Kibo

Kibo, the higher, snow-covered dome of Kilimanjaro, is more than a landmark in Chagga religion: it is a personified, sacred presence. Dundas records that the Chagga treated Kibo as the abode of the high god Ruwa, offering prayers while facing the peak and burying the dead oriented toward it. In the widely told legend recorded by the missionary-ethnographer Bruno Gutmann, Kibo and the neighbouring peak Mawenzi are brothers: Mawenzi, whose fire kept going out, came again and again to beg embers from Kibo, until Kibo lost patience and thrashed him, leaving Mawenzi with his shattered, jagged profile while Kibo remained smooth and serene.

Domains

• mountains
• snow and cold

Powers

• to give fire and embers to those who come begging

Relations

• sibling: MawenziIn Chagga legend Kibo and Mawenzi are brothers; the jagged form of Mawenzi is explained by the beating Kibo gave him after too many visits to beg embers.Bruno Gutmann, Volksbuch der Wadschagga (1914) (secondary)
• subordinate to: RuwaKibo is venerated as the dwelling-place of the high god Ruwa; Chagga prayers and burials were oriented toward the peak.Charles Dundas, Kilimanjaro and its People (1924) (secondary)

Sources

• Kibo is the personified snow summit of Kilimanjaro, the generous elder brother of Mawenzi and the seat of the god Ruwa in Chagga belief.: Charles Dundas, Kilimanjaro and its People: A History of the Wachagga, their Laws, Customs and Legends (1924) (secondary); Bruno Gutmann, Volksbuch der Wadschagga: Sagen, Märchen, Fabeln und Schwänke (1914) (secondary); J. A. Hutchinson, 'The Meaning of Kilimanjaro', Tanganyika Notes and Records, No. 64/65 (1965) (secondary)