‘Restoring the river’: why Kenyans are returning to precolonial spirituality

Two Kikuyu women dancing in traditional dress. One Kenyan who has re-engaged with her community’s traditions was surprised to discover that the culture was matrilineal and sexually liberal. Photograph: Frantisek Staud/Alamy

Wairimu Mukuru started sharing TikTok videos about Kikuyu culture earlier this year. Within months, the 26-year-old had gained more than 60,000 followers and received at least 1m views of her videos, where she talks about her ethnic group’s traditional practices and beliefs on topics such as mental health and sex.

Mukuru, a Kikuyu language teacher, is one of a small but growing number of Kenyans from the country’s largest ethnic group, the Agīkūyū, who are trying to revive precolonial cultural and spiritual practices. The belief systems were suppressed and marginalised during British colonial rule in the 19th century, and as Christianity became more entrenched.