Kîrîma. Kîrî Ma.

Let’s begin at the beginning. You see, when I was around 9 or 10 years old I saw, for the first time my name in a book. It was a schoolbook on history. I was amazed! I wanted to read all about this ancient person whose name I carry. Sadly the story was just a paragraph long. It said nearly nothing. But this ignited in me a fire that has never been quenched. I wanted to find the story of my people. What a journey that has been!

Many years later a man told me simply that the stories of our people are hidden in our rûthiomi, our language. Our tongue. So today I’ll open a window into this rûthiomi. I’ll tell you about Kîrîma.

This word Kîrîma, translated directly, is ‘mountain’. But let’s take a closer look. Let’s divide it into its two constituent words and treat it as we should. Kîrî Ma. Kîrî will translate into ‘it has’ or ‘it bears’. Ma means truth. It bears truth. See?

Deep, yes? So when the Gîkûyû say Kîrîma, they’re talking about a place of truth, sacred truth. And then the ‘historian’ comes along and tells us how our ‘primitive’ ancestors had the ‘narrow’ belief that God resides on the mountain…. Story for another day.

When the Gîkûyû speak of Kîrîma, they’re often referring to the big one, Kîrînyaga, Kîrîma kîa Ngai. Here is the place where the Gîkûyû story began, where Ngai, The Creator, took the first man and showed him his territories.

Let’s take a look at Kîrînyaga.

      Kîrî– it bears

      Nyaga– wonders, rays of the sun, white marks       (the snowy peaks).

Do you follow? Now, we all know about how the earth goes round the sun and therefore the sunrise is basically our side of the earth turning to meet the sunshine, right? And then, we know that the earth is not a perfect sphere, that it bulges along the equator. And Mount Kenya, the mighty Kîrînyaga, is placed nearly perfectly on that bulge. So, wouldn’t you agree that the first point the sun’s rays touch in the morning, on this side of the globe, is the snowy peaks of Kîrîma kîa Ngai? It’s the highest point on the bulge after all.

Now, you scientists can debate this all you want. But before you say anything, go someplace where you can see Kîrînyaga in its full splendor. Wake up before the sun rises. Be there to witness the rays of the sun as they touch the peaks of the Mountain. Witness the truth. Kîrî Ma. Then stay with me. We’ll explore the truth some more.

Nîniî, Waiyaki.