(8) If one man kills another, and comes to sleep at a village and eats with the family in a certain hut, the people with whom he has eaten become thahu, and the skin on which he has slept is thahu and may infect anyone sleeping on it. This is a case for a mundu mugo, who is called in to purify the hut and its occupants.
If, however, the owner of the hut and his family have been circumcised Masai fashion they do not become thahu.
(9) If an important elder dies he is buried by his sons and they are thahu until purified by the athuri ya kiama. They are smeared with oil and their heads are shaved during the ceremony; this is not considered a very serious thahu. If they have been circumcised Masai fashion they can be purified forthwith, but if they belong to the other section it is necessary for them to isolate themselves until the new moon appears.
(10) When a child is born the father kills a sheep, of which a large part is given to the woman who has assisted at the confinement, and if, before he has pegged out the skin and divided the meat, he is summoned away from the village on urgent business (my informant gave an example, and said: “Suppose he was arrested and taken away as a prisoner”), the infant is thahu and the principal elder of the village has to kill a sheep, take a strip of skin from the forefoot of this animal, and fasten it as a bracelet on the wrist of the infant to remove the ill luck.
This applies to both sections of the tribe. [[109]]
(11) If children are being circumcised at a village, and the owner of the hut where the ceremony has taken place goes away to sleep at another village before he is cleansed, and, say, on the way, meets a crowd of people, the children who were circumcised will all be thahu. This is a case for a mundu mugo.
This only applies to those circumcised Masai fashion as, by Kikuyu fashion, the man does not sleep at another village.
(12) If two men who were circumcised at the same ceremony fight and blood is spilt, they are both thahu until a mundu mugo comes and removes it. He kills the usual sheep and the athuri or elders put a strip of the skin of the sheep on the wrist of each of the two men. Persons who are circumcised at the same feast are called wakini. This holds good for both sections of the tribe.
(13) If one man circumcises his children according to Masai fashion and another according to Kikuyu fashion, and the former should eat meat killed by the latter, the former will be thahu and vice versâ.
(14) If a person belonging to the Mweithaga clan sleeps in the hut of a person belonging to another rika or clan, the people of that hut become thahu; this is a case for both medicine men and elders, and applies to both sections of the tribe.