The Kikuyu and Kamba of Kenya by John Middleton Greet Kershaw

Author:John Middleton, Greet Kershaw [John Middleton, Greet Kershaw]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, African Studies, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781315313115
Google: SYUZDgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-02-10T04:31:22+00:00

SECOND BIRTH

The most important of the rites de passage between birth and initiation is that of “second birth”, guciaruo ringi, guciaruo gwa keri or guciariruo mburi (to be bom of a goat). This rite is undergone by both sexes of all clans. Until a child has undergone the rite he cannot assist in the disposal of his father’s body after death, be initiated, inherit property, or take part in ritual, depending on the “guild”. The essential part of the rite is a re-enactment of the birth (if the mother is dead a proxy is appointed who is afterwards regarded by the child “as his own mother”); the child is placed between the mother’s legs, and bound to her by a goat intestine. This is cut and the child imitates the crying of a newborn child. The mother is then shaved, the hut swept out, and a formal visit is made to the fields to collect arum lily roots.351

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