Kit-Mikayi
Encyclopedia
Bondo, Kenya
Bondo is a town in Nyanza Province of Kenya. It the capital of Bondo District. Bondo is located 50 kilometres west of Kisumu, the provincial capital. Bondo forms a town council with a population of 29,165, of whom 7,797 are classified urban ....
road in western Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. It is situated about 29 kilometers west of the town of Kisumu
Kisumu
Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at , with a population of 355,024 . It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It has a municipal charter but no city charter...
. Kit-mikayi means “Stones of the first wife” or “First Wife Rocks” in Dholuo, the Luo
Luo (family of ethnic groups)
The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...
language.
Description and location
Kit Mikayi. The rock is situated in Kisumu district, Maseno division, East – Seme – location, Kit – Mikayi sub-location, Kangeso village, Kadol clan. The rock which is about 70 to 80 ft tall is located 30km far East of Kisumu city and 1 km from Kisumu Bondo road. The sign board is on the gate of Kit Mikayi primary school then you enter through N’gop-Ngeso primary school. The legendary story behind Kit Mikayi which in Luo dialect means “the stone of the first wife” is that: Long time ago, there was an old man by the name Ngeso who was in great love with the stone. Every day when he woke up in the morning, he could walk into the cave inside the stone and stay there the whole day, and this could force his wife to bring him breakfast and lunch everyday. The old man became passionately in love with this stone to the extent that people ask the wife his whereabouts, she could answer that he has gone to his first wife (Mikayi) hence the stone of the first wife (Kit Mikayi). More further explanation about this unique stone is that according to its feature and components, the structure represents the Luo cultural polygamous family which had the first wife’s house (Mikayi) built further in between on the right hand side was the second wife’s house (Nyachira) while the third wife’s house (Reru) was built on the left hand side of the homestead. This rock also is seen to have a nuclear family whereby the father (Ngeso) being the middle stone followed by the bulky Mikayi (first wife), then Nyachira (second wife) followed by Reru (third wife) and further in front they have the child which is representing Simba (which is the house for the first born boy in the homestead). From a long time, this stone has been a sacred place for the villagers to worship during the trying moment.Significance
Locals living around the stones are known as the Luo-Kakello clan. The site is associated with sacrifices and many legends from pre-Christian times, especially stories explaining the meaning of the name.Kit-Mikayi is a regional point of sightseeing interest, especially among the neighbouring Luo tribes. It also has become a popular local pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
site for followers of the Legio Maria
Legio Maria
Legio Maria — also known as Legio Maria of African Church Mission, and Maria Legio — is an African Initiated Church or new religious movement initially among the Luo people of western Kenya which incorporates traditional Luo religious customs into a Catholic Christian framework...
sect who come to the rock to pray and fast for several weeks at a time.