Mijikenda: Where newborns are kept indoors for one week before naming fete

Dama Ziro, 65, sews a mat at her rural home in Magarini. Dama has preserved the Kifumula Aaache craft and has strived to pass it down to her grandchildren. [Marion Kithi, Standard]

Among the Mijikenda in the Coast region, babies are kept indoors for close to a week after birth before they are brought out and named in a ceremony known locally as kifumula aache.

After birth, boys are kept in the house for five days and girls for four days before the naming ceremony. And as is the case with almost all cultures, this one too discriminates against the girl child as boys are kept indoors for more days to signify they will live longer.