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

The elders of kiama and the wives of the owner of the village, who was one of the elders, sat round in a circle in the middle of the village with a quantity of tendrils of the plant on a wicker tray, kitaruru, in the centre; a small gourd of white diatomaceous earth, ira, was produced, and each person licked a little and then smeared a small portion of the white earth on his throat and navel; this was to purify himself for the ceremony. A horn cup of honey-beer was then produced, each one taking a sip, and then all simultaneously blowing it out of their mouths in spray on to the plant; it was said that the object of this was to purify or dedicate the plant to the use to which it was to be applied. The male candidates then came up one by one and a bracelet of the creeper was fastened on the right wrist of each.

After a little more dancing the male candidates were seated in a row on ox-hides spread out on the ground; [[84]]a woman, the sister of the owner of the village, came along and poured first a little milk and then a little honey-beer on the head of the one on the left of the line; she smeared it over the scalp and shaved a place on the right side of his head and passed on to the next. The shaving was merely ceremonial, as the candidates had all been shaved on the head before coming to the ceremony—the native razor, ruenji, being used. The milk was in a gourd and the beer in a cow horn. The male candidates then got up, and the same performance was gone through with the girls.

Shortly after this two great branches from the mutamaiyu tree were brought to the gate of the village and held upright, one on each side of the entrance; the elders said that in the ceremonies according to Masai fashion the mutamaiyu had the same significance as the mugumu tree had in the Kikuyu ceremonial. The candidates came through the village dancing and singing all the time up to near the mutamaiyu branches, and stopped a few yards away from them, still dancing and singing. The song did not appear to have any great significance, being to the effect that from time immemorial they always had the mutamaiyu at these festivals, and now it had come they could proceed to circumcise the candidates according to old custom.

They then all returned to the village, and the candidates were arranged in the order in which they could be circumcised on the morrow. The owner of the village divested himself of his blanket and donned an oily kaross made of goatskin from which all the hair had been scraped; his hands were carefully wiped and some ira (the white earth previously mentioned) was poured into the palm of his hand from a small gourd. He then commenced at the left of the line and anointed each candidate on different parts of the body with smears of the white earth; he was assisted by his principal wife and two sisters and another elder.

The boys were first touched on the tongue, and a line was then drawn down the forehead to the point of [[85]]the nose; a spot was placed on the throat, the navel, the palm of each hand, and finally between the big toe and first toe.

The procedure with the girls was slightly different, the tongue being smeared first, and a horizontal line then drawn across the forehead. The palms of the hands and the navel were next smeared, and finally a band was drawn round each ankle.

After the candidates had thus been anointed, the elders took mouthfuls of honey-beer out of a horn and blew it in spray over each candidate’s head and shoulders. This part of the proceedings was a ceremony intended to purify the candidates from any thahu which might be on them, and to protect them from any thahu which they might possibly get from an onlooker. The spectators “ululued” loudly during this operation.

It was then about two p.m., and nothing further of importance took place; the crowd, which had been gradually growing, however, danced on till sundown.

At nightfall each candidate was said to receive a dose of the crushed seeds of a plant called ngaita, which acted as an aperient, and in the morning before the operation each one had to bathe in water in which an axe head had been placed to make it cold; it was, however, stated that if there were a large number, some would not bother about this, but would bathe in the nearest stream.

The operation took place at dawn on the following morning, and was not witnessed. No firewood but that from the mutamaiyu tree is allowed to be used in the hut where the candidates live after the operation.