Robertson Smith’s “Religion of the Semites,” p. 241, states: “Among the Hebrews, as among other agricultural peoples, the offering of firstfruits was connected with the idea that it is not lawful or safe to eat of the new fruit until the god has received his due. The offering makes the whole crop lawful food, but it does not render it holy food; nothing is consecrated except the small portion offered at the altar, and of the remaining store clean persons and unclean can eat alike during the year. This, therefore, is quite a different thing from the consecration of animal sacrifices, for in the latter case the whole flesh is holy, and only those who are clean can eat of it” (Cf. [Lev. xxiii. 10–21]).
Professor Robertson Smith also points out that in Hosea’s time the firstfruits of corn were offered at the shrines of the Baalim, who had become recognised as the giver of rain and the author of all fertility. This principle, it will be seen, agrees as closely as possible with the ideas of the tribes under review.
In Kikuyu, the people do not appear to take the firstfruits to the sacred tree formally before reaping the crop, but on the occasion of each harvest the women will take offerings of the various cereal foods—maize, [[74]]millet, and so forth (also beans, sugar cane, etc.)—to the sacred place. They are not allowed to go right up to the tree, but pour their gifts on the ground near by. All such food must be uncooked. This being done, they return, and the elders kill either a young ewe which has not yet borne a lamb, or a ram, at a little distance from the tree, and a rukwaru, or strip of skin, is placed on the left wrist of each of the women. The elders then eat the meat; none is actually taken to the tree or left there. It is a kind of harvest thanksgiving ceremony.
Firstfruits in Ukamba.—It is customary to eat a certain quantity of the maize cobs or the bean crop before they ripen. But before this can be done a little of each kind is reaped and laid at the ithembo by an elder and an old woman, and a goat is sacrificed. The tatha, or stomach contents of the goat, are mixed with the green food in a cooking pot and boiled. A portion of this is then distributed to each village, after which the green crops can be safely eaten.
Next comes the proper harvest, but before reaping can commence the owners again consult the medicine man whose advice was previously sought at sowing time. They take him a present of every kind of grain, and so forth, reaped at the previous harvest, and he gives his advice as to a propitious day for the ceremony. The elders then gather the firstfruits of the harvest and assemble at the village meeting-place (thomi) of one of the senior elders and sacrifice a goat. Then, as above, they cook samples of the various products in a big pot together with the tatha of the goat. When the food is ready, the women from the villages round come and receive some of it, which is placed on leaves.
It is said that were this ceremony to be omitted, the people would be afflicted with diarrhœa, and would presumably become the victims of thabu. But when it is concluded, they may reap and eat of the crop without fear or hindrance. [[75]]
Curiously enough, this ceremony is not considered necessary for the mbaazi crop (Cajanus indicus or pigeon pea). The people give no explanation of this, but it may be that the pigeon pea was introduced from Kikuyu or elsewhere, after the belief had developed, and was therefore excluded.
A housewife having gathered into her granary (ikumba) all her crops, must not cohabit with her husband the night on which she has completed her harvest.
A present of a little of the new grain has to be made to the medicine man who advised the people where to plant.
If a woman has had assistance from her neighbours in the harvest-field she makes a feast of all kinds of food; no men are present, as they have nothing to do with it. There is no dancing on such an occasion.