Town. It falls within Tharaka-Nithi County and the former Eastern Province. Between 1992 and 2009, Chuka was the capital of Tharaka Nithi District. Tharaka Nithi District was further split into Meru South and Tharaka Districts with Chuka remaining the Capital of Meru South. Later, Meru South and Tharaka were amalgamated into Tharaka-Nithi County.

The Lumbwa were a pastoral community which inhabited southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The term Lumbwa has variously referred to a Kalenjin-speaking community, portions of the Maa-speaking Loikop communities since the mid-19th century, and to the Kalenjin-speaking Kipsigis community for much of the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.

The Loikop people, also known as Wakuafi, Kor, Mu-Oko, Muoko/Ma-Uoko and Mwoko, were a tribal confederacy who inhabited present-day Kenya in the regions north and west of Mount Kenya and east and south of Lake Turkana. The area is roughly conterminous with Samburu and Laikipia Counties and portions of Baringo, Turkana and (possibly) Meru Counties. The group spoke a common tongue related to the Maasai language, and typically herded cattle. The Loikop occasionally interacted with the Cushitic, Bantu, and Chok peoples. The confederacy had dispersed by the 21st century.

The people of the Trobriand Islands are mostly subsistence horticulturalists who live in traditional settlements. The social structure is based on matrilineal clans that control land and resources. People participate in the regional circuit of exchange of shells called kula, sailing to visit trade partners on seagoing canoes. In the late twentieth century, anti-colonial and cultural autonomy movements gained followers from the Trobriand societies. When inter-group warfare was forbidden by colonial rulers, the islanders developed a unique, aggressive form of cricket.

The Ngaa people were a community that according to the traditions of many Kenyan communities inhabited regions of the Swahili coast and the Kenyan hinterland at various times in history.

The Murutu people were a community that, according to the oral literature of the Meru people of Kenya, inhabited regions of the Swahili coast and the Kenyan hinterland at various times in history.

The Athi were an ethnic group who lived around Mount Kenya up to and during the eighteenth and possibly nineteenth centuries. Many of their traditions have been captured among the Meru and Kikuyu people of Kenya. According to Meru traditions, the Athi were predated in their areas of occupation by the Agumba people.

The Burkineji were a pastoral community who inhabited regions of northern Kenya through to the late 19th century. The present day Samburu consider themselves a descendant community of the Burkineji.

References

  1. Fadiman, J., When We Began There Were Witchmen, University of California Press, 1994, p.44 online
  2. 1 2 Fadiman, J., When We Began There Were Witchmen, University of California Press, 1994, p.44
  3. 1 2 3 Needham, Rodney (1960). "The Left Hand of the Mugwe: An Analytical Note on the Structure of Meru Symbolism". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 30 (1): 22. doi:10.2307/1157738. JSTOR   1157738.
  4. Mburugu, Dr. Kirema; Macharia, Prof. David (2016). "Resolving conflicts using indigenous institutions" (PDF). International Journal of Science Arts and Commerce. 1 (4): 20. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Mungiria, Nkumbuku (2003). "1" (PDF). The roleplayed by women in influencing female circumcision among the Meru of Kenya (PhD). Institute of African Studies: University of Nairobi. Retrieved August 24, 2019.
  6. 1 2 Fadiman, Jeffrey (1994). When We Began There Were Witchmen. California: University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN   9780520086159.
  7. 1 2 3 Fadiman, J., When We Began There Were Witchmen, University of California Press, 1994, p.19
  8. 1 2 Fadiman, J., When We Began There Were Witchmen, University of California Press, 1994, p.20
  9. 1 2 3 Fadiman, J., When We Began There Were Witchmen, University of California Press, 1994, p.46
  10. 1 2 Fadiman, J., When We Began There Were Witchmen, University of California Press, 1994, p.42-46
  11. 1 2 Osório, Jerónimo; Gibbs, James (1752). The history of the Portuguese, during the reign of Emmanuel : containing all their discoveries, from the coast of Africk to the farthest parts of China; their battles by sea and land, their sieges, and other memorable exploits: with a description of those countries, and a particular account of the religion, government, and customs of the natives; including also, their discovery of the Brazils, and their wars with the Moors. London: A. Millar. p.  30.