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

If a sacrifice is made at a sacred fig tree to invoke rain only, athuri ya kiama can attend and eat it. No woman must go near. These rules apply to both sections.

(53) If children are being circumcised at a village according to Kikuyu fashion and the head of the village goes on a journey before eight days have elapsed or, according to Masai fashion, before four days have passed, he and those of his children who have been operated on become thahu; this is a case for the medicine man to arrange.

(54) If a child has been circumcised and, on the first occasion after the ceremony on which he leaves his village, the goats and sheep come back from grazing and enter the village before he returns, he is thahu. He cannot return to his village until it is removed and [[118]]must sleep at a neighbouring village where some of the other boys, who went through the ceremony with him, reside. To remove the thahu, his father has to kill a sheep and place a strip of skin (rukwaru) from the animal on his wrist.

(55) If a father picks up one of his children and places it on his back or shoulders, the father becomes thahu and the child will die, the result being the same whatever the sex of the child; if he carries the child in front of him there is no evil result. This is a case for a medicine man to arrange, and it applies to both sections of the tribe.

(56) If a person should be bitten by a hyæna or a dog he or she is thahu and a medicine man has to be called in; he kills a sheep and places a bracelet, or rukwaru, of the skin on the wrist of the patient. This applies to both sections.

(57) If a dog dies in a village it is a very serious matter; the head of the village and his people are thahu, and the elders are called in. The village head provides a sheep which is slaughtered, and the stomach contents (tatha) are sprinkled round the village, which is then ceremonially swept by the elders; the medicine man is then called in to purify all the people of what is called the mugiro of the dog. (Note.—The mugiro means the pollution produced by the blood of the dog having fallen on the ground of the village or the death of the dog in the village.) This only applies to the Kikuyu section of the tribe.

(58) The children and grandchildren of brothers and sisters cannot intermarry. Breach of this rule is considered to be a very grave sin, and all children born of such marriages surely die; the thahu on them cannot be purged by any ceremonial. The parents are not affected. It sometimes happens, however, that a young man unwittingly marries a cousin; for instance, if a part of the family moves away to another locality a man might become acquainted with a girl and marry her before he discovered the relationship. In such a case [[119]]the thahu is removable; the elders take a sheep and place it on the woman’s shoulders; it is then killed, the intestines are taken out, and the elders solemnly sever them with a sharp splinter of wood from the mukeo bush, and announce that they are cutting the clan “kutinyarurira,” which means that they are severing the bond of blood relationship existing between the pair. A medicine man then comes and purifies the couple. This only applies to the Kikuyu section of the tribe.

(59) If a parent goes on a journey and, during his absence, one of his or her sons cohabits with one of his father’s wives, the parents are thahu, and upon his return will be seized with illness. This is a case for the medicine man, who has to be called in to perform a lustration ceremony to purify them; the offending son is not affected. Sprigs of the mahoroa, muchatha, and mitei bushes are bound up together and dipped in water, and the water is sprinkled over the couple, a little being also sprinkled at the gate of the village. This only applies to those circumcised Kikuyu fashion. It is curious to note that practically the same custom is observed by the A-Kamba.

(60) If a Kikuyu native kills a man belonging to another tribe he is not thahu; if he kills a man of his own tribe, but of a different rika, or clan, to his own, he is not thahu; if, however, he kills a man belonging to his own rika, or clan, he is thahu, and it is a very serious matter. It can be arranged by the elders in the following manner:

Two trunks of the plantain or banana tree (called miramba in Kikuyu) are placed on the ground parallel to each other, and an elder sits on each; one of them is then lifted up by another elder, and the offender has to seat himself on the tree trunk exactly in the same place; the other elder is then removed and the elder brother of the deceased or brother next in age to him is put in his place.