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.

The ceremonial observed upon a death is called ku-hukura—the Swahili synonym, sadaka, has practically the same meaning.

The death and funeral ceremonies of an elder circumcised Kikuyu fashion will be first described. On the day of the death the children or heirs take two rams and present them to the elders to pay for the [98]digging of the grave; every elder who has circumcised children is buried, married women who have borne five or six children are also buried. The grass is dug with a mubiru or mukuruwi stick, the sons of the deceased doing the actual digging, but the elders decide the site and supervise the work; if a son refuses to assist in digging his father’s grave it disqualifies him from receiving a share of the estate. The grave-diggers receive a big male goat (nthenge), or, if the family is rich, a bullock, the bullock being slaughtered and the corpse buried in the hide. The corpse of a male is buried on its right side with its knees doubled up and with the right hand under the head. The site of the grave is near the gate of the village, and the face of the corpse is placed looking towards its hut. A woman is always buried lying on her left side.

On the third day after the interment, the elders assemble at the village to kill a ram to cleanse the village from the stain of death, and the sons eat the breast of this animal and next day shave their heads. The same day the elders bring with them one of their number who is very poor, and of the same clan as the deceased, and he has to sleep in the hut of the senior widow of the deceased and have connection with her; he generally lives on in the village and is looked upon as a stepfather to the children.

There is then a pause of six days, and on the seventh day the elders return, a supply of beer is made ready for them, and a big male goat is killed and eaten by all present. This is called nthenge ya noro, which means the “goat of the whetstone,” referring to the whetstone used in sharpening the razors with which the heads are ceremonially shaved at the conclusion of the ceremonies. During the first four days after the death, the married men in the village must have connection with their wives; during the succeeding four days, however, they must observe strict continence.

After the nthenge ya noro has been killed the property is divided. [99]

If the deceased belongs to the Masai circumcision guild the ceremonies are as follows:

When a death occurs the elders decide whether the person is to be buried or not. Only elders above what is known as the “three goat” grade are buried; these are called athuri ya mburi tatu, which means that they have reached the grade, the entrance fee to which is three goats; the next grade is athuri ya mburi nne or the “four goat” grade. No elder is a fully qualified member of council till he reaches that rank. Generally speaking, it works out that only those elders who have grown-up children are buried. In the case of a person not entitled to burial, it is the duty of the elders to decide the place in the bush where the corpse shall be deposited.

Assuming that the deceased is entitled to burial, the local athuri ya ukuu (highest grade of elders) are summoned, and the corpse is taken out of the hut by the sons and laid on the hide on which the person slept during life. A ram (ndorume) is then slaughtered, the fat being cooked in an earthenware pot and some poured on the corpse, the children of the deceased also being smeared with the fat. The ornaments of the deceased are then removed under the supervision of the elders and divided up among the immediate family; the eldest son has the first choice, then the senior wife, and each child gets something. An ox of a uniform colour, preferably all white or all black, is now slaughtered and the hide is set aside. The elder sons dig the grave, the site having first been chosen by the elders; it is usually situated inside the village near the goat hut or bachelor quarters, thengira. The corpse is then interred lying on the sleeping hide used during life; if a male, it is laid on its right side, knees doubled up and right hand under the head; if a female, it is laid on its left side in the same position. The corpse is then covered with the raw ox hide with the hair side upwards and the grave is filled in. Nothing is buried with the body, but after the grave is filled in, the elders [100]pour honey and cooked fat on the grave, and say, “We give you this to drink.”

A little later in the day a male goat, nthenge, is slaughtered, the meat being roasted on a fire near the gate of the village, and a little of the fat is placed on every fire in the village; the smell of this is believed to be very pleasing to the ngoma, or spirits, and any thahu or curse that may be impending is drawn away. This act is also said to lustrate the sons who have performed the burial.

A month, or perhaps more, is allowed to elapse, and the division of the estate takes place. The children or heirs then take four rams, and the women of the village shed all their ornaments and sleep together in the same hut, which is also shared by the four sheep. In the morning the elders arrive and the sheep are killed, the fat is cooked and then put away to cool, while the meat is eaten by the assembled people, providing they belong to the Masai guild. The head must be cooked and eaten away from the village; the skin is taken by someone else, and the viscera by yet another person.

On the following day the heads of all the inhabitants of the village are shaved and they are anointed with the fat of the sheep. During the ceremony the people present wear their skin garments inside out, and these are anointed with the cooked latex of the mugumu fig tree; after their bodies have been anointed with the fat they can once more turn their skin robes right side outwards, and the women resume their ornaments.

The property of the deceased is then divided up by the elders; the principle followed is that each son takes the property which had its dwelling-place in his mother’s hut, the goats and sheep, for instance, and which lodge, so many in the hut of each wife. With regard to which cattle, each son gets those which have been milked by his mother. Strict continency must be observed by all in the village until these proceedings are finished, and at their close the inhabitants and all [101]the property of the deceased are ceremonially purified by a medicine man.

Among the Kikuyu a woman’s skin cloak is laid outside on the ground when she dies and no one will touch it; a Dorobo husband, however, wears his wife’s cloak after her death; hence one may at times see a man wearing a woman’s cloak. The fear of corpses is intense with the Kikuyu, but it appears to be much less so with the Dorobo. They will, for instance, live in the house of the deceased, and do not seem to mind handling the corpse, a man’s sons, in fact, anointing his corpse after death.

Burial (Ukamba of Kitui).—Among these people the head of a village is buried if his wife, wives, or any sons are alive. If they are all dead the body is thrown out.

A man of importance and of high social grade is nearly always buried and is interred at the side of his cattle kraal.

The head wife of an elder is buried.

Beer and blood are periodically poured out by the side of a grave of a deceased medicine man, but not by that of other elders. It is essential that this libation should be made just before sunrise, and as this is in accordance with the practice in several other places, the custom is probably a very old one.

In the case of deceased elders, a libation of beer and blood is poured out inside the hut of the deceased when liquor is brewed or when a goat is killed.

If a childless wife, who is the first wife, dies, she is buried inside the village. In the case of a second or third wife, the body is thrown out, but curiously enough it must not be taken through the gate; a special opening is made in the village fence for the purpose, the opening being afterwards closed up again. Presumably this is to prevent her spirit from finding its way back into the village.

There is a curious custom among the Kamba of Ulu, in the event of a member of the family being away [102]when a death occurs in a village. An elder measures the corpse, cuts a stick of the same length and places it alongside the house of the deceased; this procedure is believed to protect the absent one from evil. Upon his return, a goat is killed and he is smeared with the contents of the stomach, muyo in Ki-Kamba, the tatha of Kikuyu, and some is deposited at the door of the hut, and he must tread in it before entering the hut; this ceremonially purifies him. The stick is then taken up by a mutumia ya makwa, one of the elders who understands the ritual connected with the removal of thabu or makwa, and is thrown out into the bush where the corpse of the deceased was deposited.

In Kitui if a man is on a journey and a death occurs in the village during his absence, his wives may not cut their hair till he returns and has performed the ceremonies necessary upon the occasion of a death. [103]