Mugo wa Kibiru or Chege (Cege) wa Kibiru was a Kenyan
sage
Sage or SAGE may refer to:
Plants
* ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb
** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family
** ''Salvia'', a large ...
from the Gikuyu tribe (Kikuyu, in Swahili) who lived in the 18th and early 19th centuries. His name "Mugo" means "a healer". Mugo wa Kibiru was born in Kariara,
Murang'a
Murang'a (or Muranga) is a town in Murang'a County of Kenya. Before the independence of Kenya in 1963, this town used to be called Fort Hall. It is the administrative centre of Murang'a County and is mainly inhabited by the Kikuyu community.
A ...
, near Thika, but his exact dates of birth and death are unknown.
There are various anecdotes regarding Chege wa Kibiru in
Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
folklore, but his claim to fame arose as a result of his accurate prophecies regarding the advent of the Caucasian (white man) on African soil long before
British missionaries
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
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set their feet in Kenya. Chege's prophecies were that there would come a race of people whose skin complexion would resemble a small pale coloured frog that lives in water (kiengere) and one would be able to see their blood flowing under their skins just like the frog. And these pale strangers would have clothing that resembles butterflies (ciĩuhuruta) in their colourful aspect. And that these pale strangers would carry magical sticks that would produce fire (guns firing bullets), and it will be foolish for our warriors to confront them with their spears. Chege also prophesied that there would be a cultural erosion of tribal customs where Kikuyu youth would adopt the ways of the Caucasians. The Caucasians would also carry fire in their pockets (matchboxes). Cooked food previously never sold in Kikuyu custom, would be sold on roadsides and markets all over the country. The plains where the
Maasai Maasai may refer to:
* Maasai people
*Maasai language
* Maasai mythology
* MAASAI (band)
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* Masai (disambiguation)
* Massai
Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
graze their cattle would be farmed. Chege prophesied the coming of the
Uganda Railway
The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...
line that would stretch from one body of water
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
in the east to another in the west
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
and described an iron snake that would have many "legs" like an earthworm (train), travelling on this railway line, eating the Caucasians and vomiting them when it stopped (train journey with passengers). According to the prophecy, the iron snake would have a bushy head bellowing smoke. Chege predicted with astonishing accuracy that there would be a famine in Kikuyuland that would exterminate much of the tribe right before the arrival of these pale coloured strangers or foreigners.
The Sacred Tree
Chege foretold that the Kikuyus and other tribes would be colonised by the Caucasians but that the colonisation would end after many years (68 years) with the result that the Caucasians would leave Kenya.He advised his peolpel to endeavour to learn the virtues of the White men(Caucasians) but keenly reject his vices. Chege predicted that a
giant fig tree 15 feet in diameter located in
Thika
Thika Thika (pronounced θika is an industrial town and a major commerce hub in Kiambu County, Kenya, lying on the A2 road 42 kilometres (26 mi) Northeast of Nairobi, near the confluence of the Thika and Chania Rivers. Although Thika town ...
, 26 miles north of
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, would wither and die by the day Kenya gained independence. Chege's
prophecies
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...
had proved so accurate that the
fig tree
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending int ...
was regarded as sacred by the Kikuyus; even the British administrators/colonialists took the prophecy very seriously that they tended to and reinforced the fig tree with a mound of earth, and then built an iron ring around it to prevent it from falling. These measures were bound to fail. Shortly before Kenya gained independence from the British, the fig tree was struck by lightning and began to wither rapidly. On 12 December 1963 when Kenya officially became an independent state, the tree had decayed and died thereby fulfilling Chege wa Kibiru's prophecy over a century earlier.
Literature
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, 1965. ''The River Between''
Chege wa Kibiru appears as a secondary character in "The River Between" as Waiyaki's fore-father:
"Had not Mugo Kibiru the great seer, in whose line Chege and his son run, talked about the coming of the white man? Mugo told people that 'You could not cut butterflies with a panga (machete or cutlass).... you could not spear them until you learnt their ways of movement, trap and fight back'"- page 20 -
[''The River Between'', Heinemann, 1965, 1989 (London); ]
Ngûgî wa Thiong'o, 1967. ''A Grain of Wheat''
Mugo wa Kibiru is mentioned in this literary classic.
"Its (Mau Mau movement) origins can, so the people say, be traced to the day the whiteman came to the country, clutching the book of God in both hands, a magic witness that the whiteman was a messenger from the Lord. His tongue was coated with sugar: his humility was touching. For a time, people ignored the voice of the Gikuyu seer who once said: there shall come a people with clothes like the butterflies"- page 10 - ''A Grain of Wheat'', Heineman, 1967, 1986, 2002 Heinemann (London); .
"Waiyaki and other warrior-leaders took arms. The iron snake spoken of by Mugo wa Kibiro was quickly wriggling towards Nairobi for a thorough exploitation of the hinterland"- page 12 - ''A Grain of Wheat'', 1967, 1986, 2002, Heinemann (London); .
Mugia, D., 1979. ''Ũrathi wa Cege wa Kibiru ''
Controversy
Some scholars cast doubt on these prophecies, claiming that Chege wa Kĩbirũ must have heard about Caucasians and trains from Kikuyu traders who might have travelled to the coast for trade purposes. And it would certainly have been easy to know about guns, clothing, trains and railways from the Arabs and Caucasians with stories from Kikuyu traders reaching the hinterland from the coastal region where many
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
and Caucasians carried out their trade. The question would then be; how did Chege know that the Uganda Railway would stretch from one body of water to another many years before the railway was laid out? Chege was long dead before the beginning of the railway construction in 1901. Furthermore, what about Chege's accurate prophecies regarding the falling of the giant fig tree signifying end of colonial rule, the great famine in the late 19th century, and the subsequent cultural erosion of African values and customs? Leakey says that trade contacts existed between Arabs and the Kikuyu for a while, and it is possible that these contacts existed only in certain parts of the Kikuyu nation and not everywhere. Boyes in his accounts testifies that he was the first white man that some Kikuyus in a particular region, saw, and that he was an object of great curiosity. Boyes states that he enjoyed demonstrating his "white powers" by shooting a hole through a soft barked tree with a rifle .
See also
*
Kikuyu people
The Kikuyu (also ''Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group.
The te ...
References
* Thiong'o, Ngûgî,(1967), Eds. ''A Grain of Wheat'', 1967, 1986, 2002, Heinemann (London):
* Kenyatta, Jomo (1938), ''Facing Mt. Kenya'' (1938), Secker and Warburg (London).
* Mugia, D. Kinuthia (1979), ''Ũrathi wa Cege wa Kibiru'' (1979), Kenya Literature Bureau (Nairobi).
* Mutaarani (1953), ''A Kikuyu Reader for Std. IV'', 1953, Catholic Mission Press (Nyeri).
* Muriuki Godfrey (1974), ''A History of the Kikuyu, 1500-1900'', 1974, Oxford University Press (London).
* Cagnolo, Fr. C. (1933), ''The Agikuyu, Their Customs, Traditions and Folklore'', 1933, First Edition, Consolata Catholic Mission (Nyeri).
Further reading
* Kenyatta, Jomo, ''Facing Mt. Kenya'' (1938)
* Mugia, D. Kinuthia, ''Ũrathi wa Cege wa Kibiru'' (1979)
External links
* http://www.szirine.com/2004/09/20/the-mugumo-fig-tree-of-kenya/
* http://www.ocms.ac.uk/docs/20051004_Ranger.pdf/
* http://nyerikiambu.wordpress.com/special-professions/
* ''The River Between'', Heinemann, 1965, 1989,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibiru, Mugo
Prophets
Kenyan culture
History of Kenya
Kenyan religious leaders
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing