The Yaaku are a people who are said to have lived in regions of southern Ethiopia and central Kenya, possibly through to the 18th century. The language they spoke is today called Yaakunte . The Yaaku assimilated a hunter-gathering population, whom they called Mukogodo , when they first settled in their place of origin and the Mukogodo adopted the Yaakunte language. However, the Yaaku were later assimilated by a food producing population and they lost their way of life. The Yaakunte language was kept alive for sometime by the Mukogodo who maintained their own hunter-gathering way of life, but they were later immersed in Maasai culture and adopted the Maa language and way of life. The Yaakunte language is today facing extinction but is undergoing a revival movement. In the present time, the terms Yaaku and Mukogodo (sometimes Mukogodo Maasai), are used to refer to a population living in Mukogodo forest west of Mount Kenya .
20-592: Yaaku may refer to: the Yaaku people the Yaaku language Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Yaaku . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yaaku&oldid=933257423 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
40-935: A community that, according to the oral literature of the Meru people of Kenya , inhabited regions of the Swahili coast and the Kenyan hinterland at various times in history. According to Meru traditions, the Meru people originally lived on an island recalled as Mbwaa or Mbwa. They were later driven out of the island, forcing them to move into the Kenyan hinterland. Meru tradition states that they met Cushitic speaking communities while on their migratory journey. The descriptions of these communities have been matched with present identity realities and contemporary understanding of regional history to show that they bear elements of historicity. In
60-543: A weapon Tiganians could not forge. They responded with bow and arrow, ambushing Muoko herders in the long grass ("they crept like rats" sang the Muoko of their foes) and stampeding their herds. Meru tradition states that this period was followed by "decades" of war though Fadmian suggests that there was a time of dry-season raiding on both sides. During this period, the Tiganians mastered the art of forging spears. Thereafter,
80-502: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Yaaku people The name Yaaku is said to be a Southern Nilotic term for hunting people while Mukogodo is a Yaakunte word meaning people who live in rocks. According to Mukogodo traditions recorded by Mhando (2008), the Yaaku speakers moved into Kenya from southern Ethiopia. At this time they were herders and cultivators In this regard,
100-469: The Muoko from the north at the same time that Tiganian pressure intensified in the south. Consequently, Muoko communities gradually disintegrated as their herds were seized and absorbed by former foes. These traditions particular of later stages, deal primarily with the seizure of Muoko children for Meru homesteads or the adoption of captive Muoko warriors into Tiganian clans... Fadiman postulates that
120-632: The Maasai culture superior to their own. As a result of the decision to transition to pastoralism, the Mukogodo largely gave up their Cushitic language Yaaku for the Eastern Nilotic Maasai language between 1925 and 1936. In the present time, both the terms Yaaku and Mukogodo, sometimes Mukogodo Maasai are used to refer to a population living in Mukogodo forest west of Mount Kenya. Murutu people The Murutu people were
140-522: The Mukuruma age-set, describe how men sent ahead of the migrants to examine the Tigania plain, returned to describe an entire "sea of grass filled with few people and many cows". The narratives portray a memorable instance of conflict on contact with the community on the Tigania plain; To fulfill the prophecy that had sent them westward since the migration's beginning, their prophets ordered them to seize
160-581: The Muoko herders of their region. Tradition states that this community subsisted through hunting and trade with their neighbors. Existing evidence suggests that these names are variants of Mukogodo , a contemporary Ogiek people, whose original language was part of the Cushitic cluster. Tradition states that both Ukara and Mokogodo fled the slopes of Mount Kenya soon after the migrants arrived. Unable to defend themselves, they are said to have "turned into birds and flown away." According to Meru oral literature,
180-643: The Murutu identity formed following a period known as Igaironi. Fadiman states that this was "perhaps in the late 1730s". During the Igaironi period, another community known as the Muku-Ngaa had also formed. Both these sections are said to have moved in their traditional direction of march. At a point that tradition places near today's Ntugi Hill, however, they fragmented once more. The Murutu appear to have divided into three smaller sections. Tiganian narrations of
200-509: The Oromo-speaking peoples i.e. Borana (previously identified as Galla), Oromo etc. Traditions of the Mukogodo identify this community as Yaaku . Traditions in each region describe the 'Ukara' et al. as having "buried their dead in a sitting position, covering each grave with stones". This was confirmed by an early colonial administrator who uncovered several alleged 'Muoko' graves, pointed out to him by Meru elders, which substantiated
220-491: The Yaaku and their neighbors which led to the killings of many Yaaku people. The few who had remained disintegrated and settled in blocks according to families and clans within specific territories. A war broke out a few years later between the Yaaku and Ameru at a place called Oldoinyo esarge, or blood hill where hundreds of Yaaku were killed. Within the same time, the Ilturjo from the north riding on horses (nyumbui) attacked
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#1732773319886240-456: The Yaaku came to call them Mukogodo, a name which means people who live in rocks in Yaakunte. Traditions recorded by Mhando portray the Yaaku as having been herders and cultivators when they first settled. The Mukogodo in whose localities the Yaaku settled, adopted the language of the Yaaku, referred to as Yaakunte. The broad Mukogodo understanding of the decline of Yaaku identity is that
260-597: The Yaaku, further killing many of them... Fadiman (1997) recorded Meru traditions that also give an account of this conflict, which they relate occurred with a community recalled as Muoko. According to the traditions, conflict with the Muoko community had been ongoing for "decades". However, a notable period of intense Tigania pressure brought the Muoko within raiding range of the Il Tikirri (recalled in Tigania as Ngiithi) and Mumunyot (recalled as Rimunyo) communities. The Ngiithi and Rimunyo communities began to raid
280-563: The absorption of former foes may have therefore significantly modified Tigania institutions and, indirectly, those of adjacent Meru regions as well. The Mukogodo assimilated to the pastoralist culture of the Maasai in the first half of the twentieth century (1920s and 1930s), although some still keep bees. The reason for this transition is mostly one of social prestige. The Maasai look down upon hunter-gatherer peoples, calling them Dorobo ('the ones without cattle'), and many Mukogodo consider
300-444: The herds. As the narration is retold today, Tiganian warriors took the Muoko by surprise, seizing "four great herds" in an initial skirmish, then moved livestock, women, children, and the aged into a single, defensible camp. The Muoko, perhaps initially outnumbered, reacted by barring the intruders from both water and salt, systematically burying salt licks and springs to prevent their discovery and use. The Muoko also had stabbing spears,
320-478: The narratives are congruent with linguistic reconstruction of the history of the Yaakunte speakers. According to linguist Christopher Ehret (1982), the presumed movements of the Eastern Cushities begin with an entry into East Africa at a point in northeast Uganda. From here they moved "into northern and eastern Kenya as far south as Mt. Kenya. Their modern representatives are the Yaaku hunters who live on
340-402: The narratives of various Meru informants, contact with a Cushitic community occurred even before they got to Mount Kenya. This community is referred to in various regions as Ukara, Ukara and Muoko, Ikara or Agira and Mwoko. In Mwimbi, they are referred to as Ukara while in Tigania they are known as Muoko. The totality of traditions indicate that these communities belonged to one or more sections of
360-759: The northern slopes of Mt. Kenya". Other present day representatives of the Eastern Cushities that Ehret notes include, "the Arbore and Dasanech herders and cultivators in the Lake Turkana / Chew Bahir (Lake Stephanie) region; and the Elmolo fishermen of east Turkana". When the Yaaku community first entered the territory they would occupy, they met a people who mostly lived by hunting and gathering. However they distinguished themselves from this population by means of residence. This community lived in caves and
380-647: The practice of burial in a sitting position. A Methodist missionary would later note the similarity between the 'Muoko' burials and those still practiced by the Tana River Galla. Meru folklore indicates that the Galla were linked to groups of forest hunters. This community is variously referred to as Mukoko, Mukuru, Mukuguru, Aruguru and in one region Mu-Uthiu. In Mwimbi, the forest hunters were called Mukoko or Mukuru and were linked to livestock-owning Ukara while Tiganians describe Mukuguru (or Aruguru) as allied to
400-423: The speakers were assimilated by another food producing people, a process that happened over a long period of time. During this period, the Yaaku speaking Mukogodo maintained their way of life and the Yaakunte language. Certain traditions however, relate the decline of Yaaku identity to a specific period which included conflict; The beginning of the end of Yaaku culture is attributed to the tribal conflicts between
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