Midikikenda (in Swahili - "nine settlements") - a group of Bantu-speaking peoples in eastern Kenya : Durum , Rabai, Kamba, Digo, Chonya, Giryama, Djibana (Dzihan), Riba (Rihe) and Kaum. By some estimates, the total number is 1.3 million people (Girenko 1999: 324).
Content
Language composition
They speak the languages of the subgroup of the midgikenda of the nyka group (E.40) of the E zone of the Bantu languages : Durum (Chiduruma), Digo (Chidigo), gyriyama (Kigiryama, including dialects of Rabai, Kamba, Ribe, Chvaka), Chonyi-Jihana-Kaum (Chichonyi -Chidzihana-Chikauma), szegedju (Kisegeju) (Girenko 1999: 324).
Worship
Much of the mid-chichend is Muslim, Sunni , there are also Protestants and Catholics along with followers of traditional cults (ancestral cult, witchcraft). Midi-kichen culture has been influenced by Swahili, often by the mid-cable itself consider themselves primordial Swahili; there is an active process of their merger (Lvova 1984: 201). According to traditional concepts, the former midiqend settlements, macaia , are home to the spirits of their ancestors and are revered as holy places.
Traditional Culture
Traditional midi-kicnd occupations are manual slash-and-burn agriculture ( cassava , corn, sorghum , legumes, millet, crops for export - cashew , in some localities - coconut palms, pineapples), cattle breeding, horticulture, chicken farming, and gyriama, digo - also fishery . Midikikenda are engaged in melting and forging iron, the manufacture of working tools, weapons, jewelry (earrings, iron chains) (Girenko 1999: 324).
Residence
Scattered, linear layout of the settlement are traditional for midjikenda. In the sacred groves there were special fortified ritual buildings (kaya). The dwelling is oval or round in plan - a framework in the form of a dome made of poles and branches, covered with grass. The premises were divided into two parts: residential and economic, where they kept inventory and food. Among the dwellings of the modern midi-kiek, Swahili-type dwellings and cottages are common (Kulik 1972: 13).
Traditional Clothing
Traditional clothing - a skirt, apron, cape of vegetable fibers and animal skins, dressing. Along with the European one, the Swahili type of clothing is also widespread (Girenko 1999: 325).
Social organization
The traditional social organization is patrilateral and matrilateral clans, and they are large families. The midicand had a class age system (Olderogge, Potekhin 1954: 213).
Literature
- Girenko N. M. Mikikenda // Peoples and religions of the world / Chapters. ed. V.A. Tishkov . M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1999. C.324-325.
- Lvov E.S. Ethnography of Africa // Ed. ed. Lvov E.S. - M .: Nauka, 1984. - 213 p.
- Olderogge D. A., Potekhin I. I. / Ch. ed. S. Smirnov // Peoples of Africa. - M .: Academy of Sciences of the USSR , 1954. - 341 p.
- Kulik S. А. People of the rocky desert // Soviet ethnography . 1972. № 8. S. 13-14.