Page 43 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 23
P. 43
Re-education
ceremonies were held under is ready, he smears the joints
a Fig tree, Mugumo, facing of the feet, knees, hands and
Mt. Kenya but at a personal arms, with meticulous care, at
and family level all religious the same time tracing in the
and magical practices centered air cabalistic signs to repel
around the Nyumba. Father the spirits of the disease. The
C. Cagnolo in his book, The child so treated is bound to
Akikuyu, 1933, records one recover.
such magical ritual where a
medicine man is called by the What is going on here?
Mūkūrwe-inī, Nyeri, Kenya family to undo a spell cast on
Author and administrator of Gĩkũyũ Centre for a child. The Nyumba is seen as the
Cultural Studies, Kĩgongona kĩa Ũũgĩ wa Bũrũri Witũ.
A modern Gĩkũyũ Shaman and Priest after the order of quintessential embodiment of
Melchizedek. A Mũnjirũ wa Mbarĩ ya Kĩragũ. Going to the house of the cosmic harmony and the sick
Email: muiniwagicandi@gmail.com
sick child, he collects a human body is re-udjusted
few pinches of earth at the back into harmony through
junction of the private path the magnetic resonance with
The woman’s hut is called with the main road; then he perfection. The restoration
nyomba. Here it is taboo for collects more from each of the of the sick or disharmonious
a mere stranger to enter, four corners of the hut. The body back to wholeness is
because nyomba is considered whole he mixes in his mouth done by calling upon the subtle
as the traditional sacred abode with goat’s fat, cinders from influences of the supernatural
of the family and the proper the fireplace, goat dung and forces to align and act upon
place to hold communion saliva. … When the mixture the natural body. Thus the
with the ancestral spirits.
All aspects of religious and
magical ceremonies and
sacrifices which concern the
family are centered around
the nyomba. It is for fear of
defilement and ill-luck that
strangers are not allowed to
cross the sacred threshold.
The man’s hut is called
thingira; in this, friends and
casual visitors are entertained.
Collective tribal prayers and
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