History of Kenya
Mrs.
Nardi's 9th Grade World History Class
Lenox Memorial High School, Lenox, Massachusetts
Mariika Oath
The mariika ritual was the defining activity of the Kikuyu where youngsters passed into adulthood. (It could be viewed as the equivalent of Bar or Bas Mitzvah in Judaism or Confirmation in Roman Catholicism.) The initiation carried with it the power of Kikuyu ethnicity as well as age-grading. In Facing Mount Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta defines the ceremony in the following section. “It is important to note that the moral code of the tribe is bound up with this custom and that it symbolizes the unification of the whole tribal organization (Kenyatta 129).” The overriding element, of course, was the circumcision, or the cutting away of childhood perversities but the symbolic elements of the ritual gave it moral, spiritual, and political power as well. The candidates participated in the taking of oaths that bestowed on them adult responsibilities that contributed to the welfare of the Kikuyu ethinc group, in the anointing that protected them from evil, in the keeping of Kikuyu secrets, and in the battling against their childhood desires (132-134). Candidates also passed under an "...arch of banana leaves and sugar-cane considered as a medium through which the ancestral spirits can be harmonized with the irua (circumcision) and appeased so as not to bring any misfortune…”(134). Since this ritual symbolized a rebirth into adulthood, initiates were encircled with goat’s intestines that covered their navel--the unifying symbolism of the umbilical cord. The cutting of the intestines would symbolize the cutting of the umbilical cord at birth representing entry into adulthood. The mariika not only established adult identity but it was the Kikuyu means of record and time-keeping in an oral tradition.
The combination of magic and its powers, the mariika ritual, the belief in the myths of Gikuyu and Mumbi, and Ngai, evil spirits, and the unknown, would be an explosive mixture of belief and action powerful enough to overcome the fear of injury and death for oath takers in Olenguruone.
In addition to the basic Oath of Unity at Olenguruone, there was a further commitment for warriors. It was called the batuni or warrior’s oath which has the phrase, "...if I fail may this [oath, soil, thenged (goat oath)] kill me…". This oath was given to young males who were the core group of warriors although women assisted these men during the uprising. The batuni oath required total commitment to the resistance movement including the killing of friends and relatives.
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Artistic work from Mau Mau Warrior by Abiodun Alao