Kites in the Sky

Apparently, women in the Gĩkũyũ Nation used to feed birds daily as a form of worship. The women in my community would pray or speak their intentions over seeds such as millet and sorghum before putting them out for the consumption of beings from the Winged Kingdom. This information is archived in our oral tradition passing from one generation to the next through song and folktales. There’s one such song about a woman who gave birth while her husband, a blacksmith, was away working. In those days, working with metal was Ũgo, a special calling for people of a certain clan, and their place of work was a while away from the villages. In this folksong, the woman taught a song to a dove to deliver a message to her husband that she had given birth, midwifed by an ogre who was fattening mother and child for his dinner. The husband received the song from the dove and rushed home where he managed to rescue his wife and child using a weapon that he had fashioned himself. There’s also a common lullaby about Kanyoni ka Nja (a Robin) telling of a light hearted conversation between a woman and a bird. The Robin is telling her of his adventures explaining why he’s been missing from her yard. 

Even though this is information that I have always had seeing that I grew up in a proper Kikuyu village, it’s only recently that I’ve really paid attention to birds when I decided to respond to the strong urge I was feeling to feed them. I built a bird feeding station in my backyard from old broken roofing tiles and like the women before me, I have developed the ritual of speaking my intentions and making my requests as I put out the food. At first I was a little anxious that the birds wouldn’t come but then a robin showed up, then a finch, then a hummingbird and now my backyard is teeming with our feathered friends. If I delay their food, they make their demands known by knocking on the windows and it’s been such a beautiful experience watching how they behave towards me and with each other. 

It has now come into my awareness that birds are watchers, messengers and protectors. When we talk about bird’s eye view, we’re speaking on the ability of seeing the bigger picture and maybe into the past and future. When science tells us that birds can see beyond the color spectrum available to humans, it’s speaking on the ability to view and interact with different dimensions. If a bird perceives a threat, it can use its wings to take off and for bigger birds, they can choose to stay and fight with their talons. By creating a relationship with the Winged Kingdom, one acquires a powerful alliance with beings abled in ways we’re not and having this information is important because it shapes how we form our requests when we participate in a bird feeding ritual. 

This topic of birds came up in my recent divination with a geomancer and it seems that some of my ancestors are using birds to communicate with me. One whole week there was an owl calling late in the night right after I pulled an owl card from my Animal Spirit deck. I have been receiving visitations from very ancient beings in my lineage through the bigger birds with talons signifying how protected I am. It’s strange that these birds are carnivores therefore they have nothing to eat in my compound because I only offer seeds but still they come, and they only started coming because I formed an alliance with the smaller birds. By befriending the tiny birds in my yard, I have opened the gateway for fifty mighty kites to circle my entire home with their powerful wings on a random afternoon and what a spectacle it was for my 5yr old daughter and I. She watched me lift my hands in reverence to the skies, she heard the words I spoke, she felt the electric charge in the air, she sensed the arrival of our people and that’s how this work of remembrance is being passed generation to generation.