09/03/2024
THE TALES OF KIT MIKAYI
Mikayi means “first wife” in Dholuo, and Dhuluo is a widely spoken language in the Lake Victoria region in Western Kenya. This name is not in reference to an actual person, but rather a rock formation located along the Kisumu-Bondo highway. This rock formation consists of three stone columns standing side by side, each comprising of massive boulders perfectly balanced on top of each other. The largest of these stone columns towers at over 20 meters in height. According to Luo oral tradition, Kit Mikayi is tied to a story, a memory.
In the past, an elderly man named Ngeso had a great love for the natural stone monument. Every morning, Ngeso would go and lie in the cave under the rock all day. He was so fascinated and consumed by this stone that his wife would often bring his breakfast, lunch, and dinner to him as he lay in the cave around the stone, or on the stone itself. He ate most of his meals there. The story goes that, one day, someone asked Ngeso’s wife where he was. The wife replied that he was at MIKAYI, which she referred to as his first wife because he spent so much of his time at the monument and loved it very much. His actual first wife felt like a second or third wife to the stone, since he gave more attention and time to the stone structure, as if it were his first wife.
That’s the first tale.
The other states that the rock formation reflects the Luo culture of polygamy. Traditions have developed around these stones, referring to the stones by the names of huts of the first three wives in a traditional Luo homestead. Thus, the first wife’s (Mikayi) hut is said to be the one lying in between the three rocks. The second wife’s (Nyachira) hut is on the right-hand side of the rocky formation, and the third wife’s (Reru) hut is on the left-hand side. The position of these rocks within the rocky formation is therefore depicted in terms of the typical Luo family structure and homestead organization.
People access the shrine for m
