Getiro—This is a marriage dance and is held first at the bride’s village and in the evening at the bridegroom’s village.
Ndumo—This is danced by women at the close of the Kikuyu year. It takes place in a village, but anyone may be present.
In Kikuyu the elders have only one dance, called Muthungwei, which they dance together with the women; its name is said to be derived from the nodding of the head in the dance. Only elders can dance it, and a woman cannot join unless her husband is entitled to dance. It is held in an open space outside a village.
Mr Routledge mentions three other dances, but he was probably misled by the words used. Two of these, Keoana and Kuinenera, are verbs meaning to dance or sing. The third, Ndorothi, is the name given to a stick carried by youths at circumcision feasts. It is topped with a tuft of colobus monkey fur and is carried until the evening before the ceremony. On that evening, all those about to be circumcised race to a mugumu tree and throw the Ndorothi sticks at the foot of the tree.
At the time of circumcision there is, again, the Mambura dance. The boys travel about the country, their bodies painted white, and wearing curious wooden shields on their arms above the elbow.
KIKUYU.
CIRCUMCISION SHIELD WITH ANTHROPOMORPHIC FIGURES.
KIKUYU.