[ol]
[li]Gakenge – A new born baby for the first few months or so. After that he is referred to as Kaana, baby. Major ceremony – Being born, gūciarwo kwa mwana.[/li][li]Kahīī – A young boy floricking about like a young kid goat. major ceremony – The second Birth, gūcokia mwana ihu-iinī[/li][li]Kīhīī – A big boy nearing circumcision which would be anything from 12 to 18 years. To be called a Kīhīī (Kīhīī gīkī), is an insult as it is a reference to the fact that one is due or overdue for “straightening” – nī ūtigītie handū.[/li][li]Mumo – Kiumīri (sing), Literally means “coming out”, “emerging” like a butterfly from a cocoon into the full broom of God’s creation. Circumcision ceremonies – These were the most important of the Gikūyū ceremonies of becoming. Mambura ma irua.[/li][li]Mwanake – A young man until marriage. God’s material creation in its full glory. God, Ngai, did not create a child but a fully grown man. A young man is literally God’s fragment that was fashioned into a man by the creator, Mūmbi. Mwanake nī kīenyū kīa Ngai. Mwanake wa Njaama ya ita is a member of the warrior coupes, military. Mwanake wa Njaama ya kamatimū is a member of the policing and guard corps, Police.[/li][li]Mūthuuri – Karabai. Married man who can still be called upon to serve military duty in a major war.[/li][li]Mūthuri wa Kīama – An elder who serves in one or more of the many Councils. Because the Gikuyu system of government had no chiefs or kings, all government was through consensus in the various tribal Councils. Some were standing Councils with a membership representing the various clans. Other Councils were constituted on demand. To be a member of a Council was through the payment of a goat to the Council and there were three levels just as there are three levels in academia today, the Bachelors Degree, The Master’s Degree and the Doctor of Philosophy, PhD. Elders do not serve in the military or police coupes.[/li][/ol]
Nota bene: There were no serious ceremonies to do with death in Gīkūyū tradition as the Gīkūyū were highly biophilic and all major ceremonies had to do with life or its propagation. Necrophilic societies have death as their major ceremonies.
In The Republic, Plato explains that there are three classes of men – Lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor and lovers of gain. The lovers of wisdom are those individuals in which the Soul of reason has taken control. The lovers of honor are dominated by by the Soul of will, and the lovers of gain by the Soul of appetite. It was reckoned that the Soul of appetite was located in the belly, the Soul of will in the heart and the Soul of reason in the head. Spiritual development or becoming entailed the mastery of the negative impact of these Soul aspects on one’s personality and nurturing the positive aspects. The positive aspects of Soul, solidified in the character of a man into the three virtues namely Temperance, Strength and Prudence.
https://mukuyu.wordpress.com/2017/01/06/stages-of-a-gikuyu-mans-life/