TRADITIONAL ORAL NARRATIVE OF MERU ORIGIN

First God created the first Meru man called Ngaa and the woman called Mukungaa. They lived, begat children, multiplied and became many. After some time, powerful people came and captured them, ruled and mistreated them and made them to work like slaves.

 This state of slavery was in the north far away from their present homeland in a place called Mboa. These powerful people were called nguo ntune meaning "Red Clothed people". The king of the Red People was powerful and often harsh upon the Meru people. The Meru were made to do difficult and strenuous manual tasks.

 

This state of bondage lasted until the leader of the Red People started killing all the Meru's male children immediately after birth. But one child, apparently very handsome, escaped this fate, having been kept hidden in the riverside in a basket his mother had made. As a result, the child became known as Mwithe, the Hidden One.

Mwithe, who also became known as Koomenjwe (Koomenjoe), grew up to become a very great prophet, and was known as one who had spoken to God. Assisted by another elder called Kauro-Beechau, Mwithe organized a council of wise elders to lead the Meru out of bondage. They went to the leader of the Red People and asked him to let the Meru people go. The leader agreed, but on condition that an impossible task be successfully performed by the Meru.

 

The first task required the to produce a shoe that had hair on both sides, inside and outside. Koomenjwe went to the mountain to inquire from God. God told him what to do. Since shoes were normally made from leather, koomenjwe told the people to cut the dewlap of a bull. Before it was completely severed, it was stitched on the side that had been cut. B the time the bull recovered, the lap had made the shoe that was required. But when they took it to their masters, it was rejected and the Meru were given a second task

 

The second task was-“laachy ikurika ira”or to provide a steer (or an ox) that produced white dung.

Once again Koomenjwe went to the mountain to pray and God gave him the answer. Koomenjwe advised the Meru people to tether a calf, starve it for seven days and feed it on chalk. The calf started to defecate white dung and they took it to the king of Nguuntune.

 

The king of Nguuntune also rejected the successful completion of the task, and they were given a third task to do. This required them to remove a fruit from a very deep pit, without piercing it or having anyone descend into the pit to pick it up. Koomenjwe went to the mountain again to enquire of God how to go about the task and God told him what to do. He came down and advised the people to fill the pit with water until it overflowed, and the fruit floated out. Though it succeeded, this test was also rejected.

 

The fourth test them to kill all the elders until their blood flowed like run-off rains. The elders were and still are the custodians of our culture and traditions. Troubled by this, Koomenjwe went to ask God as before. As usual God did not fail him. He came down with the answer. He advised the elders be hidden and all the old livestock-cows, sheep, goats and donkeys be kille instead. When that was done their blood was enough to flow as the enemies wanted. But the success of this test was not accepted either.

 

The fifth test was truly impossible. It required the Meru to forge a spear that could touch both the earth and the sky. The Meru started making it straight away, but it kept breaking. Koomenjwe and the elders, failing to come up with a solution, simply abandoned the whole task of making it, and instead conceived the idea of organizing the people to escape on foot. For this reason, the Meru later on called this spear itumo ria mwito (the spear made for the trek), for it was the impossibility of making it that had given them the idea of the exodus.

 

In order to have an opportunity to make good their escape, Koomenjwe went to ask the Red People to give them eight days to complete the task. He said the Meru were making charcoal from people's hair because it was the type of charcoal that was required to make the spear. The enemies granted the request. 
Koomenjwe organized the first group of old people, because they could not walk fast, and they were grouped together with the older livestock that had remained. The second group was made up of mothers and children, and the third group consisted of young people and young livestock. Keeping the rear were the warriors, well armed and ready for battle.

The exodus took place at night. The warriors collected a very big heap of dry dung and animal droppings and set it on fire with all the houses. Meanwhile, Koomenjwe had gone to explain to the masters that the fire they were seeing was being used for making the spear, which would be ready by noon the following day. After that, he returned. The following day the enemies waited for the spear, but it was never brought. The Meru had gone.

 

During their exodus, the Meru reached a very large body of water they call Ilia Itune (the red sea/lake). Here, they suffered a lot; so much as they couldn’t cross the sea. They sought the advice of the diviner. A sacrifice had to be made to seek answers by the diviner, as these could be read from entrails of the sacrificial sheep. The normal sacrifice of a sheep without blemish was done. [Up till now there are areas of Meru where the sacrifice is done and the sacrificial sheep is provided by a special clan (mwiria ywa ng’ondu).]. Animal sacrifice could not avail the solution to the prophet. A human sacrifice was required.

Volunteers were sought. Someone was to offer himself to be sacrificed. So koomenjwe said: "Let someone be examined."
 The elders asked: "Who is going to be examined?"
 Koomenjwe begged to be given one person from each family so that if a person from one family failed to give an answer, the next one could be examined. Koomenjwe’s brother offered himself and said: "I am ready to be sacrificed.”
Koomenjwe asked: "Who is going to be his mathinjiro?" (An altar). Because a sacrifice cannot be placed on the bear ground.
Another person volunteered and said: "I will be his altar.” This young man became known as Muthetu (Soil, earth or ground) and he is the father of the current day Amuthetu clan.
 Again, Koomenjwe asked: "In case the first person is not accepted by God, who next will be offered?"
Another said: "I am ready.”This man became known as Kiuna, because he was standby akimbo (awete    kiuna). And he is the father of the current day Akiuna clan.
Then another person volunteered to provide milk for washing the entrails, and another person provided a string with which the volunteer had to be stitched, and yet another person - having conceived the idea that the first person might fear the operation - went to cut sticks to flog him if he did so. When everything was ready, Koomenjwe operated on his brother, and got the answer he was looking for. Surprisingly enough, Koomenjwe’s brother did not die. He had only his intestines mounted and stitched, and thereafter was called ‘Muroroa’ (the one examined) and is the father of the current day Amuroroa clan.

 

Koomenjwe then went to a prophet called Mugwe (whose name later became the word to describe all prophet leaders) for the answer. Mugwe gave him a magic stick (muturo) which he had received from God and with which he was to strike the water to make it part.

 

Following the answer, Koomenjwe/Muthurui struck the water with his magic rod/stick, and it parted. Some water flowed to one side and the rest to the other side, forming a wide corridor of dry land in the middle, along which the people went across.

The crossing of the water lasted all night, and took place in the form of several groups.

During the crossing, more clans were formed. The first to cross when it was still dark were the Njiru (black) because it was dark and form the Akairu clan; the second crossed just after dawn when the sky is red and were called Ntune (red) and form the current Ntune clan; and the last to cross at sunrise were the Njaru (white) when it was already light and are the current Njaru clan.
 

When the last group had crossed, Koomenjwe/Muthurui struck the water again and it came again into one mass, drowning the army of the Red People who had followed them. So it is that the Meru now say that they came from Mboa across the Red Sea. We came from the north past the mountains of Marathabit (Marsabit) after passing a dry and patched land (ngaruni) where we encountered a people riding on Lairri (camels) and settled in our present location northeast of Mount Kenya, the sacred mountain which the Meru call Kirimara (meaning, Mountain of the Splendour,  glittering, or spotted mountain). So this is what the Meru say about their origin and they tell their children about it up to this day. All Meru children should know it.

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This is the end of the oral tradition about our origin as we have been told from time immemorial.

References:

Reistatement of Meru origin by M’Imanyara (a meru scholar)  

Customs and Traditions of the Meru by Daniel Nyaga 

 

Quote:

 “Meru have - for the most part of their history - been moving south, most recently from Ethiopia or Somalia, and before then from the Nile (Sudan) or elsewhere, whether as a remnant of the ancient Meroe civilisation, or from much further north - Egypt, North Africa, or even ancient Israel.
An ex-chief quoted by M'Imanyara says that they came from a place called ruteere rwa Urio, which he equated with Misiri (the Arab and Berber term for Egypt).

 

It has been convincingly argued by Alfred M. M'Imanyara, that the Meru came originally from the ancient Nilotic empire of Meroe (circa 300BC - AD100), which is sometimes referred to as an island, as it was bounded by both the White and Blue Niles, and swamps in the south. The linguistic similarity between the words 'Meru' and 'Meroe' is certainly tempting, as is other linguistic evidence, which - although far from conclusive - does suggest at least that the Meru were at some point in contact with civilisations from further north. Indeed, some Meru elders refer to their early origins as being a place called Misiri, which is identical to the Arab and Berber name for Egypt still used today. The idea that the Meru came from the north is in any case common enough among Meru elders. Whether or not this ties in with Meroe is mere speculation, but it does neatly lead on to the next section, which describes the not-so-neat migrations, which followed the crossing of the "Red Sea".