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SIKU YA MWAKA: NEW YEAR'S DAY IN SWAHILI-LAND (WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO MOMBASA)* BY P. J. L. FRANKL IN CONSULTATION WITH YAHYA ALI OMAR (London) Introduction The concept of mwaka 'a solar year' is found throughout the Bantu family of languages (Guthrie 1970: iv, 143); where the Swahili people of the East African coast differ in their perception of mwaka from all other Bantu speakers is in their association thereof with Islam. However, it should be made plain at the outset that in the 1990s most inhabitants of Mombasa, whatever their ethnic origins, observe January the first as the effectual New Year's s Day-only a few dozen, mainly elderly, Swahili observing Siku ya Mwaka 'the Swahili New Year'. Part I Early References and Origins , Siku ya Mwaka is (or was) observed throughout all Swahili-land. The earliest recorded comment, in connection with central Swahili- land, was made in 1844 (Krapf 1856: i, 218); the first printed reference to southern Swahili-land relates to the years 1847 and 1848 (Guillain 1856-57: ii, 107). What is puzzling-puzzling, that is, to those familiar with the work of W. E. Taylor, England's greatest Swahili scholar-is that, with the exception of SOAS MS 47752,
Journal of Religion in Africa – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 1993
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