The Iron Snake
Encyclopedia
The Iron Snake is an ancient tribal prophecy attributed to both the Maasai and Kĩkũyũ
tribes in Kenya in which a railway is described as an iron snake.
The iron snake would someday cross their land and would be a bad omen creating trouble as it went.
The religious gikuyu prophet Mugo wa Kibiru prophesied the coming of the whites many years before they arrived on the coast. In eastern Kenya the prophecy was attributed to Masaku, a Kamba sage and chief, and Mwenda Mwea a famous medicine man as well as a seer from Embu. They both saw a black snake coming and all the cattle disappearing, plundered from the Africans by the ‘red people,’ as the early white colonizers would be known. In western Kenya, Kimnyole
the Nandi Orkoiyot also predicted the arrival of Europeans (the white tribe) and the railways (the Iron Snake) who were to change everything for the Nandi.
It is interesting that a similar end-of-the-world myth speaking of snakes of iron appears in the Hopi
tradition of the New World as the fourth sign on Hopi tablets.
published a book about the building of the East African Railroad called The Iron Snake (Collins, London).
The Iron Snake also appears as the title of a novel about the same railroad by John Gaudet published by Brandylane Publishers, Richmond, Virginia.
Kikuyu
The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group. 'Kikuyu' is the Swahili form of the proper name and pronunciation of Gĩkũyũ although they refer to themselves as the Agĩkũyũ people.There are about 5,300,000 Kikuyu people in Kenya The Kikuyu are Kenya's most populous ethnic group. 'Kikuyu' is the...
tribes in Kenya in which a railway is described as an iron snake.
The iron snake would someday cross their land and would be a bad omen creating trouble as it went.
The religious gikuyu prophet Mugo wa Kibiru prophesied the coming of the whites many years before they arrived on the coast. In eastern Kenya the prophecy was attributed to Masaku, a Kamba sage and chief, and Mwenda Mwea a famous medicine man as well as a seer from Embu. They both saw a black snake coming and all the cattle disappearing, plundered from the Africans by the ‘red people,’ as the early white colonizers would be known. In western Kenya, Kimnyole
Kimnyole
Kimnyole was the Nandi Orkoiyot who predicted the arrival of Europeans and the railways who were to change everything for the Nandi.Kimnyole was assassinated by the Nandi....
the Nandi Orkoiyot also predicted the arrival of Europeans (the white tribe) and the railways (the Iron Snake) who were to change everything for the Nandi.
It is interesting that a similar end-of-the-world myth speaking of snakes of iron appears in the Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
tradition of the New World as the fourth sign on Hopi tablets.
In literature
In 1965, Ronald HardyRonald Hardy
Ronald Harold Hardy was an English novelist and screenwriter. His first novel The Place of Jackals was published in 1954 to general acclaim. Hardy drew on his experiences as a liaison officer in Indochina during World War II in the writing of this novel...
published a book about the building of the East African Railroad called The Iron Snake (Collins, London).
The Iron Snake also appears as the title of a novel about the same railroad by John Gaudet published by Brandylane Publishers, Richmond, Virginia.