These ceremonies are said to be very pleasing to God (Engai). No one is ever allowed to cultivate on the area which has been used for an itwika ceremony, and no one must ever cut the mugumu (fig tree) with an axe or knife. [[97]]
[1] Members of the Kikuyu tribe from birth to old age pass through various grades of initiation, but the ceremonial observed is of two classes, one of which is referred to by the natives as the Kikuyu system, and the other the Masai system. The Kikuyu system is probably the older, whilst the so-called Masai system is probably contact metamorphism due to the proximity of the Masai and the partial intermingling which has occurred from time to time. Curiously enough, the Masai system bears very little resemblance to the Masai customs of the present day, so presumably it has been modified to fit in with the psychology of the Kikuyu who adopted it. [↑]
[2] Ol-divai is the Masai word for the wild Sanseviera. [↑]
[3] Vide article on Masai and their traditions, by A. C. Hollis—London Quarterly Review, July, 1907, p. 104—“Now the Masai themselves say they learnt this peculiar ceremony (viz.: their method of circumcision) from the Kikuyu.” [↑]
[4] Mr Routledge mentions a later one which took place near Karuri’s about 1904, but according to the S. Kikuyu natives it was only a local ceremony. [↑]
CHAPTER VI
DEATH AND BURIAL CEREMONIAL
Kikuyu.—Among most peoples, irrespective of their stage of culture, definite ceremonials have to be observed upon the occasion of a death, and before the heirs can succeed to the property. In Kikuyu land these are somewhat complex, and like many other observances in that country, their form greatly depends on the circumcision guild to which the person belongs. This is the excuse for introducing the subject, as it is submitted that this factor has apparently escaped the notice of previous investigators, and to understand fully the life-history of a Kikuyu native it must be clearly realised how, from his early years to his death, he is bound down by the ritual of the guild to which he belongs. The nearest analogy one can find to illustrate this is the case of one child who is baptised a Protestant and another a Roman Catholic; the main principles of these religions are the same, and among the Kikuyu the guild to which a man belongs does not affect his beliefs as to the ngoma, or spirits, and their influence upon mortals, but the ritual of his religion varies throughout his life according to the guild to which he belongs.