The next thing is the threshing of the grain, and before the mawele grain, and according to some the mbaazi pea, can be threshed, permission must be sought from a medicine man who specialises in agricultural magic. In Kibwezi district no one has any leave to thresh mawele until the elders have sacrificed at the ithembo. It is said that if anyone breaks this prohibition the particular area will miss the mvua ya ua, or the second portion, of the next big rains. These are the showers which bring the grain into head and fill out the seed, and thus they will miss their crops. The first half of the rains grow the stem and leaves, and the second half bring the plant to fruition.
Again, if a woman has the assistance of her neighbours she will make a feast for them at the completion of the threshing.
Planting of Crops and Harvest.—In Ukamba, before the sowing of the grain is commenced a medicine man is usually consulted with regard to the proper season and the prospect of good rains.
When these preliminaries are settled, the elders of ithembo and the old women are summoned to the [[76]]ithembo. The men bring a goat and the women bring milk and offerings of grain contributed by the villages of the neighbourhood.
The goat is sacrificed at the sacred tree; some of the blood and the beer are poured out as libations, an offering of the cereals is made, prayers for good crops are offered, and the meat and food is then eaten and the beer is drunk by the worshippers.
They then go away and commence to plant with a light heart. After planting, however, a woman must not cohabit with her husband until the grain has sprouted and appeared above ground. Should, however, ceremonial cohabitation become necessary in connection with some other religious observance, the woman must first go and dig up a seed of each species of food product which has been planted and bring it back to the village.
If any man plants before the proper sacrifice has taken place, the elders will fine him a goat, which has to be sacrificed at the ithembo as an atonement. Further, the grain which has been sown has, as far as it is possible, to be dug up, collected and returned to the village. If it is left in the ground, it is supposed not to mature, and also Engai might be angry with the community at large.
The people of Ulu (Ukamba) again, often perform another fertility ceremony to ensure good crops. They take the dung of the hyrax, which is called kinyoi ngilla in Kikamba, and mix it with the powdered root of the mulinditi tree and a weed called waithu. This medicine is then mixed with some of the seed which they propose to plant and burnt together with some of the dry weeds collected from the field. The fire is made in such a position that the smoke drifts across the field. The ashes of this fire are then mixed with the seed about to be sown. In Kitui, however, it is said that a live hyrax is carried round the field by a procession of villagers, the animal being then killed and its blood and entrails scattered over the field. [[77]]