DANCES
Kikuyu.—There are, according to trustworthy authorities, a large number
of Kikuyu dances. It is difficult to give an exhaustive list of these,
as it has been impossible to trace them all. The word ngoma (a dance,
Swahili) has such a very wide meaning that it is difficult to say where
dances begin or end.
A girl must not refuse to dance when called upon to do so by the anake
(warrior class); if she does so she may be beaten by them and her
parents cannot interfere. Generally, in such cases, a mwanake will
deprive her of her ornaments and she cannot then dance until she gets
them back. The mwanake who takes the ornaments cannot keep them, but
must divide them with the other anake. If he breaks them he has to make
uji (gruel) for the other anake; if he hurts the girl when taking her
ornaments he has to pay a goat to the elders, but her parents get
nothing.
The principal dances of the anake are connected with harvest and crops;
the most important of these is the Kivata dance. In this only certain
rikas, or age grades, may take part; at present only the rikas named
Kincheku, Kamandu, Kanyeta, and Mutungu dance the Kivata, while the
rikas of Sengenge, Matiha, Njarege, Kangei, and Makiomei are not
allowed to join in. Formerly the junior rikas were not even permitted
to look on, but now they do so and frequently try to take part in the
same; which leads to fierce fights and not a few deaths. The elders are
therefore much against this dance, and have often forbidden it.
Formerly if the elders wished to prohibit a dance they would go to a
place where it was to be held, and lay a cooking pot on the ground; a
branch of the mugere tree was stuck beside it, and the anake could not
dance there unless they were returning from a raid on enemy’s country.
This custom is still practised, for in Kyambu district a few years ago
the elders for some reason wished to prevent a Kivata dance, and they
resorted to the old rite.
Kivata is danced when the mawele grain is reaped. The dancers wear no
clothes whatsoever; they are ornamented with a large inverted crown of
ostrich feathers which is slung from the forehead to the back of the
head. Strings of beads and bells are hung about the body, and plumes of
colobus monkey fur are tied below the knees. In many cases the face is
covered completely with yellow colouring, the loins being likewise
adorned; others affect various colours in stripes and dots. The legs
and arms are also coloured. The weapons carried are mostly swords and
clubs; very few have spears, but the younger rikas, who look on,
generally have spears. Their faces are often decorated with a broad red
stripe drawn across the face and outlined with white dots.
The dancers march round in rows of from six to eight, the dancing
consisting mainly in a continued jumping from one foot to the other.
The women bring gourds of uji, or gruel, which they give to the dancers
and thereby signify their affections. The dance is said to be a general
occasion for choosing brides by old men as well as by anake.
Many of the onlookers (not the younger rikas) run madly round the whole
circle, brandishing swords and leaping into the air. The name of the
dance is said to be derived from this.
Even the old men who are spectators become infected with the spirit of
the dance, cast off their blankets and trot round the outside of the
circle. In fact it appears to be essential to discard clothing, for if
one omits to do so he is censured by his fellows. The women also follow
the men with shrill cries, but otherwise they take no part.
At one of these dances several girls were noticed amusing themselves by
a game exactly similar to one played by children in Europe, and which
consists in clapping hands. This is called Amukiana.
When the njahe or cajanus bean is planted the Mugoyo is danced. This
dance is held at night when there is no moon, and is one of the most
picturesque dances of the country. A circle of fires is made and
maintained by men appointed for the purpose, and round the outside of
this circle stand the dancers. Richly smeared with red earth and fat as
they are, the fire heightening the blaze of red, the whole scene is
intensely bright in the darkness. The men stand with their backs to the
fire, each holding his partner, who stands with her feet on his. Their
faces and legs are slightly coloured, but the girls use no colouring
beyond the red mixed with fat. Forming a diameter across the circle
stands another row of dancers. The leader of the maribeta (song or
verse) goes about and the rest join in the chorus. Excepting for a
slight movement of the shoulders among the dancers the whole dance has
an air of quietness which is presumably intentional. There are masters
of ceremony who go about and check noisy persons, preserving general
quiet and the regular formation of the circle. Their methods are simple
and effective: two firebrands are struck together over offending
couples, and a shower of sparks thus quickly calls them to order. All
the men are naked but elaborately ornamented; unfortunately the
vulgarity of civilisation too often mars the beauty of this picturesque
scene. One smart youth has dangling on his back an advertisement for
sardines, another a gaudy scriptural text, and others, similar cheap
articles of European origin. Occasionally the figure of the dance
varies—the men turn facing the fire and bump up and down on their
heels; another time they kneel joining hands on spears held
horizontally which they sway to the rhythm of the song. The song is not
startlingly comprehensible: “We went to Juja and saw a white ostrich,
so we put its feathers on our heads,” and such like. The girls also
join in the chorus, while the men now and again make a curious gulping
sound produced from the throat. Finally at midnight, or later, the
dance breaks up: each mwanake takes a firebrand, and the country is
soon dotted in every direction with small spots of fire.
At such a dance a man was seen carrying a clay figure of the kind
described by Mr Routledge. It was not, however, part of the ceremony,
and the man who was carrying it in his hand was not dancing. This image
is a common feature in dances, but its significance is not known even
to the people themselves. Judging from Mr Routledge’s description,
therefore, the figure must either have lost its meaning among the
Kikuyu west of the Chania, or it must have acquired a new and increased
significance in the Kenya area.
Another dance connected with the crops is Kichukia, which is held when
the mawele is six to eight inches high. It is danced both at night when
there is a moon, and in the daytime. The author has not seen this
dance. It must not be confounded with Njukia, which is called thus
because the girls do not choose the song. Both are danced by girls and
anake together; the latter dance is held about the month of July, and
in the morning only.
Muzogo.—This is also danced by anake and girls on dark nights by
firelight, and is very similar to the Mugoyo both in name and
character, but is danced when the maize is nearly ripe.
One of the most important dances for young men is Nguru. In 1912 it was
held all over the district in the month of September; it does not seem
to be in any way connected with crops, but denotes rather a time of
rest and leisure while there is no work in the field. It is danced by
young men and boys only, but the latter are said to join merely for
instruction; anyone may look on. The dance commences with a sort of
“follow my leader” march, after which there is continued jumping up and
down with great vigour, although the heels are not lifted off the
ground. A continuous song is maintained by one man; there is no chorus.
The dance somewhat resembles Kivata, but the body painting is much less
profuse. No spears are carried, but among the people east of the Ruiru
River it is customary to dance with shields, which, during the march,
are held aloft over the head. Sticks with wisps of fur are carried. A
curious feature is the wearing of skin apron flaps such as are worn by
women; when the season for this dance is over these coverings are given
to small girls to wear.
The main feature of this dance is the eating of meat by the dancers and
elders. Everyone who dances must contribute to the cost of buying bulls
to supply the meat which is eaten in common by the dancers at a hut
built near a river. The dancing which takes place at different villages
goes on day by day until the meat is finished; the bladders of the
slaughtered beasts are very common articles of decoration in the dance.
The elders, if they contribute, are given a share of the meat, which
they eat apart from the young men. In the eastern part of Kikuyu
meat-eating is not a part of the Nguru dance, but at the same time of
the year several men, both old and young, club together and buy meat
which is eaten at a common meal; this custom is called kiruga.
At this time people are supposed to lose strength, and therefore
require good nourishing; this is said to be the reason for the custom.
It appears, therefore, to be a general time for feasting all over
Kikuyu.
This dance is said by Mr Routledge to be one held by warriors before
going to war, but this can hardly be so seeing that it is performed at
a fixed season in the year. If it were so it must be a relic of a very
old custom, when possibly the tribe had a favourite time for raiding.
There is thus a continual round of dances for the anake, and they
continue for a fixed period. One should therefore be able to reckon the
seasons by the dances, but as a matter of fact they may be very
irregularly held. For instance in 1912 most of the dances, Kivata in
particular, were quite out of season, and this was only owing to the
previous heavy rains in which the people could not dance. The anake
will, however, have their dances, and if the season is unsuitable they
will dance it at another time. It is probable that the significance of
the dance as connected with the crops is beginning to be lost. In this
connection it is interesting to note that although there is a great
difference in the seasons prevailing in the highlands and the lowlands,
the dances are mostly held at the same period all along one ridge. It
thus happens that the highlanders are often completely out of season in
their dances. The fact is that the Fort Hall Kikuyu give the lead, and
the dances spread westward so that the lowlanders even in Kyambu may
not be dancing quite at the proper season. Fort Hall is, on the whole,
the authority for the Kikuyu customs, whether because it is the
birthplace of the tribe or not, one cannot say, but the lead given by
Fort Hall is analogous to that given by Machakos to the Kamba of Kitui.
These facts give a curious instance of how a custom may lose its
meaning; we have here an example of a custom superseding its own
origin.
The uncircumcised boys and girls are called irego. Their principal
dance is Ngoisia. There is no particular season for this, and it is
danced both in the daytime and at night; in the former case anyone may
watch it, but at night only the inmates of the village in which it is
held may be present.
Before the circumcision feasts a dance called Kibuiya is danced by
circumcised and uncircumcised boys. It is so called because of the
buffalo horns worn by the boys, but this dance is now said to be
practically extinct, mainly because they cannot get buffalo horns.
For women there are two dances which are:
Getiro—This is a marriage dance and is held first at the bride’s
village and in the evening at the bridegroom’s village.
Ndumo—This is danced by women at the close of the Kikuyu year. It takes
place in a village, but anyone may be present.
In Kikuyu the elders have only one dance, called Muthungwei, which they
dance together with the women; its name is said to be derived from the
nodding of the head in the dance. Only elders can dance it, and a woman
cannot join unless her husband is entitled to dance. It is held in an
open space outside a village.
Mr Routledge mentions three other dances, but he was probably misled by
the words used. Two of these, Keoana and Kuinenera, are verbs meaning
to dance or sing. The third, Ndorothi, is the name given to a stick
carried by youths at circumcision feasts. It is topped with a tuft of
colobus monkey fur and is carried until the evening before the
ceremony. On that evening, all those about to be circumcised race to a
mugumu tree and throw the Ndorothi sticks at the foot of the tree.
At the time of circumcision there is, again, the Mambura dance. The
boys travel about the country, their bodies painted white, and wearing
curious wooden shields on their arms above the elbow.
Natives, of course, often sing either in chorus or singly, and at any
time; such songs are also called ngoma. On one occasion the author met
a man who was a sort of primitive travelling minstrel. It was his
vocation in life to go about the country singing songs, for which
people gave him a few cents. The natives said that he was the only man
known to do this, and he was therefore perhaps rather a freak.