Giriama Names
Giriama Nomenclature Giriama people speak Kigiriama, or Kigiryama, a sub-language of the Mijikenda. Kigiryama like all the nine tribes closely have related languages belonging to the Bantu language that forms part of the more prominent Niger-Congo language family. Giriama are amongst the largest (or the second largest after Digo) of the Mijikenda There is politics…
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Erick Saddam
History of The Giriama people
History of The Giriama people Giriama are part of Mijikenda people whose oral history relates that the ancestors of the Mijikenda, who were then one people, lived in a place called Singwaya, believed to be north of Tana River and south ofJuba River in Somalia. However due to conflicts with other communities there they…
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Erick Saddam
Giriama Traditional Wedding
Kuhaswa – Traditional Giriama wedding The parents of the bridegroom look for the bride. They go to the bride’s home and the bridegroom’s father introduces himself and then says ”Fudzire mala Mudzungu wa utsunguni”. We have come to look for the cucumber, which is painful. The father of the bride answers ”nauhambale” let the painful…
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Erick Saddam
The ‘mad’ Kenyan woman who rattled the British
Mekatilili wa Menza Mekatilili wa Menza may have been in the freedom struggle scene for a short time, but her contribution in raising the African consciousness among the Giriama people of the Coastal Kenya was immense.Mekatilili was one of the first women in Kenya to rise up against the British in 1913. Her bravery, oratorical…
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Erick Saddam
Mepoho: The Tale of the Magical Giriama Woman
Mepoho: The Tale of the Magical Giriama Woman Mepoho was a Giriama woman who lived in the 13th century. The Giriama are a subgroup of the Mijikenda, or 9 villages, who largely reside along the the Kenyan Coast. Legend has it that, some women who had gone to get water one chilly morning found Baby…
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