Bantu Beliefs and Magic / With particular reference to the Kikuyu and Kamba tribes of Kenya Colony; together with some reflections on East Africa after the war

by C. W. Hobley

In the case of a mutumia ma ukuu (elder of [[225]]ukuu) the necessary qualification is a series of deaths in the family within a short period. He can then go to another elder of ukuu, pay fees and be initiated in the secrets of the art—the fee is usually one or two bullocks; his duties are to remove the curse due to murders, accidental deaths, and remove the curse of death from a family which has been afflicted by an unusual number of deaths. He does not perform purification ceremonial, but lays down certain procedure which has to be followed by the applicant. He may be compared to the consulting physician who gives certain advice, such as a particular diet, and leaves the patient to follow it or not as he likes. The prescription sometimes, for instance, takes the form of a direction to have conjugal intercourse at a particular season.

The final degree which he reaches in old age is called mutumia ma ithembo (elder of the shrine), and his duty then is to offer the sacrifices at the sacred grove or ithembo. Among the Kamba tribe the members of this grade take but little part in the affairs of the tribe, but in Kikuyu the athuri ya ukuu form a tribal court of appeal (the word ukuu in Kikuyu has a different significance from ukuu in Ukamba and merely means “great or senior”).

If an elder of ithembo becomes so old as to fall into his dotage, and has a son who is qualified to take his place, the son is often elected in his stead.

If, however, a mutumia ma nzama (elder of council) is married to a wife who is a magician, and who can instruct him in certain matters connected with the ritual of the shrine, he can approach much nearer to the sacred grove than the ordinary elder of nzama, but cannot actually go up to the place of sacrifice—the elders of ithembo only being privileged to do so.

Elders of ithembo are very few in number; there are rarely more than two for each grove. The above practice is prevalent among the Kamba of Ulu. The Kitui customs may possibly vary somewhat.

The author is greatly indebted to the late Hon. K. [[226]]Dundas for assistance in making these matters clear.

Curse for Disobedience to a Judgment by the Court of Elders.—In connection with the history of the operation of the thahu in Kikuyu one point is worthy of notice. If a person has been one of the parties in a suit before the kiama, or council of elders, and refuses to pay the necessary compensation, the elders can lay a curse or thahu on him. The procedure is as follows: they assemble at one of their recognised meeting places and then mass together, beating their long staves on the ground in unison, calling out, “We curse you on the mithegi; the person who disobeys the order of the kiama shall be cursed.” Mithegi is the name of the staves carried by old men, the name coming from the wood they are made of. No elder goes to a council without his staff. The offender need not be present, but it is believed that the curse forthwith begins to take effect.

To remove the curse the offender then goes to the elders and begs to be allowed to pay the amount of the judgment. This is done, and in addition he brings a sheep; the elders then say, “Go back home, bring some beer, and the day after to-morrow we will come and spit on you.” They assemble at his village on the appointed day and the offender gives another sheep, which is killed outside the gate of the village; the purpose of this is to purify the village, ku-thirura muchi, and the meat is carried round the confines of the huts. The elders then each take a little of the sheep’s fat and rub it on their staves, saying, “We are glad that the man who defied our orders has now obeyed it; we cursed him through our mithegi, but we now smear our mithegi with fat, as a sign that we and our mithegi are glad, and there is now nothing to be feared, for we have come to cleanse you and your village from evil.” The elders then assemble in a circle with the man and his family in the middle, and one of the elders anoints the tongue of each individual of the family with [[227]]a spot of ira, or white earth, and the elders then ceremonially spit on the offender and each of his family, and depart.

The same belief occurs in Ukamba, and the nzama, or council of elders, can inflict a curse upon a man for disregard of its orders; if he is still recalcitrant it is said to be potent enough to kill him and all the people of his village in a short time. The elders impose this curse, called kutuu, by all clapping their hands together. The effect of the curse can be averted if the man obeys and the elders forgive him; as in Kikuyu, however, he has to pay a fee of a goat, and the elders assemble and ceremonially spit on the culprit to neutralise the curse. The removal of this curse is called ka-athimwa or ka-musia by the A-Kamba.

Sometimes, however, in Kikuyu a defiant tribesman was beaten with staves, or his village was burnt, and in extreme cases he was ordered to be killed and his property was confiscated. If he was executed by judicial order, he had to be killed by his blood kin, so that no claim for blood money should lie. The procedure consists either in strangling the culprit with a rope, choking him by clasping his throat kuita, or killing him by blows delivered with the handle of an axe.