The Akamba – Concept of the Supreme Being & Totems

Staff Writer


Table of Contents

Here is a brief account of the religious beliefs of the Akamba. Spanning through Central Bantu, the Akamba ethnic group is estimated to be about 4.4 million people and occupies Southeastern Kenya in areas, such as Kangundo, Kibwezi, Kitui, Machakos, Makueni and Mwingi Districts and the Ukamba. A swathe of the Akamba population can also be found in the Mazeras and Kwale Districts of the Coast Province in Shiba Hills. The Akamba languages are Kikamba and Swahili.

Globally, the Akamba are not exclusively a Kenyan or African tribe. They can be found in Uganda, Tanzania, and Paraguay, which makes it partly an indigenous group and partly an autochthonal group. Argument from migration theory suggests that Akamba came from Kilimanjaro (a word that means ‘mountain of whiteness’), basing their arguments on the similarity of certain cultural features with the Wachagga people of Kilimanjaro. However, there’s the likelihood of Akamba originating from Kilimanjaro. Hence, they once inhabited an area called Ulu, a word that means ‘upper’ in Kamba.  

Supreme Being (Worships and Venerations)

The Akamba belief in God is termed monotheistic and his abode is somewhere in the sky. Like most African religions and native religions of many traditions, Akamba addresses their Supreme Being with quite different names, such as:

Mulungu 

Mulungu comes from the word ‘Mungu’ which stands for God. This name is like the Judaic YHWH; it has no compare or equal. It’s next to nothing. It is the holiest of all names and is reserved for the Supreme Being. Other names are used instead to describe the role and activities of the Supreme Being.

Mumbi 

Mumbi literary means ‘to mould’. Here, The Supreme Being is viewed as the creator, fashioner, or maker of everything. The Supreme Being gives life and sustains it.

Mwatuangi 

This means ‘the person who divides.’ This name further describes the creative role of the Supreme Being as well as his immanence and transcendence. Though the Supreme Being is independent of the world, the terrestrial definitions of mankind with complementary features and faculties show a genuine communion between the Supreme Being and creation.

Ngai 

This is used to address the Supreme Being, especially by the Akamba and Masai. In some instances, the Supreme Being is addressed as Ngai Mumbi.

Asa 

This literary means ‘Father’. Here the Supreme Being is presented with an attribute like a human’s understanding of parenting. Here, the Supreme Being is caring, fending, protecting, providing, kind, generous, loving, and of course, reprimanding like earthly fathers. The attribute of fatherhood as well as the different names given to God remove the Akamba Deity from being categorized as ‘Deus otiosus’ or an idle god.

Ancestors

The Akamba respect their ancestors whom they deem to have led good and wonderful lives while on earth. Hence, the dead family members are respected, invoked, and honoured through sacrifices at their shrines. However, this respect for ancestors does not mean that they are worshipped. Far from it. The Akamba only worships the Supreme Being.

Totems

Totemism is in Akamba’s belief system. They have a full understanding of the significance of objects and places identified as sacred, such as shrines, trees, mountains, hills, and some rocks. Prayers, sacrifices, and rituals are offered around and in those places. That they understand the significance of those objects and places does not mean that they are worshipped. They revere them and separate them from the profane.

Some of the identified totems or symbols of the people include:

  • Bows and Arrows - Syano na Thyaka
  • The Jackal – Mbiwa
  • A bKindleindile
  • The long-tailed monkey - Ngima.
  • The bushbuck - Nthwaia
  • Sand containing iron – Muthanga
  • The Baboon - Nguli. 
  • The Lion – Munyambu
  • The Hawk – Mbolosya
  • The Crow – Ngunguu
  • The fig tree – Kiumo
  • The Leopard – Ngo
  • The Secretary Bird – Ndei
  • The Porcupine – Nzee

In effect, one can say that the Akamba’s religion is almost one with who they are. Their worldview revolves around the cooperation between the Supreme Being, the ancestors, the living, and nature. The Supreme Being continues to create their world by his continuous moulding and dividing of things and they continue to relish his paternal care and love.  

Sources

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Kenya: The Kamba tribe, including its traditions and beliefs; the religion practised; and whether female genital mutilation is practised, 1 December 1998, KEN30713.E, https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/1283857.html (accessed 18 October 2021).

Gerhard Lindblom, The Akamba in British East Africa: an Ethnological Monograph, formerly published as a university dissertation at Upsala, digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://archive.org/stream/akambainbritishe00lindiala/akambainbritishe00lindiala_djvu.txt (accessed 17 October 2021).

Finke, J. 2003. Kamba Religion and Beliefs in Traditional Music and Cultures of Kenya, http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/kamba/beliefs.htm (accessed 15 October 2021).

Ndeto, Kivuto. Elements of Akamba Life. East African Publishing House, 1972.

Akamba Clans. 20 Akamba Clans and their Symbols in The Akamba of Kenya, https://www.machakos.org/akamba-culture (accessed 10 October 2021). 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Connection between a Personal Name and Name Groups in Shawnee Social Organisation

Staff Writer
Table of Contents Shawnee People The Divisions The Name Groups and Personal Names I’m always attracted to and interested in the culturally distinct and characteristic elements of different traditions or societies. Reading about the Shawnee people of Native American tribes is no different. I immediately fell in love with the linkage between Shawnee name groups and personal names. The name groups seem to present the Shawnee as a one-descent group with five major divisions. To examine this connection between a personal name and name group, a brief description of Shawnee will help in understanding the Shawnee social organisation. Shawnee People The term ‘Shawnee’ written in different forms ( Shaawanwaki, Shaawanowi lenaweeki, and Shawano ) is Algonquian like the archaic term ‘ shaawanwa ’ meaning ‘south.’ Thus, the term ‘Shawnee’ is (pronounced shaw-nee ) meaning the ‘southern people.’ The Shawnees are categorised as Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people whose pristine ho
Continue reading »

Early Contacts between Christianity and Islam

Staff Writer
Table of Contents Early Contacts between Christianity and Islam Monk Bahira The Migration to Axum Kingdom Christianity and Islam have always been two noxious bedfellows and yet always proclaim and wish peace on earth. It would not be a crass assumption to state that the two religions have over the centuries crossed paths and re-crossed paths many times. Crossing paths might have been in their ideologies, conflicts, doctrinal interpretations and even sharing some physical spaces. Therefore, in this brief writing, we will explore the early contacts between Christianity and Islam and see how they have influenced each other. Early Contacts between Christianity and Islam The early contacts between Christianity and Islam were not short of frames.  According to Kaufman et al., “frames are cognitive shortcuts that people use to help make sense of complex information.” They are means of interpreting our world and perhaps, the world of other people around us.  Such interpretations helped them to
Continue reading »

Begrudging & Infightings: Aztec’s Theogony & Cosmogony

Staff Writer
Table of Contents Tezcatlipoca Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Chalchiuhtlicue Nanauatzin Cosmic Order – The Balance Aztec is a name used to describe the Nahuatl-speaking people who thrived in central Mexico circa the 14 th  and 16 th  centuries as an empire and dominated large parts of Mesoamerica. Variously, the Aztecs had different names. They are known as Aztlan (which means ‘White Land’), the Tenochca (a name adopted from one of their ancestors called Tenoch), and the Mexica, which was a derivative from Metzliapan (which stands for ‘Moon Lake’). Ancient Aztec religious beliefs and practices were tied to their understanding of the world; the people were deeply amazed by the thought of the unknown, the universe and the end of time. These thoughts arouse some curiosity and awareness to understand better their world and how it came about. I used the term ‘theogony’ to describe the Aztecs’ generations of gods however, not in the context of Greek mythology where the ‘primordial deities’ were the fi
Continue reading »

President Biden’s Age is now the problem! Where’s the ADA?

Staff Writer
After the first US presidential debate, and the slow start of the incumbent, President Joe Biden, the democrats lost their minds. The democrats started to play with the acronym “SCAMPER.” They wanted a ‘substitute.’ They felt like ‘combining’ forces. They sort to make some ‘adaptations’ in their campaign strategy. They ‘modify’ the President’s schedules and so on. They wanted to ‘put into another use’ some tactics and styles. They outrightly wanted to ‘eliminate’ the President’s candidacy in the bid to ‘rearrange’ the campaign strategy to win the election come November 2024. Are you sure about that? Why all these jostles, sniffing and gossips? His crime is that he is 81 years old. They fear that he will lose them the presidency to an opponent whom the law has christened felon, the supreme court anointed a king through their presidential immunity verdict, and most Americans consider a venal potentate should he be re-elected as the president. I believe the people who criticize Mr. Bi
Continue reading »

The creator god, Tirawa - the Pawnee of the Native American Tribe

Staff Writer
Table of Contents The Pawnee The Holy Corn Tirawa and the Stars Culture of the Stars The religious beliefs of the Pawnee Native American tribe stand out as practices that are primarily Astro-theological and astronomical. As such they use or interpret the laws or culture of the stars to determine when it was safe to plant corn. Accurate calculation of these laws or cultures means a better harvest for the people. They were possible because Tirawa was their causer, teacher, and sustainer.   Corn is an essential crop that is not only a means of subsistence living for the Pawnee, but it is also a symbolic mother through her, and with her, the sun goddess, Shakuru blesses the people. The Pawnee The Pawnee are a North American Indian tribe who originally lived in Nebraska and northern Kansas before finally settling in today’s Oklahoma. Linguistically, they belong to the Caddoan family and call themselves the Chatiks si chatiks , meaning “Men of Men.” As with many Native American India
Continue reading »

Nigeria’s Pledge Vs the President’s Mandate: An Antithesis of Patriotism

Staff Writer
Table of Contents Nigeria’s Pledge The President’s Mandate Loyalty to the President or the Constitution? In recent years, the Nigerian polity has been bedeviled by one general term, ‘mandate.’ As years passed, the term mandate gained more ground and replaced the allegiance or any public or private declaration of loyalty to Nigeria, as a country. The contract the people signed with the country was gradually torn into bits by the politicians (or leaders) and by extension, the citizens, (and foreigners living in Nigeria). The current political and economic climate of Nigeria is the main reason for this article. The people have openly rejected Nigeria’s Pledge and have taken recourse to different political mandates of some politicians. The aim here is to bring to the fore the salient points of Nigeria’s Pledge against the mandate of the president. Nigeria’s Pledge The clear and concise words of Professor Felicia Adebola Adedoyin in 1976 describing the terms of the Nigerian oath of
Continue reading »

The Gi-ant of Africa and the goddess, Nemesis

Staff Writer
Image
Overview Nigeria is popularly known as the giant of Africa perhaps because of its population estimated at over 250 million people. It is a country with the largest concentration of black people in the entire world. In her halcyon days, the oil boom of the 1970s, with an unparallel rapid revenue expansion, peace and happiness, Nigeria began to enjoy the reputation as epitomized in the statement by the erstwhile Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon: “Money is not Nigeria’s problem. But how to spend it.” Such a statement was reflected in their leaders’ behaviours and thinking. From the 1970s to 2024, Nigeria’s leaders have not shifted from such mindsets. Both her military and civilian leaders continue to entertain careless, unaccountable, and foolish behaviours that brought a jinx upon the nation. The oil boom became a curse to the people by the Nigerian goddess called Gi-ant .   Gi-ant stands for “government issues – accountability, nepotism, thievery.” These are the three manifes
Continue reading »

The Weyekin in Nez Percé Tribe and Catholic Angels

Staff Writer
Table of Contents The Nez Percé People Catholic Teachings on Angels The Spirit, Weyekin in Nez Percé Tribe This writing is to briefly identify and recognize some cultural values of the Nez Percé tribe, especially their belief in Weyekin, often described as a personal guiding angel. The concept of a guiding angel provokes Catholic teachings about angels and comparison with the Nez Percé Weyekin, as the guiding spirit. But that will be a new piece of writing for the future. There can be a cross-cultural gleaning of ideas from nature, beliefs, and interactions.     The Nez Percé People The term Nez Percé, meaning “pierced nose” is the French coinage to describe the Nimiipuu tribe. The term Nimiipuu, meaning “we, the people” is a name the tribe used for themselves and their language, a part of the Sahaptin family. Early contacts with the Europeans, especially French explorers made the name Nez Percé popular because they unfairly adopted the name Nez Percé and used it for the Nimiipuu and n
Continue reading »

The Conflict between the Deities (Igwe and Amadioha) in Igbo Mythology over a Heat Wave

Staff Writer
Table of Contents Introduction The Deity – Igwe The Deity – Amadioha The Conflict between Igwe and Amadioha Introduction The current heat wave reminds me of the conflict between two Igbo deities, namely: Igwe and Amadioha. Just as it was noted somewhere in this blog: Nigeria's Diversity and the South-East/South-South Peripheral Inclusions: Biafra's Raison d'etre , November 15, 2021, the Igbo people are the third-largest ethnic group who live in southeastern Nigeria. They have a very rich culture and tradition among which is their concept of God which varies from one community to another but essentially, they believe that the gods guide and control their life and affairs in many ways. The Igbo concept of God stems from the idea of a chief god who creates everything. This god is supreme. The Igbo variously call this god Olisa bu uwa (the god who carries the world), Olisa bini Igwe , (the god who lives in the sky), Chukwu (the great god), or Chineke (the god who creates
Continue reading »