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Although this rite has often been referred to and described in a somewhat desultory way by various writers, it seems to have received very little serious attention. The subject is, however, one which undoubtedly contains many features of great interest and is certainly deserving of special examination and study. There is little doubt that if we can only fully understand the relations of a people to their gods we have advanced a long way towards a realisation of their moral and intellectual development.

It is first proposed to examine the Kikuyu ceremonial.

Among this tribe sacrifice is of two kinds:

(1) The sacrifice at the sacred fig tree, or mugumu, which is always intended as an act of communion with a deity or high god called Engai.

This sacrifice may be either a communal rite, or it may be a personal matter for the head of a village.

(2) The other sacrifice is carried out in a village and is intended as an offering to the spirits of the ancestors who are supposed to live underground. This may be either a communal or an individual act.

Dotted about Kikuyu are numbers of great wild fig trees (Ficus capensis), many of which are used from generation to generation as sacred shrines or places of sacrifice, called mugumu or muti wa Engai.

Certain big medicine men like Njau wa Kabocha have special trees; it appears that the original choice of a tree as a sacred place devolved on certain notable medicine men, and if a sacred tree happens to fall owing to age, the elders assemble there and sacrifice a ram and a male goat; they eat one half and leave the other half of each carcase at the tree and pour the fat over the stump of the fallen tree to appease the deity.

It is then the duty of the local magician and the elders of ukuru to choose another tree. They sacrifice at the new tree, and if their prayers are answered they know that it is acceptable to Engai, but, if after several trials no result is obtained, they dedicate another to the service of Engai.

The idea of sacrilege is very marked. If, for instance, an impious person cuts a portion of a sacred tree, dire results are believed to ensue, and the elders make the offender pay a ram and a male goat. These are sacrificed at the tree, and the elders apply a strip of the skin to the place where the incision was made in the tree and anoint it with fat and the tatha or stomach contents. The breast of the ram is cut off and hung in the tree, and the remainder of the carcase and the whole of the carcase of the goat, eaten by the elders.

No beast or bird can be killed or shot in a sacred tree. The sacred tree and its environs is often called Kithangaona cha inja, which means the “sacred place of the ceremonies.” On the occasion of a sacrifice the elders of ukuru send word to the elders of Athamaki or Athuri ya mburi nne or elders of four goats and any senior to that grade, saying tuthieni mutini—“Let us go to the tree.” No elder whose father is alive can attend. No elder must go to the tree in a state of anger; no one must display anger with a wife, child, or even a stranger the day before he attends at the tree.

Elders of both of the circumcision guilds go together to the sacred tree and also elders of all clans.

If two elders, or their people, have a blood feud they are not allowed to attend or take part in a sacrifice at the sacred tree until the feud is at an end; if they do, they are supposed to die.

A person who is alien to the tribe, but who has been formally admitted to it, may attend a sacrifice.

Oaths or ordeals are not administered at the sacred tree.

Strict celibacy must be observed the night before they go to sacrifice and the night after. The night before, they sleep in their usual huts, but the night after, they sleep in the thengira or goat hut. The morning following the sacrifice they go and bathe in a river and then resume their ordinary life.

A departure from this rule of celibacy by anyone present will entirely spoil the efficacy of the sacrifice, and, if an offender is discovered, he will have to pay a fine of two goats, and the elders will spit on him ceremonially and sacrifice afresh on the following day.

Arms must not be taken to the sacred tree. The elders wear their usual garments.

The following things are collected on the day before the sacrifice at the village of the elder who provides the sacrificial ram, and that night they stay at his village:

2 gourds of honey beer.

2 gourds of sugar cane beer.

1 cooking pot.

1 half gourd.

1 small knife for skinning the sacrifice and making the incision to bleed it.

The sacrifice is always a ram, and it is called ngorima. One year it will be black, but if that particular year the seasons are not propitious they consider that the deity is displeased and therefore change the colour, choosing either a red or a white one.

In former times a he-goat was said to be sacrificed before going to war. The ram must have the clan mark on its ears, and must also have had its tail cut.

The provision of the sacrificial animals is settled by the elders, who pick the donors by rotation. At a specially important sacrificial ceremony, however, an important medicine man is called in and decides who shall provide the ram.

The proper time for a communal sacrifice is about two p.m., but private sacrifices take place at nine a.m.

It is said that the later time is usual for a communal sacrifice because it takes some time for elders who live far away to reach the place.

When the assembly arrives at the tree, one of the elders lifts up the ram into a standing position on its hind legs, facing the tree. This is called Kurugamia ngorima mugumuini—“To stand the ram before the tree.” The idea is probably to show the sacrificial animal ceremonially to the deity.

Only senior elders are allowed to go to the actual foot of the tree, and the elders of the four goat grade collect the wood for the ichua fire.

A gourd of honey and one of sugar cane beer are then poured into the ground at the base of the tree and the elders call out: “Twa kuthaitha Engai twa kuhoia mburi twa kuhoia indo chiothi”—“We pray to God, we sacrifice a goat, we offer all things.”

It is curious that they use the word mburi, which really signifies a goat, whilst the Kikuyu use the word mburi in a collective sense, which, in this way, often refers to sheep as well as goats.

The sheep is then suffocated by clasping its muzzle. As soon as it is insensible, but before it is actually dead, its throat is pierced by the sacrificial knife and the blood is collected in the half gourd called kinga, mentioned above. The blood is then poured out at the foot of the sacred tree, cf. Exodus xxix. 10: “And thou shalt slay the ram and thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.” The animal can be strangled by any elder present, and it does not appear to be the duty of any particular person to pierce the animal’s throat. It is said that the animal is strangled so that its life breath should not escape. A sheep killed for food is also strangled, but an animal which has its throat cut can also be eaten.

Should an ox be killed, it is stabbed at the back of the neck, but an ox is said never to be offered as a sacrifice.

The right half of the carcase is then skinned, that portion being cut away and removed, and the left half wrapped in the skin and placed at the foot of the tree and left there. This is believed to be eaten by a hyæna or wild cat which is moved to do so by the deity.

A fire is then lit at a little distance from the tree and the pieces of meat from it are stuck on skewers, roasted and eaten by the elders. In olden times this fire was always supposed to be kindled from new fire made by friction, but nowadays a firebrand is often brought from a village, or better still from a fire in a garden.

The place at which this sacrificial fire is kindled is called ichua. The meat is laid on the branches of certain sacred trees, viz:

1. Muthakwa.

2. Nahoroa.

3. Muthigio.

4. Mugumu.

5. Mararia.

which are collectively termed mathinjiro. The skewers used for roasting the meat are called ndara, and must be of muthakwa and muthigio wood. The branches and the skewers have to be burnt in the sacred fire on the same day as that on which the meat is cooked. The burning of these is said to be in the nature of a prayer to Engai, and it is specifically stated that this is not done for fear of anyone using these branches and skewers as fuel as everyone would dread touching them.

When the meat is cooked, it is eaten by the elders, who each drink a horn of beer. The fat of the ram is boiled down in the cooking pot provided for the purpose, and one of the elders climbs into the sacred tree, and pours the liquid fat on to the main stem of the tree. The breast of the ram is often cut out and also hung up in the tree. Cf. Exodus xxix. 26: “And thou shalt take the breast of the ram and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord.” The bones of the portion of the sacrificial ram eaten by the elders are each broken into two parts and placed at the foot of the tree, the marrow not being extracted. Not a single piece of the meat may be taken back to the villages. The elders then retire some little distance away and chant as follows: “Tathai Engai mwangi utue mbura”—“We Mwangi elders pray God to give us rain.”

If, of course, the sacrifice is for another object the prayer is varied. After the prayer no man must look back at the tree. Each man returns to his village. Next morning the principal wife of each elder goes to the tree and deposits at its foot offerings of uncooked bananas and various kinds of grain.

If, however, they notice that the sacrificial meat is untouched they do not deposit their offerings, but retire to some distance and call out to their husbands, telling them that Engai has refused the sacrifice. The elders assemble and send the women back with their offerings. They then select another elder and direct him to provide a fresh ram, which is sacrificed as before. They pray to Engai and beg him not to refuse their sacrifice a second time, as they have brought a fatter sheep. Their exhortation is: “Tiga Engai kutumbia”—“Beg God not to refuse.”

The women come again on the following morning, and, if the meat is eaten, they leave their offerings and return to their villages, chanting a pæan of joy as they go. The chant is called Ngemi, and is a form of what is usually known as “ululuing.”

They sacrifice at the sacred trees to invoke rain, and they also sacrifice to check the progress of an epidemic, when they say: “Kurinda murimo utikaoki muji”—“To stop the sickness that it may not come to the village.”

They sacrifice and pray for relief from famine: “Kuoya mugumuini ng͠naragu ithire”—“To pray at the mugumu tree that the hunger may finish.”

Here again a ram is sacrificed, but before the animal is killed an important magician pours medicine into its mouth, and also squirts beer from his own mouth into that of the ram.

Unlike other tribes, they neither shave their heads nor deposit offerings of hair at the sacred tree. It is said that sometimes lights are seen at night in a sacred tree, and the following day they hasten to sacrifice there. Every season, when the maize is just coming up, the elders summon the important medicine men to go with them to the sacred tree to sacrifice. One of the magicians pours medicine into the mouth of the sacrificial ram before it is killed, and also pours it on the fire on which the meat is roasted. The bones of the animal are then burnt in the fire. These are supposed to be burnt so that the smoke may ascend into the sacred tree and be pleasing to the deity. “It is a burnt offering to the Lord: it is sweet savour an offering made by fire unto the Lord” (Exodus xxix. 18).

The blood is caught in a half gourd, njeli or kinga, and then placed in an ox horn; one half is poured at the foot of the sacred tree, the other half being mixed with tiny pieces of intestinal fat and placed in the large intestine of the sacrificial ram. This is roasted over the fire and eaten by the senior elders of ukuru. The mixture is called ndundiru.

Near the time of the harvest, when the crops are ripe, but before they are cut, the elders take a ram to the sacred place and slaughter it. They pour the blood at the foot of the tree and pray: “Engai twaoka kukui enyama tutikarware enda twa getha iriu wega”—“O God we have to bring meat so that we may not get ill, for we have good crops and are glad.”

The elders then eat the meat. After the feast, they take the tatha or stomach contents of the sacrificial ram and sprinkle it over the ripe crops, and also sprinkle some over the mukumbi or big wicker bottles in the grain huts and over the big gourds in which grain is stored. It is believed that if the elders failed to do this, the people would suffer greatly from diarrhœa. The last two rites are evidently rudimentary forms of the ancient Semitic ritual of the offering of the firstfruits, or cereal oblation. The sprinkling of the crops and of the grain receptacles with tatha indicate either a conservation of the crop for human consumption, or a purification of it from all influences which might be harmful to the consumers. The latter is probably more in accordance with their line of thought.

On the particular day when sacrifices for rain are offered, no one may touch the earth with iron; not even a spear or sword may be rested on the ground, as the sacrifice would then be useless.

The Kamba have a somewhat similar belief, and think that to till the soil with iron drives away the rain.

Among the Kikuyu, however, the ground on such days must not be struck by anything, and an elder may not even strike his mithege staff into the ground in the usual way.

Sacrifices for good crops are also made at the mugumu trees by medicine men. On the same day, a mwanake (a young man of warrior age) patrols the whole district (ridge) with a torch, which he finally throws on the ground. No one may then come from another ridge or leave the ridge to go to another.

Sanctuary.—The ancient idea of a sanctuary at a holy place is known to the Kikuyu. If a murderer, or a person who has committed a serious crime, runs to a sacred place and touches the tree, he is safe from vengeance. The criminal cannot, of course, stay indefinitely at the tree or he would starve, but the elders come and take him away, and his life is safe. He cannot, however, re-enter a village, and his clans-men have to go to the tree and sacrifice a ram, which they are supposed to offer in exchange for him. He is smeared with the tatha, and a line of white earth, ira, is drawn from his forehead to the tip of his nose by a senior elder, of ukuru. After which he is tahikia, or ceremonially purified, and can return to his family. All the meat of the sacrifice is eaten by the elders, and none is left at the tree. Some of the tatha, however, is sprinkled at the foot with the object of purifying the spot where the criminal stood. In a case of this sort the criminal does not pay blood money himself, but his blood relatives have to pay for him. If in war an enemy were pursued and took sanctuary at a sacred place, he could not be attacked whilst he was there, but would probably be seized and killed at some distance from the sacred place.

If, again, a man should kill a tribesman, he can run to the house of his victim’s father and, by confessing his crime, obtain sanctuary there. The father will then kill a ram and place a strip of skin on the right wrist of the homicide, who must have his hand shaved and be ceremonially purified by a medicine man—tahikia, as it is termed. He will henceforth become as the son of the deceased’s father.

Private Sacrifice to the Deity.—The head of a village usually has a private sacred tree at which he sacrifices to the deity for good fortune or for assistance in times of trouble.

The ceremony described by Routledge—“A Prehistoric People,” pages 232–734—is a private sacrifice to the deity.

As we have said before, women are not allowed to attend a sacrifice to the deity at one of the regular sacred trees. But at a private sacrifice for good fortune, carried out at a sacred tree belonging to a particular village, the village elders attend with their wives and children, their cattle, sheep and goats.

The sacrificial ram is killed, and the whole family, as well as flocks and herds, are smeared with fat. The party then returns home, uttering the usual African cry of joy, sometimes called “ululuing” which the Kikuyu term ngemi.

The women and children are not actually allowed to come near the tree, but must remain some little distance away. The people belonging to the Masai circumcision guild use muzigio, mutumaiyu (Olea chrysophylla), or mugumu trees for their private sacrifices. They would probably begin with a mutumaiyu or muzigio tree, and if the luck was not good they would change to a mugumu. Those belonging to the Kikuyu guild use either mugumu or muthakwa trees.

In a private sacrifice, the skin of the sacrificial ram is taken back to the village and presented to the head wife of the elder, but this is never done at a public communal sacrifice.

The night before the sacrifice, the elders of the village sleep in their own huts, but must observe celibacy. The night after, they sleep in the goat hut or thengira.

For two days before and after a sacrifice, no stranger is allowed to sleep in a village; nothing is sent out of the village to sell, and nothing is allowed to be carried away. If a stranger comes, he can be fed, but he must eat the food there and not take it away. At both a public and private sacrifice the eyes of a ram must be very carefully removed from the carcase, for it is considered an extremely bad omen if an eye should burst during extraction, and a fresh sacrificial ram then has to be provided.

Two days after a private sacrifice, ceremonial beer drinking takes place at the village, the men drinking together in the goat hut, or thengira, and the women in the hut of the principal wife; this is called a kithangaona ya muchi. During the ceremony they pray to the deity: “Twa thuitha Engai utue endo chiothi chiana na mburi na ngombe”—“We pray thee, O God, that you will give us all things, children, goats, and cattle.”

On the morning of the day following a private sacrifice the wives go to the sacred tree and deposit offerings of grain, bananas, and other things.

Sacrifice to Ancestral Spirits.—In addition to the sacrifice at the sacred trees to the deity Engai, the Kikuyu sacrifice to the ngoma, or ancestral spirits. These rites, however, never take place at the sacred trees, but in a village, close to the village shrine.

The animal sacrificed is a ram. It is killed in the same way as those sacrificed to the deity, the carcase being laid upon branches from certain sacred trees, viz:

Mukuyu—Ficus sp:

Mutumaiyu—Olea chrysophylla.

Muthakwa—Vernonia sp:

Mutare.

Mugumu—Ficus capensis.

The branches are called mathinjiro.

Four skewers, ndara, are cut from each of the above species, and the pieces of meat which are eaten are impaled upon the skewers and roasted at a fire specially kindled for the purpose, called ichua and muzigia. Mutumaiyu or makuri wood must be used.

The branches on which the meat has rested, as well as the skewers, must be burnt the same day in the fire on which the meat was cooked. Early next morning, before sunrise, beer is poured on the spot.

The ichua fire was formerly kindled on the spot from new fire made by friction, but nowadays it is supposed to be brought from a village.

These sacrifices generally take place at about nine a.m.

An elder usually sacrifices a ram every three months or so at the grave of his father. He pours blood, fat, and beer upon it and leaves the skin there.

If the father died away from home, on a journey, the son proceeds some distance along the road by which the father left and sacrifices a ram by the roadside. The son and his wives eat the meat of the sacrifice, but a wife married after the father’s death, as well as the man’s children, are not allowed to touch it.

The sacrifice must take place before sunrise. This would seem to be a very common feature in many ancient sacrifices, and some authorities consider that it may be in some way connected with the worship of Venus, the morning star. It is, of course, a difficult question to settle, but I would venture to suggest that it is more likely to have some connection with the idea that ancestral spirits are more active at night, and therefore more appreciative of attention, and that they lapse into inaction with the sunrise.

There appears to be no particular day in the month for the celebration of these sacrifices.

If, on the occasion of a sacrifice at the sacred tree, the elders chance to see a snake, they say that it is a ngoma, or ancestral spirit, which has taken the form of a snake, and endeavour to pour a little of the blood from the sacrificial ram on its head, back, and tail.

If the owner of the village should meet a large caterpillar, called thatu, near the gate, he pours a little fat and milk in its path; if it turns back, all is well. If, on the other hand, it should walk round the spot where the fat, and so forth, was poured, and still come on towards the village, the people know that it is a spirit which has assumed the form of a caterpillar, and a ram is sacrificed in the village. If one of these caterpillars is found in a food hut, a ram is again sacrificed for the same reason.

Should anyone set fire to the grass or scrub on the spot where the dead are thrown out, spirits of the departed are supposed to be heard calling out. When this happens, the person who lit the fire gives a ram, which must be killed on the spot, and the elders of ukuru sprinkle the tatha all round to appease the ngoma.

Sometimes a spirit will come and call in a peculiar way outside a village at night. The people believe that it is hungry, and next day sacrifice a ram.

The elders, when they eat, always throw a little food to the spirits before commencing their meal, and at a beer-drinking always pour a little beer on the ground to propitiate the spirits so that they may not harm them. Women, too, when they are cooking porridge or gruel, invariably throw some on the ground for the spirits.

Description of a Sacrifice at a Sacred Fig Tree in Kikuyu. (Witnessed by the Author.)—The elders first took some sugar cane and poured a little on each side and in front of the tree, praying at the same time. The sacrificial ram was then strangled, held up before the tree, and its throat pierced. The blood was collected in a cow’s horn and a little poured out on each side of the tree and allowed to trickle down the trunk. At this stage of the proceedings another prayer was uttered.

A strip of skin and fat running from the throat of the carcase down to its belly, and including the genitals, was then cut off and hung up on a small branch projecting from the tree. The elders now prayed again. After this the ram was dismembered and the feast took place.

* * * * *

If the head of a village notices the appearance of disease among his flocks and herds, or among his people, he sacrifices at his own sacred tree. But he first of all consults a mundu mugo, or medicine man, to find out whether the affliction comes from the high god or is due to the offended ngoma, or ancestral spirits. The medicine man throws his stones, and if, after sorting them into little heaps, the balance left is eight, he knows the trouble comes from the high god; if, on the other hand, the balance is seven, the trouble is attributed to the ngoma or ancestral spirits.

For a man, the heap consists of five stones, and for a woman three.

The sacrificial ram is obtained from a neighbour.

If a bad storm comes and damages the crops, or if there is too much rain or a drought, a large assembly of elders is convened. They meet and sacrifice at the communal place of sacrifice, called the big mugumu.

Sacrifice among A-Kamba.—We will now examine the ceremonial connected with sacrifice among the A-Kamba, and principally among those of Kitui. These people have two kinds of sacred places, or mathembo (singular, ithembo).

(1) Sacred places for the whole country, or rather for each big division of the country, at which they pray and sacrifice to Engai or Mulungu for rain, and in the event of a pestilence among human beings and cattle.

(2) Sacred places for a group of two or three villages, where they pray to the aiimu, or ancestral spirits, on the occasion of sickness among people or cattle.

The holy places are almost always at a tree. For the first-mentioned a fig tree of the species known as mumo is chosen. For the village shrine, on the other hand, the tree may be either a mumo, fig tree, another variety of wild fig called mumbo, or a mutundu tree.

The mode of procedure of a sacrifice for rain at an ithembo of the first kind may be taken as an example, and the following description was given by a couple of leading elders:

On the day settled for the ceremony, the elders of ithembo assemble early in the morning, and at about nine a.m. proceed slowly to the sacred place, taking with them an nthengi, or male goat, usually black in colour, as well as milk, snuff, and a small quantity of every kind of produce which is grown.

The following were specified: mbaazi (cajanus), mawele (millet), mtama (sorghum), bananas, wimbi (penicillaria), sugar cane, beans, sweet potatoes, cassava, and pumpkins; also some sugar cane beer (honey beer is not allowed), red trade beads and cowries, the leaves of a sweet smelling plant called mutaa, butter and gruel.

The men lead the goat and carry the milk, gruel, snuff, and beer, each one putting a little butter in the milk, whilst the other items are carried to the tree by the old women.

The women are not allowed to approach the tree, but dance together some distance away; as mentioned above, the ceremony commences at about nine a.m., and goes on till about two p.m., when the actual sacrifice takes place. The proceedings are not hurried, as some of the elders have to travel long distances before reaching the spot.

Six senior elders and six old women are selected, and all proceed to the tree; they can wear their loin cloths, but their blankets are taken off and left some distance away. The men go first and taste a little of the milk, gruel, and beer, which they spit out at the foot of the tree, and then give way to the old women who go through the same ceremony. The men again return to the tree and pour the balance of the milk and so forth at its foot. Each elder now puts some of the snuff in the palm of his hands, takes a little, and deposits the remainder. The women again come up and pour the foodstuffs at the foot of the sacred tree, the butter being smeared on it.

When the offerings are deposited, the officiating elders—one can almost call them priests—pray as follows: “Mulungu chao ya nekeu twenda nbua na aka machisi na ngombe kisia na mbui kisia engai tupiengea muimu andu ma kakwe”—“Mulungu, this is food. We desire rain and wives and cattle and goats to bear, and we pray God that our people may not die of sickness.”

The sacrifice of the goat comes next, but before this is done, they take the roots of two trees called mriti and muthumba, grind them together, mix them with water, and make the animal drink the mixture with a view to sanctifying it. This done, they lead the goat up to the tree, stand it on its hind legs before the tree, or, as they say, “show” it; its throat is then pierced and the blood allowed to flow over the offerings previously enumerated. The carcase is skinned and an incision made from the throat to the stomach. The upper portion of the skull with the horns is cut off and buried at the foot of the tree. The leg bones, however, must not be broken, but carefully disarticulated at the knee-joints and elbows. Small pieces of meat are cut from every part of the carcase and from every internal organ and deposited at the foot of the tree. The meat is then divided, the left shoulder and part of the back is given to the officiating old women, whilst the elders take the rest. (Cf. Exodus xii. 46: “The bones of the meat of the passover feast must not be broken.”)

Each party, male and female, lights a separate fire and eats, the selected officiating elders eating with their fellows. The fire must be made of the wood of a mumo tree, not that of the sacred tree, but of another of the same species. The six men and six women each impale a fragment of the meat on a skewer of mumo wood, roast and eat it. This is a ceremonial meal, and when it is over the remainder of the meat is divided up, and any kind of firewood can be used for cooking it.

The actual sacrifice of the goat is called kutonya ng͠nondu, to pierce the sacrifice. The mere word sacrifice, however, hardly expresses it, for the word ng͠nondu really implies purification, or perhaps expiation, the underlying idea being that the goat is an expiatory gift offered with the object of relieving the country from the effects of the deity’s displeasure and of the consequent drought.

No work is done on the day following the sacrifice, and no cultivation is undertaken, neither any house building. A man may stroll over and see a friend close by, but he is not allowed to go on a real journey.

The night before the sacrifice the elders must observe celibacy, as well as on the six following days, the day on which the sacred meat was eaten counting as the first.

No elder can participate in this ceremony if he has the stain of death on him; that is to say, if his wife or child has died, and the purification ceremonies connected with the event have not been completed; or again if he, or one of his men, has killed someone and the ceremonies for removing the bloodstain are not over. Any fighting or quarrelling or fighting among the people would also be likely to destroy the efficacy of the ceremony.

If a man breaks a stick from the sacred tree the elders at once fine him, and a bull or goat is sacrificed. The wound in the tree is anointed with butter, and milk is poured at its foot. Lights are sometimes seen at night in mathembo, but people very rarely go out to them while it is dark; those who have tried it declare that stones were thrown at them from the tree, and that these stones strike fire when they hit the ground. If a person be thus attacked, it is a sure sign that he is fitted for a medicine man.

Another account of the procedure was obtained from elders in a different part of the Ukamba country, and as this varies a little and contains a few additional details, it is considered advisable to describe it.

The day before the sacrifice, the women of the neighbourhood gather together and go to the sugar cane plantations, every woman bringing back two or three sticks of cane and taking them to the thomi, or village meeting place, of one of the elders, where they are crushed to make beer. In the evening, the elders of ithembo take the beer and place it near the sacred tree. They light a fire there with a firebrand from the village, and the gourds of beer are put near it; a little beer is also poured at the foot of the tree and they pray to the imu of the person to whom the tree is dedicated, and then return home. It is believed that the object of this ritual is to attract the attention of the guardian spirit of the shrine, and to propitiate it and to ensure, as it were, its attendance on the morrow as the intermediary between the people and Engai.

In the morning, the elders of ithembo and certain very old women proceed to the ithembo. The elders bring the sacrificial beast and first suffocate it; they then quickly skin its throat, and the oldest of the elders stabs it in the neck with a knife, collecting the blood in a half gourd (nzeli). The skinning is then completed, and small pieces of meat are cut from the tongue, ribs, and the left flank. One kidney, one testicle, and a piece of the liver, heart, and every internal organ are also taken, all these fragments being placed in a half gourd. They then take a half gourd of beer, and the gourds containing the meat and the blood, and empty them at the foot of the tree. The old women now approach and deposit samples of every kind of field produce—beans, maize, and so forth—and milk. Some of the food is cooked and some is raw.

When the men deposit their offerings they pray as follows: “Engai twaevoya mbua kuamba eyima sionthi Engai”—“We pray to God that rain may bless all our country.”

The women merely say “Twaevoya mbua”—“We pray for rain.”

The sacrificial meat is then cooked and eaten. The first to partake of it are the four senior elders.

The fire for cooking the meat is lit a little away from the tree, and the fuel must consist of dry sticks picked up in the sacred grove. The fire having been lit, a small staging is built over it, and the pieces of meat are placed thereon to roast. The place of the fire is called ivuvio; the wood used for the framework is muthakwa; the sticks composing it are mbatwa, and the whole framework when completed is called ndala.

When removing the marrow the bones of the sacrificial animal must not be broken.

After the feast the bones are collected and placed on the fire and covered with the stomach contents (tatha or muyo), and the smoke which rises to heaven is said to be pleasing to Engai.

A private sacrifice is called kithangaona by the Kamba people, its object being to purify a village from sickness. The ceremony is also termed kuvindukia muimu—“to cleanse the place from the spirit” (ku-indukia—to cleanse) and may possibly have an implied meaning to the effect that the spirit must be appeased.

Sometimes a woman who goes into a cataleptic condition, which is known as being seized by aiimu, will say that to obtain rain a beast of a particular colour must be sacrificed. A black goat is said to be preferable as a supplication for rain, the colour probably being symbolical of the rain clouds.

Sheep and goats, both male and female, are sacrificed, and also bulls and bullocks, but never a cow.

A black bullock is thought to be the most acceptable and a white sheep comes next, whilst many of the Kamba people consider a red animal bad for the purpose of sacrifice.

Sacred Places (Mathembo) in Ukamba.—Dotted about the country, near most of the older villages, there are sacred trees, representing private shrines, called mathembo. The sacrifice which takes place here is similar to that described above, but the proceedings do not take so long, as the assembly is smaller. There is no particular day of the month for such a ceremony, but it should not be performed in the months called Nyanya and Kenda (the month Nyanya in 1912 commenced on June 14th). Ikumi is suitable for a sacrificial ceremony, as it is then considered possible to prepare the fields for planting, in expectation of the rain which will fall as a result of the ceremony.

Four pieces of the stalk of the castor oil bush are planted at the foot of the sacred tree. If on a certain day a man brews beer, he visits the tree in the evening and pours a little of the beer into each of the castor oil stems, and prays to the aiimu, saying, “I have made some beer, and this is your share; do not come into the village and bother us.” The castor oil stalks are meant to imitate gourds of beer. It is customary to deposit at the tree a piece of the fruit of Kigelia pinnata, or K. Musa (called miatini and used in producing fermentation in beer), and the leaf of a mumo tree. They then say, “This is your nzeli to drink the beer from,” the nzeli being a half gourd used as a drinking cup, and the mumo leaf in this case representing a nzeli. As these things decay, they are periodically renewed.

The people of a village utter a prayer when they see the new moon, begging that they may go safely through the month. This bears a close resemblance to the European habit of turning one’s money and bowing nine times to the new moon. At the village ithembo beer is poured out, generally on the advice of a medicine man, when someone is ill in the village.

The sacrifice at the village ithembo usually takes place about ten a.m., the people returning at noon. On their arrival at the village, a mixture of tatha and water is sprinkled upon the cattle, and upon the water pots of the village. This is called kikaela muyo and is done for the benefit of those villagers who are not qualified to go to the sacred place.

The women qualified to attend a ceremony at an ithembo are those who are past the age of child-bearing and have a husband who is a mutumia ya ithembo (an elder of the ithembo). A childless old woman may also be allowed to go.

It often happens that during a ceremony at an ithembo a woman is seized, or possessed, and passes into a condition of semi-trance in which she will prophecy either that the rains are coming or that they will fail, or, in former days, that a Masai raid was imminent. An explanation of this was carefully sought, and, upon investigation, I was told that the message came from the imu or spirit of the person of olden times to whom the ithembo was dedicated and to whom it was supposed to belong, but quite clearly, that this spirit was only an intermediary, the message really coming from the high god Engai or Mulungu.

A little house is always built at the foot of the sacred tree on the east side, with the door facing the rising sun, and two days before the time settled upon for commencing planting a pot of water and one of food, as well as butter and milk, are placed in it. On the day following the deposit of this offering, no work is done. These offerings are said to be for Engai; the pot of water is a reminder that rain is required, and the food represents the crops.

Sacrifices for Rain.—Kikuyu—If the elders go to the sacred fig tree for rain they sacrifice the usual ram, preferably a black one. If, on the other hand, they pray for rain to cease, the sacrificial ram is preferably a white one, although a red one may be used. After the sacrifice, the intestines are taken and tied round the stem high up in the tree. The melted tail fat is then poured at the foot of the tree and a strip of the meat and fat are hung on a branch.

Ukamba.—Among the Kamba a black goat should be sacrificed for rain; a red one, however, is occasionally used. But whatever the colour of the animal sacrificed, it is very important that it should be entirely of one colour, and not spotted or parti-coloured. A parti-coloured animal would probably be considered as having some blemish. (Cf. Deut. xviii. 1: “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep wherein is blemish or evil-favouredness”; also Numbers xix. 2: “Speak unto the children of Israel that they bring thee a red heifer without spot.”)

The Kitui A-Kamba also have another curious ceremony which they perform when their crops are in danger of being spoilt for lack of rain. They snare a couple of hyrax (Procavia sp.) and carry them round the fields containing the standing crops; one is then released, the other is killed. The heart, contents of the stomach, and intestines of the victim are then taken and placed on a fire which is lit among the crops. The smoke of the sacrifice is said to be pleasing to the deity (Engai). Cf. Exodus xxix: “And burn them … for a sweet savour before the Lord.” The carcase is not eaten.

The use of a hyrax for sacrificial purposes is rather curious, and may well be a relic of an old Semitic belief in which the hyrax was thought to have possessed originally the human shape. It was said that he who eats of its flesh will never see father and mother again.

The A-Kamba, however, appear to have lost sight of any connection of this sort, and it is therefore impossible to say whether it really existed; the choice of this curious animal may be merely a coincidence.

General Remarks on Sacred Places and Sacrifices.—The way in which a particular tree is chosen as a sacred place was explained to me unhesitatingly in the following manner: In a particular locality, long ago, there would be a woman, noted as a prophetess or seer, whose prophecies always came true, and at her death she would be buried in her village. After a time, a woman of that village became possessed by the imu, or spirit, of the deceased, and, in a state of exaltation, would speak in the name of the prophetess, saying: “I cannot stay here, I am called by Engai, and I go to live at a certain tree” (which would be specified). The tree thus designated then acquired sanctity. Four elders and four old women would then be selected; taking some earth from her grave, and one (a blood relation of the deceased) taking a goat, they would all proceed to the tree. The earth was deposited at its foot, the goat led thrice round the tree and then sacrificed. The delegates then prayed: “We have brought you to the tree you desire,” and a small hut was built on the spot. This hut is renewed from time to time, usually before a great ceremony takes place at the tree.

The elders who build the hut must have their heads shaved next morning, but must shave one another, as no one else is allowed to do it. They then hide their hair. (Note.—Hiding away of hair after it is cut or shaved is a common custom among Africans; the idea is supposed to be that an evil-disposed person might use the hair as a medium for bewitching the owner.)

An interesting and thoughtful paper on the A-Kamba of Kitui, by Hon. C. Dundas, appeared in the Journal R.A.I., 1913, and on page 534 et seq. the writer discusses the religious beliefs of these people. He has come to the conclusion that they have no conception of a high god, and that the terms Engai and Mulungu are merely collective words denoting the plurality of the spiritual world. The present writer, however, is unable to accept this opinion, for while it is recognised that great confusion of thought may exist on the subject among the bulk of the people, there is little doubt that the elders of ithembo, or tribal shrines, are quite clear on the matter. Great care was taken to record only such information on the question as was furnished by this grade of Kamba society. And as the elders of ithembo correspond, in a measure, to the priestly castes of more highly developed communities, their opinion has a certain value, and we therefore feel justified in saying that the Kamba religion contains the concept of a high god. We would also contend that the information herein recorded contains internal evidence of this, and every effort has been made not to read more into the information than it actually contains. The fact that the writer was known to have been duly recognised as an elder among the neighbouring tribes, the Kikuyu, undoubtedly induced the elders to discuss these questions with considerable freedom in his presence. The words used to designate what may be conveniently termed the high god are Engai, Mulungu, and sometimes Chua (or the sun).

It is sometimes said that Engai lives in the high mountains, Kenya for instance, and this would appear to differentiate the great spirit from one which has its origin in an ordinary human form. They insist also that there is only one Engai. They say that if the aiimu, or ancestral spirits, want to kill someone, Engai or Mulungu can stop them, their explanation being that although the aiimu can afflict a living person, they cannot kill him unless Mulungu concurs.

There is a saying when anyone dies, “Nundu wa chua,” which means “the order of the sun,” the obvious inference of which is that death comes from the high god.

They are emphatic in stating that Engai, and not the aiimu, brings the rain. It is said that a woman will sometimes bear a child having a mark on its body similar in position to that of a wound which caused the death of a brother-in-law or some near relative in the village. The deceased is supposed to have been seen by Engai, and it is he who puts a similar mark on the new-born child. I am not sure, however, that the term Engai is not somewhat loosely used in this case, as the imu of the deceased might well be held responsible for such an occurrence.

Other confirmatory evidence of the presence of the concept of a high god will be found in the account of various ceremonies.

There is no doubt about the definition of the concept of the imu, and it can be translated as the spirit of the deceased person.

The Kitui elders stated that the sacrificial fire for cooking the meat at the ithembo must always be made by friction, so as to avoid any such impurity or uncleanness being brought from a house as might occur were burning embers from a household kitchen taken to the tree.

No one who is under a thabu or tabu can take part in a ceremony at an ithembo, nor must the muma or kithito oath be taken on such an occasion. Inquiries were made as to whether, in olden times, any of the spoils of war were sacrificed at an ithembo, but this was said not to have been the case.

When, as sometimes happens, a shooting star appears to fall in an ithembo, it is supposed to be a sign that Engai has descended to the ithembo and demands food. Various kinds of food are then taken there as offerings. It is, however, not usual to sacrifice an animal. The shooting star falling on an ithembo may be compared with the story of Jehovah appearing to Moses in a burning bush, which seemed to burn and yet not be consumed. It is here to be noted that it is Engai who demands food, not the aiimu.

Sacrifice apparently is only performed when the people desire to invoke help.

One elder only from each clan, mbai, can participate in a ceremony at the ithembo on any particular occasion, and, further, no elder whose father is alive can go to the tree.

If in war an enemy took sanctuary at an ithembo he was allowed to stay there unmolested, and was safe; at night he escaped. If, again, he caught hold of an elder of ithembo, he was equally safe; the elder would take him to his village and send one of his sons to convey him safely out of the country. It is considered that this fact emphasises the priestly position of the elders of ithembo, who must, at all cost, avoid the stain of death.

If a snake is seen at a sacred place it is customary to pour milk, butter, and gruel over it; it is supposed to be njoka ya aiimu (snake of the aiimu).

Arms must not be taken to an ithembo, small knives to skin the sacrificial animals only being allowed.

No bird or beast can be killed at a sacred tree in the grove which generally surrounds it.

Should a sacred tree, of the old communal mathembo kind, fall down, the people will still worship on the site.

KIKUYU MUTHURI OR ELDER.

(Prognathous type)

If a village which possesses one of the small mathembo is moved, the assistance of a medicine woman is sought for the selection of another one near the new site for the village. The elders take her to the old tree and leave her there all night in solitary vigil; in the morning she is fetched and taken to the new tree.

When the elders return from sacrificing at a sacred tree, each takes a small piece of the skin of the sacrificial animal and ties it on the thorn fence near his hut. It is believed, however, that this would not be allowed in the case of a great communal gathering to pray for rain, such as previously described.

The sacrificial animal is provided by the elders of ithembo in rotation.

It is said that before going to war a black goat was sacrificed at the ithembo, and success was prayed for.

Upon returning from a successful raiding expedition, they went to the organiser of the party, the muthiani, killed the biggest ox, and prayed to Engai as a thanksgiving ceremony. This did not take place at the ithembo, as, in all probability, they dared not go to the ithembo with any suspicion of bloodstain upon them.

The Kamba belief that the spirits like to haunt certain sacred fig trees is very widespread, and there is one factor connected with it which is common to the whole area in which the belief is found, and that is that sacrilegious trespassers in a sacred grove are assailed by showers of missiles. Such incidents are often alleged to occur in India, and, apart from native superstition, the writer has even heard of two examples in East Africa, where European colonists, who had no knowledge of these beliefs but had built in the vicinity of sacred fig trees, asserted that they were periodically disturbed at night by stones thrown on the roofs of their houses. In Phil Robinson’s well-known book, “In my Indian Garden” (page 208), it is stated that in Burmah to this day the Government pays a fee, called murung, to the headmen of certain tracts for appeasing the manes of their ancestors lodged in old sal trees.

Robertson Smith also quotes an old authority to the effect that fig, carob, and sycamore trees are haunted by devils.

The belief in ghosts is widespread in Kitui, and people who allege that they occasionally see the ghosts of human beings are not uncommon. They do not appear to be terrified about it, but state that they call out to the apparition to verify its immaterial character, and if no reply is received they know that it belongs to the aiimu. If, however, a ghost is seen, it is necessary for the observer to kill a ram and smear his face with some of the purifying tatha, together with some of the ram’s fat.

We thus see that when a shrine is established, tradition and the continual use of it for worship sanctifies it and maintains its position in the popular mind. As the authority previously quoted points out: “Holy places are older than temples, and older than the beginnings of settled life.”

It is also interesting to note how the old Canaanite high places were associated with a tree or grove of trees. This is considered by some authorities as an indication of an ancient cult of tree worship. There is little evidence of the survival of such a cult among the people under consideration, but an account has been given of a ceremony which has to be performed when a large solitary tree in a clearing is cut down, and certain rites have to be performed to transfer either the spirit of the tree to a new abode or perhaps human spirits resident in the tree.

There is, however, little doubt that the ancient altars erected under trees were a later development of worship which originally took place at the tree without any altar. It is said that our English maypole is a degraded survival of the worship under trees. Generally speaking, in ancient Arabia the gifts of the worshippers were presented to the deity by being laid on sacred ground, often at the foot of a sacred tree, or they were hung on it, and when libations of sacrificial blood or other things were offered, they were poured either there or over a sacred stone. All this might have been written of our African peoples of to-day, and one cannot, therefore, be accused of special pleading in inviting attention to the similarity of practice.

It is supposed that the ceremonial dedication of the foundation of a sacred building is a direct survival of the rites which took place in ancient times when a new “holy place” was formerly recognised and adopted.

The ancient flavour will be detected in the following extract from the account of the proceedings which took place a few years ago upon the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of a Jewish synagogue, in British East Africa, the sacrificial nature of the rites being very noticeable:

“Corn, wine, and oil were presented to His Excellency by three prominent Freemasons. His Excellency strewed the corn on the stone, and the bearer of the corn said:

“ ‘There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains, the fruit thereof shall make Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.’

“His Excellency poured the wine on the stone, and the bearer of the wine said:

“ ‘And for a drink offering thou shalt offer him a third part of a bin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the Lord.’

“His Excellency poured oil on the stone, the bearer of the oil said:

“ ‘And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of apothecary, it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith and the Ark of the testimony.’

“Benediction—‘May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, shower down his choicest blessings upon this Synagogue about to be erected for His Honour, and may He grant a full supply of the Corn of Nourishment, the Wine of Refreshment, and the Oil of Joy.’ ”

Making of Fire (Kamba of Kibwezi).—The fire required for sacrificial purposes was formerly always made anew by friction, as fire so produced could carry no evil with it, whereas if firebrands were brought from a hut some thabu or curse which rested on the family owning the hut might inadvertently be brought with it, and the wood might in fact be infected.

Nowadays, however, it is curious to note that a sacrificial fire is lighted with matches; for they consider that these, being of foreign origin, can bring no infection derived from Kamba spirit influence. This gives some insight into the ratiocination of the native mind.

Fire was formerly made, and is still made, on occasion, by hunters and others who rapidly rotate a piece of hard stick, held vertically between the hands, in a cup-shaped cavity cut in a piece of soft wood which is held between the toes, the friction generating enough heat to produce sparks which light some tinder. The vertical stick is called the male, and the other piece the female, the reasons for which nomenclature are obvious.

It is curious to note that a woman is not allowed to make fire by friction, the reason given for this being that a man has to squat to make fire, and that if a woman does the same, it is unseemly, as she thereby exposes her nakedness. It is believed, however, that there is more in it than this, and that only a male is really supposed to manipulate the masculine portion of the fire-making apparatus.