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'Dini ya Msambwa (Religion of the Ancestor) is an
Institute of Current World Affairs, August 1, 1954 It is practiced primarily among speakers of the
Emergency in Kenya: Kikuyu And The Mau Mau Insurrection CSC 1984 SUBJECT AREA Strategic Issues
Anti-imperialism in Africa New religious movements established in the 1930s Religion in Kenya Traditional African religions Religious organizations established in the 1930s Ugandan mythology {{Traditional-African-religions-stub
'Dini ya Msambwa (Religion of the Ancestor) is an African traditional religion
The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed dow ...
and political movement
A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...
that has been labeled an anti-colonial religion.NewsletterInstitute of Current World Affairs, August 1, 1954 It is practiced primarily among speakers of the
Luhya language
Luhya (; also Luyia, Oluluyia, Luhia or Luhiya) is a Bantu language of western Kenya.
Dialects
The various Luhya tribes speak several related languages and dialects, though some of them are no closer to each other than they are to neighboring ...
of Western Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
.History
Dini ya Msambwa stood againstcolonialism
Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
during the British colonial rule of Kenya. Among other things, it criticized the undermining, by the British colonial government, of elder authority and of the cultural values that had held Kenyan peoples together for ages.
The first European to reach the Bukusu
The Bukusu people ( Bukusu: ''Babukusu'') are one of the 17 Kenyan tribes of the Luhya Bantu people of East Africa residing mainly in the counties of Bungoma and Trans Nzoia. They are the largest tribe of the Luhya nation, with 1,188,963 id ...
was Joseph Thomson, who upon arriving in 1883, found the Bukusu living in fortified villages surrounded by moats. These were a protection against raids from the Uasin Gishu people and the Teso people
The Iteso (or people of Teso) are a Nilotic people, Nilotic ethnic group in Teso sub-region, eastern Uganda and Busia County, western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and ''Teso language, Ateso'' is their language.
...
. British administration was established in North Nyanza in 1894. The following year the Bukusu killed 25 soldiers of the Sudanese garrison and a punitive expedition was undertaken against them. Their fortified villages were stormed by Sudanese troops and Africans from other tribes, and the fighting ended when the Bukusu acknowledged British rule and promised to abandon their villages. Today they live in scattered homesteads.
The old authority of the tribal elders had been undermined with the advent of colonial rule. It was the elders in turn who had lent power to the old tribal religion or African traditional religion
The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse, and include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and are passed dow ...
and hence it too was also undermined. Left in a spiritual vacuum, many Bukusu and Luhya Luhya or Abaluyia may refer to:
* Luhya people
* Luhya language
{{disambig
Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
, insecure in the rapidly-changing world, gravitated naturally into Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
.Reed, D. E. (1954). Dini ya Msambwa I: The Bukusu and The Suk. Institute of Current World Affairs, 1–18. Retrieved from http://www.icwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DER-20.pdf Masinde, being an elder, refused to convert.
The religion was founded by Elijah Masinde in 1936. After Kenyan independence in 1968, Dini ya Msambwa was declared illegal and Masinde was arrested for fomenting hatred of the Christian religion.
Dini Ya Msambwa takes the form of an African traditional religion; its followers worshipping through ancestral Spirits (known as ''Msambwa'') in shrines. The veneration of ancestors is an important part of the religion.
References
External links
Emergency in Kenya: Kikuyu And The Mau Mau Insurrection CSC 1984 SUBJECT AREA Strategic Issues
Anti-imperialism in Africa New religious movements established in the 1930s Religion in Kenya Traditional African religions Religious organizations established in the 1930s Ugandan mythology {{Traditional-African-religions-stub