Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Archaeology » Heritage sites» Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Location
Coast Province

Country
Kenya

Year of Research
2008

Culture
  • As such they have metonymic importance to Mijikenda and are a fundamental source of Mijikenda’s senseof ‘being-in-the-world’ and of place within the cultth century but deserted by the 1940s, are now regarded as the abodes of ancestors and are revered as blessed sites and, as suural landscape of existing Kenya. They are seen as a defining feature of Mijikenda identity.
  • The kayas, created as of the 16ch, are maintained as by councils of elders.
  • The site is inscribed as bearing unique witness to a cultural tradition and for its direct link to a living tradition.
  • It began to fall out of use in the early 20th century and are now revered as the repositories of sacred beliefs of the Mijikenda people and are seen as the sacred abode of their ancestors.
  • The forest around the Kayas have been nurtured by the Mijikenda society to protect the revered graves and groves and are now almost the only remains of the once extensive coastal lowland forest.
  • It offer focal points for Mijikenda religious beliefs and practices, are regarded as the ancestral homes of the different Mijikenda peoples, and are held to be revered places.
  • As such they have metonymic importance to Mijikenda and are a fundamental source of Mijikenda’s sense of ‘being-in-the-world’ and of place within the cultural landscape of existing Kenya. They are seen as a defining feature of Mijikenda identity.