Meru Tribe Overview
Meru Tribe or Amîîrú (including the Ngaa) are a Bantu ethnic group that occupy the Meru region of Kenya. The region is situated on the fertile lands of the north an d eastern slopes of Mount Kenya in the one-time Eastern Province.
The word Meru means ‘shining light’ in the Meru language. In Kiswahili, the Meru are named Ng’aa, a word meaning ‘Dazzling or Shining’ in both languagesAmeru in the Meru language means ‘the shining ones’ or ‘the children of the shining one’. The word Miiru was also used to refer to the nearby forests of Mount Kenya, thus the name Amiiru, meaning ‘people of the forest’.
The Meru tribe consists of nine sub-tribes of which, speaks its own version of the Kimeru language. The most common version is the Imenti which is used by the majority in the tribe. The other sub-tribes include the Mwimbi, Tigania, Igembe, Igoji and Muthambi. The other two sub-tribes are Chuka and Tharaka but they have oral histories differences and mythology.
History of The Meru Tribe
The Meru people believe that they originated from the far north and magically crossed the big water body called Mbwaa. They also claim to have been slaves to the “Red people” and its after their successful escape that they crossed Mbwaa to settle at their present homeland.
Meru Tribe Population
Meru County has a population of 1.35 million people. It is home to the Meru people.
Meru People – Njuri Ncheke
The group was led by an elected/ nominated council of elders right from the lowest level (clans) up to the main council that ruled over all the clans called Njuri Ncheke. The Njuri Ncheke was led by the senior chief known as the Mogwe(Mugwe) until 1974. The Njuri Ncheke members had the power to administer justice to anyone accused and found guilty.
The Meru lived as one great community up to the year 1992 when the great Meru was divided into three districts, Meru, Nyambene, and Tharaka districts. They were later divided further into counties after the promulgation of the constitution in 2010 Tharaka-nithi county and Meru County.
Meru Tribe – The Seer / Prophets in Meru Culture
Meru people strongly believed in the prophets of the land, Mugwe/ agwe who was their overall leader. He guided them spiritually and physically and they believed he could never mislead them in any way. The mugwe was the only person with the power to offer sacrifices to the gods at the tribal shrines where they believed the spirits resided.
The position of a seer was inherited by the next of kin to the acting mugwe. the next mugwe started to prepare and learn all the skills at a very tender age so as to ensure perfection when his time comes. He was supposed to lead a very pure life without any kind of blemish either physically or emotionally.
Meru Culture
The Meru people practiced different kinds of cultural practices, among them the circumcision of both boys and girls. Once one had gone through circumcision, the boys could no longer have a close relationship with their mothers, and girls had to stay away from their fathers.
Other curious practices included holding a newlyborn child to face Mt Kenya and then blessing it by spitting on it. The women had their palms open and the men had their palms facing Mt Kenya during the prayers. At the birth of a boy child women would ululate four times in joy while at the birth of a girl child, they ululate three times.
Meru Clan Names
The Ameru people comprise nine subgroups: the Igoji, Igembe, Mwimbi, Muthambi, Chuka, Imenti, Tigania, Mitine, and Tharaka. The Tharaka live in the semi-arid part of Greater Meru and they, along with the Mwimbi, Chuka, and Muthambi, form the Tharaka-Nithi County.
Characteristics of Meru Ladies
- Meru women are known for their participation in rites of passage, such as clitoridectomy, which is an important part of their culture.
- They are also known for their roles in the community, including partaking in women’s councils.
Taboos in Meru Culture
- A teenage mother with her baby. Among the Ameru, girls who give birth before marriage are mostly condemned and treated as outcasts. They have to remain at their father’s home or get married to aged family men as second or third wives.
- Sometimes pregnant girls are thrown out to go look for the boys or men who impregnated them.
- They also had a great taboo about death, and believed that a corpse was defiled. They called this rukuu, meaning ‘severed from the living’. If people realized that a neighbour of theirs was going to die, they would take him into the forest and shelter him in a hut they put up there, which was unsurprisingly called the “hut of death”. The about-to-be-deceased’s name was not to be cited anymore.
- It was a taboo to touch the dead. The hut in which somebody died had to be destroyed.
Circumcision in the Meru Tribe
Once a certain group of boys and girls had attained the ideal age for circumcision, the clan elders would organize a big dance for them the night before the circumcision day. The young boys would dance all night together around a huge fire as they await to be initiated to the next stage of life. The next day early in the morning they would all go to the river for a cold bath to make the body numb.
Later they would face the person trained traditionally for the circumcision job. The group is then led home by elders and the young persons who have already gone through the rite to respective areas set aside for them. The area was usually a big room called “Gaaru” away from their respective homes with beds for all of them and would stay there until fully healed. Girls too had a place set aside for them.
During their stay in the rooms, they would undergo a serious section of guidance and counselling with the elders and youths older than them.
Meru Tribe – Agricultural practices
The Meru tribe is also known for its intense farming skills majoring in Miraa, coffee, and tea as well as bananas. Other than the above they also practiced growing cereals. They were also livestock keepers though this was done in very small numbers.
Meru Culture – Marriage
In most cases, the marriage partners were selected by the parents of the boy when the girl was still at a very tender age. The marriage between the two would officially take place after the circumcision and when the girl is fully healed.
The man would arrange for a visit to a girl’s home with his father and his kinsmen to declare his interest and later the girl would follow him to his home and stay for four days before going back home for the official marriage ceremony and dowry payment. On this first day, the man would come with a ewe and a container of honey.
Meru Traditions – Dowry
Dowry was mostly paid in form of livestock and guards of beer. 48 goats and 12 cows was the official price set by the Meru people but could be negotiated. The man seeking a wife would also come along with elders from his clan carrying four guards of beer to offer the other elders from the girl’s home.
After the bride price had been paid in full and to satisfaction the elders would bless the girl before she left the home and women would dance in joy.
Meru Tribe – Meru Women
In the old days, the women in Meru were treated as the least important members of the community. They were expected to be submissive to the men and never to question any decision made by the men. Only a few lucky women were given leadership in the society. Women had a responsibility to train their daughters on how to be perfect wives once married.
Religious Beliefs of the Meru People
Starting from the word go the Meru people have traditionally believed in the existence of a supernatural being (God). They believed that God was always good to them and would never do them any harm. They also believed in both good spirits and bad spirits. The bad spirits (referred to as Nkoma) were believed to be responsible for all the bad calamities in the land while the good spirits (ancestral and protective spirits) were there to guide and protect them from the evil ones.
They believed that God (Murungu) passed by Mt. Kenya and that is why they face the mountain when praying. The prayers were always done with the women’s palms spread out to receive blessings while the men had their hands raised with palms facing the mountain to ask for blessings.
The Beauty of Meru Land
Though Meru land isn’t as large as most of the Kenyan tribal land, it is equipped with amazing sites that would leave you amazed if you visited them. If you are a tourist either from within or outside Kenya propose to visit this amazing land someday.
Some of its beauties include: Lake Nkuunga which is situated at the end of the Meru forest referred to as Nkuunga forest. The forest is home to many wild animals but the most common ones are the great elephants.
Threat to Meru Culture
Though the Meru people have somehow managed to maintain their culture over time, there are great threats to it due to the Western way of life being emulated by the people, who now see the cultural practices as outdated.
The Ameru were ruled by
The Ameru were ruled by elected and hierarchical councils of elders since the 17th century. These extend from the clan level up to the supreme Njuri Ncheke council. Membership of the Njuri Ncheke is also the highest social rank to which a Meru man can aspire.
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