Ngai


Ngai is the monolithic Supreme God in the spirituality of the Kamba and Kikuyu of Kenya. Ngai is creator of the universe and all in it. Regarded as the omnipotent God, the Kikuyu worshiped Ngai facing the Mt. Kirinyaga while prayers and goat sacrificial rituals were performed under the sacred Mugumo tree. Occasions which may warrant sacrifice or libation include times of drought; epidemics; during planting and harvesting; and human life stages such as birth, marriage and death.
Ngai was often referred to as "Mwene Nyaga" meaning. Kenyan anthropologist, later president, Jomo Kenyata notes that: "In prayers and sacrifices Ngai is addressed by the Gikuyu as Mwene-Nyaga." He went on to write that: "This name is associated with Kĩrĩ-Nyaga, which means: That which possesses brightness, or mountain of brightness."
According to Kikuyu creation myth, Ngai created humanity, first man called Gikuyu and first woman called Mumbi. Ngai created a mountain "As his resting place when on inspection tour and as a sign of his wonders." Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi bore nine daughters who became the origins of 9 clans of Kikuyu people. "The names of the main clans are: Acheera; Agachikũ; Airimũ; Ambũi; Angarĩ; Anjirũ; Angũi; Ethaga; Aithĩrandũ."