7 Golden Rules That Governed Kikuyu Traditional Greetings Based on Age, Gender

Since the British colonial masters brought us the so-called civilization, it is without doubt that many Kenyan communities, save for a few, have abandoned their traditional cultures to embrace the western ways.

Kikuyus, for example, have abandoned their traditional culture almost in its entirety. In fact, apart from the few remaining elderly members of the community, the rest know very little about the rich Gikuyu culture and are seemingly comfortable with the white man's way of life.

And if you doubt, how well, for instance, are you acquainted with Kikuyu traditional greetings and how to go about them based on age, gender among other things?

Below are 7 rules that governed Kikuyu traditional greetings according to Gikuyu Centre of Cultural Studies.

1. Greetings between an elderly person and a youngster. 

It is the older person who is supposed to initiate the greetings. Today, it is either way where for instance you will hear a young man greeting an elderly man like, 'vipi mzae' and other degrading stuff like that.

2. Greetings between man and woman.

In this case, it is the man who is supposed to initiate the greetings. Today? It really doesn't matter who initiates the greetings. They even say, 'ngeithi ti ucuru'. Some young ladies even have a fallacy that when a man greets them, he wants to take them to bed.

3. It was not proper for a girl to look at an older man directly in the eyes during greetings. Instead, the girl was required to look aside or below. Today they not only look at them seductively, but also hug and kiss them.

4. It was also culturally wrong for young men to meet their mother’s gaze while answering greetings. Instead one was to look away while answering.

Note that the term 'mother' in Gikuyu culture referred to any woman who is old enough to be your mother. Today, this no longer makes sense to anyone seemingly.

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5. Women, while greeting each other, were supposed to raise their hands and tap each other’s palms while girls could do all manner of 'cheeky tricks' with their fingers and arms. Nowadays it is Kikuyu men who greet this way. Shameless men!

6. Men, while greeting one another, were supposed to grip each other’s right arm firmly and not greeting by hand. 

7. Men and women were not allowed to share hand greetings.