Before you become a Kikuyu Elder
Before someone becomes a Kikuyu elder, One must must meet the following conditions.
i)The Candidate and his last born son must be circumcised.
ii) A candidate from another tribe, must denounce his tribe(This is done by offer of 3 sheep)and an Elder (muchuha) of his choice will become his/her God father.The person is not entitled to any dowry for his daughters and the dowry goes to the ‘Muchuha’.
iii)He must be recommended by ‘athuri a matathi and Athuri a maturango(Elders of Matathi and those of Maturango.)These two recommend the person to Arathi.
iv) the Arathi (12 in number) then verifies the persons past to see if he/she has been involved in any murder or general crime against the community.
If the person has met those conditions, he is given two mithigi’s(Sticks).One is straight (signifying one God) while the other is two pronged at the end Signifying Ngoma (Kikuyu right word for Ancestoral spirits, not satan)
The muthigi was taken to Kirinyaga by the arathi for 40 days where they were to speak with God.its then that they come up with a decision of whether to make a person an Elder.
when all this is done the person receives the following items
1 Muthigi (stick-two pronged)-signifying power to lead
2 Rwenji (Circumcisers knife)-power to circumcise
3.Kioho kia migathi (stringed Beads)-Power to choose what other elders and agemates will be adorning.
4.Ruhiu (Panga/sword)-power to slaughter a goat
5.Coro (Blowing horn)-power to rally people together
6.Itimu na ruhiu rwa njora (Spear and sword)-power to call his people to war.
Thats Kenyan politics for you: slipping deeper into muck and mediocrity instead of seeking to develop the people. We’re in the 21st century. Why would I vote for someone just because he/she is an elder in my tribe?
The Luo’s circumcise. This old adage that Luo’s are uncircumcised doesn’t wash any more. Circumcision is now a matter of choice. And it didnt work last eyar when some quarters tried to employ it as a campaign tool against Raila.
Mburi cia kua kii kiambaa?
Do the murders that took place in Kiambaa in the rift valley ring a bell. How did the peasants name their church Kiambaa? Is there a connection between the two Kiambaas. If there is and the likelihood is that there is do the people of Kiambaa need to kill goats while the ashes of their people in diaspora are being blown by the wind?????
Cirmcised “d” do not make decisions. What was important is what they signified. That one was mature and rational. Ready to lead and procreate. How many people out there are walking with circumcised ”d” but they are no different from Zombies!
Let those with circumcised “d” join me in the fight to bring the ashes of the matyrs of Kiambaa church and sprinkle them in the spaces and institutions for which we are crucified and begin the re-creation of new spaces of interaction with those who crucify us. We can no longer pretend about creating alliances!
Outwardly a relatively simple physical act, circumcision is in fact of crucial social importance, with complex meanings that affect the entirety of society. On its most basic level, circumcision marks the passage of a child into adulthood. The cutting of a foreskin or clitoris marks the cutting away of childhood. Psychologists and others variously ascribe all manner of additional interpretations to the act: it could be a breaking of innocence, or of purity; it is a cleansing; it marks the difference between rational man and animal-like childhood, and so on. Whatever the truth of these additional meanings, what is certain is that the responsibilities that accompany this rite of passage are extremely complex, and cannot simply be dismissed as being ‘primitive’ or ‘barbaric’ without a deeper understanding of their significance.
Circumcision symbolizes a person’s assumption of adult responsibilities – both social and cultural – and the individual’s acceptance as a full member of the tribe. Among the Kikuyu,an uncircumcised person, no matter how old he or she might be, will generally be regarded as a child, or else will be seen as inferior or lacking. If a person who is not circumcised has children, the act is believed to anger both God and the spirits of the ancestors, and the whole community will suffer in consequence.
There would be a drought, for example, because someone who was not circumcised had made a child. Circumcision, therefore, was necessary for maintaining relations with ancestors and God. In consequence, the Kikuyu have a taboo against an uncircumcised man or woman bearing children. If this occurs, the usual punishment is exile for both the mother and father.
But the taboo against uncircumcised people applies not just individually, but across entire peoples: many Kikuyu, Maasai and other circumcising people cannot countenance the possibility of an uncircumcised leader.
“We can no longer pretend about creating alliances!”
Please dont think like this. Alliances are important.