THE AMERU PEOPLE OF MOUNT KENYA – The Ameru / Meru people are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting the fertile slopes of Mt. Kenya in the Meru region in Kenya. They speak the Kimeru Bantu language where different clans speak several dialects of the language within their community.
The subsections of The Ameru / Meru people include:
- Imenti
- Igoji
- Tigania
- Igembe
- Tharaka
- Chuka
- Mwimbi-Muthambi
Just like most African people / tribes, the Ameru people have a rich historical and cultural heritage with different traditional practices and customs. These include various marriage ceremonies and rituals like paying dowry, indigenous religious beliefs in a supreme being called Ngai or Mulungu and ancestral spirits, traditional folk songs and dances.
Initiation Ameru ceremonies play a significant role in their livelihoods and culture. Like the strict circumcision customs in the traditional rural areas of the Meru communities where a boys have no contact with their mothers from the time of circumcision, initiating them to adulthood.
The Ameru people’s livelihood heavily depends on farming. They are agriculturalists and grow crops like coffee, bananas, tea, beans, maize, different fruits and they also keep livestock. A life that is similar to their fellow highland neighboring people / communities.
Proverbs and folktales are so much a part of the Ameru communities just as in other African communities as a way of passing on knowledge and wisdom from one generation to another.
From the clan level to the supreme council, the Ameru people were governed by elected councils of elders.
The Ameru lifestyle has experienced some changes as a result of urbanization and urban trends.
