My home became a beehive of activity for a whole week prior to the wedding. My relatives from Gikuyu came and camped at our home, there was no breathing space, but it was all fun. With that many people at home and our parents enjoying their company immensely, they somehow stayed out of our hair, which was a very rare thing for ‘Mr. and Mrs. Mussolini’ to do.
In total disbelief, we watched our parents having so much fun with their relatives, laughing out so loud we even saw cavities in our fathers molars. He introduced us to relatives we had never met before. It was so strange to hear my father say cheerfully “nake uyu ni mwari wa maitu” translation “this is my sister”, whatever was that supposed to mean?
My brothers were suffering the same fate “nake uyu muraihu ta itimu ni muthoniwa” “this one who is tall like a javelin is my in law”. My brothers were as shocked and confused as I was, but we soldiered on smiling pleasantly. Our eyes were focused way past the wedding after everybody had left. We did not want our parents accusing us of embarrassing them in any way in front of visitors because that was considered “treasonable”.
So, when mother called to introduce us, we ran to her happily. She introduced a middle aged man to me “uyu ni muthuri waku” (this is your husband) and the man cheerfully shook my hand retorting “ngeithia muhiki wakwa” (shake my hand my bride) Say what?
My eyes were popping out of their sockets with wonder. Who are these people and how can I be related to them? I knew my parents were a “little off”, but meeting their relatives from Gikuyu, I could now trace the family “insanity”.
What my brothers and I failed to understand was that our parents were introducing us in the traditional context so their relatives could connect easily who we were named after. I was named after my fathers sister, so, for the Gikuyu people to make a quick connection, my father introduced me as “his sister”. The man my mother introduced as my husband was actually married to my Aunt whom I was named after.
Why didn’t they just say so? I had never met most of these people, and trying to remember their faces was quite a task for an 11 year old girl, let alone remember how I was related to them.
