Athi people

Traditions recorded by Fadiman (1994) portray the Athi as hunters. A common reference to meat and honey point to these being the Athi staples.^[2]

In both Meru and Kikuyu traditions, the Athi are remembered as forest dwellers. Athi traditions recorded in Meru, i.e. "the more permanent hunting encampments", indicate that the Athi were partly mobile and lived in a hunting camp setup.^[3][4]

According to Athi traditions captured in Meru, the Athi were armed with small bows, axes and iron knives when they first ventured into the montane forest at the base of Mount Kenya.^[5]

The Athi of Kikuyu tradition traded meat and skins for agricultural products from their neighbors.^[4]

According to Meru tradition, the Athi demarcated hunting zones and defined them as belonging to a hunter or clan. These zones were demarcated using a 'fire-stick'.^[1]

During the 1700s, the 'fire-stick' demarcation system appears to have been fused with the cursing rituals of the Agumba resulting in a witchcraft ritual known as 'Ndindi', essentially a stick which was curved with clan markings and smeared with bright red-ochre to enhance visibility. This stick was 'communally cursed' then used to demarcate the hunting zones of the using community.^[6]

In Kikuyu tradition, the Athi are recalled as having sold the Kikuyu land in the Kabete region. They were partially assimilated into this community and as late as 1983, groups of Athi were thought to be resident in the Rift Valley region of Kenya.^[4]

The Athi are in some accounts associated with the Okiek people.^[4]