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.
[Illustration: 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.