Kikuyu.—In Kikuyu, for instance, until the ceremonial has all been properly carried out, no member of the family of the murdered man can eat food out of the same dish or drink beer with any member of the family of the murderer. In Ukamba it is believed that unless the matter is properly adjusted according to the law (their law) the members of the family of the murderer will continually be involved in quarrels which are likely to end by one of them killing his neighbour, and conversely the members of the family of the murdered man become involved in quarrels and are liable to be killed in the same way as their relation. If one tries to look at the matter from their point of view it appears to be this: there is a bad spirit or muimu about, belonging to an ancestor; it enters into a man and the result is that the next time he quarrels with a neighbour he kills him. This spirit may continue to possess that person, or it may go on to another member of that family with the same result. In the same way the muimu of the deceased, the murdered man, influences the aiimu in the bodies of all the members of his family and makes them afraid. [[231]]They know that this death-dealing spirit is abroad, and the members of the family are more liable to be killed if they become entangled in a broil. Thus both families are anxious that this state of affairs should cease and that the troublesome spirit be appeased and laid to rest.
The explanation just given may or may not be the final interpretation, but the fact remains that it is considered a vital necessity that the ceremonies necessary to close the trouble caused in a tribe by a murder should be carried out according to the law of the tribe, and only by the observance of the proper ritual can the avenging spirit be appeased.
In South Kikuyu there are only two persons qualified to perform these ceremonies: Gachii wa Kihara and Juguna wa Kihara, both sons of a great elder and chief named Kihara, of the Anjiru clan, upon whom those duties devolved. The office is apparently hereditary.
The ceremonies are called Kugira uhio wa kuria mundu, which means “To carry the man who was killed,” and the word mugiro, derived from ku-gira, is also used in this connection. Of course, the payment of compensation has now been abrogated by Government, and the death penalty imposed in its place according to our law, so that the functions of the elders mentioned have of late years been confined to the supervision of the ceremonies which have magical or religious significance. The description of the affair, however, which was obtained from Gachii himself, takes no cognisance of the amendment caused by the substitution of the “lex talionis” for the old principle of “wergild” or compensation. The procedure runs as follows: soon after the murder had occurred the father of the murderer summoned Gachii or Juguna to his village, and whichever of these elders attended took with him eight athuri ya ukuu (elders of appeal), and the first object of their mission was to stop any fighting between the young men of the two parties. [[232]]
They remained at the village, and the father of the murderer then collected seventy goats and sent them to the father of the murdered man, and a bullock and a male sheep to the mother of the deceased. This bullock is important; it is called ndegwa muhiriga or njiga migwe, that is the “ox for the clan” or the “ox of the arrows,” which represents a peace offering to the clan, and prevents the clan of the deceased taking out their arrows to avenge their brother. Two days later thirty goats were collected and sent to the father of the deceased. The compensation of a hundred sheep or goats can be paid either in goats or sheep or cattle, but, whatever is paid, the count is always kept in sheep or goats. For instance, a thenge, or big male goat, may count as two or three goats, according to size, and in the same way an ox has its stated rate of exchange and is counted as so many goats; in pre-European days the ox counted as three goats, and a heifer or cow counted as ten in paying compensation or in marriage fees for a wife.
The next payment is nine male sheep to the athuri ya ukuu, nine more sheep being given to the father of the deceased, and nine ewes, nyarume, to the maternal uncle of the deceased, or mamawe, as he is called. The father of the murderer and the father of the deceased then each bring a male sheep, and the trunk of a banana plant is procured, placed on the ground, and the murderer and his relations seat themselves on one side of it, and the relatives of the other party on the opposite side; four of the athuri ya ukuu also sit on each side. The two sheep are then killed, and the two parties exchange pieces of cooked meat and eat them; they then exchange pieces of sugar cane and sweet potatoes smeared with tatha (the contents of the stomach of the sheep), which are given to the women and children of the two families. Some gruel is also exchanged; this is for the children of the two families, and is eaten inside the villages of the two parties. [[233]]
The presiding elder, Gachii or Juguna, does not sit with either party, but a little way off, his function being to see that the proper ritual is observed.
The elders then take the spear or sword with which the murder was committed, and beat it until it is quite blunt. The spear head or sword is taken away and thrown into a deep pool in the nearest river. They say that if this were not done the weapon would continue to be the cause of murder.
The final act is what is called ku-kukuriwa ithe na nyina (to purify father and mother). The elders adorn themselves with necklets of a grass called ngoka, which they wear for eight days, but if at the expiration of this period no moon is visible they cannot take them off till the moon reappears. When the day comes for dispensing with them they cross a river and bury them on the far side, and return home without looking back. In North Kikuyu, Mwaitume, it is said that they throw the rings away in an old shamba, garden, dig up a sweet potato, eat it, and then return home.
These ceremonies are the same for both grades of the Kikuyu, viz.: those circumcised Kikuyu fashion, and those circumcised Masai fashion. If they are properly carried out they wipe out all questions of blood feud, and the members of both families can eat together.