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

CIRCUMCISION CEREMONIAL

One of the most important factors in the life history of all natives is the formal initiation to the tribe, of which the outward sign is usually the ceremony of circumcision. In Kikuyu these rites have attained some elaboration, and it is important to describe them in detail.

It will later be seen in [Chapter VII] how deeply the division of the Kikuyu tribe into the two guilds, Kikuyu and Masai,[1] affects their customs, and in the following description the rites of the two guilds are described separately.

Before a child reaches the age of circumcision, however, a ceremony called Ku-chiaruo ringi has to be gone through, which means “to be born again.” It must be undergone by young children before they are eligible for the next stage of initiation, viz., circumcision.

The occurrence of these two ceremonies, connected as they are, cannot fail to strike one as being, in a lower stage of civilisation, the genesis of the idea of the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. It is said in fact [[78]]that some of the missionaries do not hesitate to explain the two Christian doctrines mentioned by reference to the two pagan ones, and state that with the help of this key the natives at once grasp the idea of their doctrines.

But to return to the ceremony itself—the form varies with the guild of the parents. According to the fashion of the Masai guild, about eight days after the birth of the child, be it male or female, the father of the infant kills a male sheep and takes the meat to the house of the mother, who eats it with her neighbours if they belong to the Masai guild. At the conclusion of the feast, the mother is adorned with the skin from the left foreleg and shoulder of the sheep, the piece of skin being fastened from her left wrist to left shoulder; this she wears for four days, when it is taken off and thrown on to her bed, where it remains till it disappears. The mother and child have their heads shaved on the day this ceremony takes place; it has no connection with the naming of the child, which is done on the day of its birth.

The ceremony of Ku-chiaruo ringi, according to the fashion of the Kikuyu guild, is as follows in S. Kikuyu. The day after the birth a male sheep is killed and some of its fat is cooked in a pot and given to the mother and infant to drink. It was not specifically stated whether this had a direct connection with the rite referred to, but the description commenced with a mention of this. When the child reaches the age of from three to six years the father kills a male sheep, and three days later the novice is adorned with part of the skin and the skin of the big stomach. These skins are fastened on the right shoulder of a boy or on the left shoulder of a girl. The skin used for a boy has, however, the left shoulder and leg cut out of it, and that for a girl has the right shoulder and leg cut away. The child wears these for three days, and on the fourth day the father cohabits with the mother of the child. [[79]]

There is, however, one important point, and that is that before the child is decorated with the sheep skin it must go and lie alongside its mother on her bed and cry out like a newly born infant. Only after this ceremony has been performed is the child eligible for circumcision.

A few days after circumcision the child returns to sleep on a bed in its mother’s hut, but the father has to kill a sheep before he can return, and the child must drink some of the blood, the father also having to cohabit with the mother upon the occasion.

Owing to similarity of name it is possible that the ceremony of Ku-chiaruo ringi might be confused with Ku-chiaruo kungi, which is of widely different significance. This latter is an adoption ceremony, and is said to be similar to a Swahili rite called ndugu Kuchanjiana. If a person has no brothers or parents he will probably try to obtain the protection of some wealthy man and his family. If such a man agrees to adopt him he takes a male sheep and slaughters it, and the suppliant takes another one. The elders are assembled and slaughter these sheep, strips of the skin (rukwaru) being taken from the right foot and from the chest of each sheep and tied round each person’s hand, while each is decorated with strips of skin from the sheep of the other party. The poor man is then considered as the son of the wealthy one, and when the occasion arises the latter pays out live stock to buy a wife for his adopted son.