CHAPTER V
SOCIAL LIFE OF THE AKIKUYU
A homestead consisting of only one hut will have its own little enclosure, but it is quite possible that a rich man will have several huts, one for each of his wives. In former times, when fighting was more common than it is to-day, the enclosure surrounding the huts was very carefully concealed in green foliage, through which one small entrance was made.
Within this enclosure or compound the traveller will see the daily task of corn grinding, pottery making, and the manufacture of string bags going on apace. The last-named occupation is generally regarded as the work of little girls, whose small brothers are equally busy herding the goats. The women must be extremely strong, as a result of their hard work in carrying loads and cultivating the fields. Mr. Routledge speaks of “a girl of about thirteen who came into the camp one night about 11 p.m., bearing a load of bananas weighing 30 lb., which she had carried some fourteen miles since daybreak.”
No wonder that a baby girl is welcome, when there are so many tasks for the wives and women to perform. During early childhood the baby is carried to the fields on the mother’s back, and although the heat is intense and the flies are a great nuisance, Akikuyu children are very good and contented. Strange to say, they do not play games, but seem to be content when sitting still in the shade; later in life, however, when grown up, there is a good deal of time and energy given to dancing, which, along with music, is very popular. A girl is married at seventeen; then she goes to the hut prepared by her husband, who probably paid about thirty goats and a few sheep for his bride. The girl, however, is not obliged to marry any man who can pay this amount of wealth to her father, and nowhere among savage peoples has the girl a greater freedom of choice. When a maiden wishes to show her parents that she is in love, she puts small patches of honey on her cheeks and forehead; this prevents the father and mother from making any arrangements for her betrothal to a man for whom she has no affection. There is a great deal of respect shown to old women, probably because they are thought to have the power to cast a spell upon, or give the “evil eye” to, a person who has offended them.
Among European peoples, boys and girls grow gradually into manhood or womanhood, but with the Akikuyu there is a special ceremony at which boys and girls are said to be turned into men and women. For many months before the great event all boys who intend to be initiated practise dancing for long periods, so that they will not be too readily exhausted when the day arrives for the public ceremony. The dress of a novice is most elaborate, consisting of cat skins, cowrie shells, dancing bells, and paint, which covers the entire body with wavy lines. Shaving of the head is part of the preparation, and only a small tuft of hair is left in the centre of the crown. The dance takes place close to a sacred tree, and when all the details of this important ceremony are over, the young people are considered to be men and women of their tribe.
WOODEN SHOULDER SHIELD, WORN ON THE LEFT SHOULDER AT DANCES.
The closing scenes in the life of a tribesman are very sad, for should he be poor and friendless, he may be left to die alone, and only in the case of a man of great age and riches is there a respectable burial. Generally the body is left in the hut where the patient died, so, of course, it is very quickly dragged away and devoured by hyenas.