Kirdi

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A Kapsiki man in Rhumsiki, Cameroon, tells the future by interpreting the changes in position of various objects as caused by a fresh-water crab.

The Kirdi are an ethnic group of people living mostly in the Mandara Mountains in northwestern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria. The Kirdi, who are also known as "mountain peoples", are made up of different people speaking the Chadic and Adamawa languages. The Bata, Fali, Fata, Guidar, Kapsiki, Mafa, Massa, Matakam, Mofou, Mousgoum, Podoko and Toupouris are all Kirdi.

The word Kirdi comes from the Fulani word for "pagan". Derogatory in its origin, the term has been accepted as a self-designation and may be used by montagnards to refer to their ethnic pride. In a generalized context, Kirdi can be interpreted as denoting resistance against Islamization and the holding on to a traditional local paganism. The first mentioning of Kirdi is by Denham in 1826 (1985:145) who translates the word Kerdies as "Negroes who have never embraced the Mohammedan faith".