b la c k t h e o l o g y ,

vol. 11, no. 2,2013, 240-268

A C o m pa r a tiv e S t u d y o f C h r is t ia n B a p t is m v is - a - v is t h e
M e r u (A f r ic a n ) R it e o f C ir c u m c is io n o f B o ys

Jonathan Katheru Gichaara1

The Methodist Church in Britain,
Queens Foundation and
the University o f Birmingham
11 Romway Close, Shepshed
Loughborough
LE12 9DT
UK
gichaara@yahoo.co.uk

bst r a c t

By means o f a critical analysis o f the Meru African rite o f circumcision and

the Christian rite o f baptism, this article compares and contrasts the two rituals in their respective social structures. The Meru o f Kenya viewed circumcisin and the attendant rituals as critical in becoming a complete member o f
the Meru community. In Christianity, especially the fourth-century version
o f it, one had to go through an elaborate ritual o f baptism in order to claim
to be a Christian. Arnold Genneps concepts o f separation, liminality, and
the postliminal are widely consulted in this work. Similarly, the article benefits from Victor Turners understanding that ritual candidates are a betwixt
and between group who defy easy characterization. They are a communitas, or a community on their own who could even be viewed as anti-structure people. The overarching question to which this work tries to suggest
an answer is: What is the self-understanding o f African men who have gone
through all the culturally prescribed rituals o f becoming fully fledged Meru
and then convert to Christianity? To which ritual o f self-understanding do
they owe allegiance?
Keywords: Preliminal; liminal; postliminal; communitas; neophytes;
mythical return; Illo tempore; ritual candidates; ritual subjects; novices;
Milites Christ.

1.
Jonathan Katheru Gichaara is a Presbyter o f the Methodist Church o f Great Britain and is also a Recognized Supervisor o f the University o f Birmingham and an honorary
scholar o f the Queens Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education.

I S . Maney & Son Ltd 2013

doi 10.1179/1476994813Z.0000000005

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Introduction
In the M eru (African) traditional cosmology, what mattered more than
anything else for self and social identity was for someone to go through
the maturational rites o f passage from birth till death. The rite of circumcisin for the boys in M eru was crucial for their self-understanding and
their sense o f belonging. Christianity makes similar claims that the ultimate reality in life can only be found or be apprehended when one places
his faith in Jesus Christ and the church. The crucial point o f entry into
the Christian community, especially for the fourth-century Christian catechumens, was to go through a very elaborate preparatory stage which
culminated in baptism.
The obvious question that these two contrasting claims begs o f us is:
What is the cosmological outlook o f a full M eru who has fulfilled all his
tribally prescribed rites o f passage, especially the all-important rite o f circumcision, and then converts to Christianity? In other words, is a M eru
cosmological outlook through the church or through his social cultural
milieu?
We will first describe the early fourth-century rite o f Christian baptism
and then compare and contrast the same with the M eru traditional initiation of the circumcision o f boys, as a crucial rite ofpassage for every M eru
male. A concerted effort will be made to make use o f sociological/anthropological tools in critiquing the two rituals alongside each other. Arnold
Gennep, for example, avers that the neophytes go through the stages of
separation, liminality, and aggregation which he also calls preliminal, liminal, and postliminal.2Victor Turner, on the other hand, understands these
ritual candidates as the communitas who are neither here nor there.
At best they are a Betwixt and Between group and/or an anti-structure/
inter-structure people.3
It will be my argument that just as the early Christians could not perceive or understand themselves as Christians without going through the
catechumenate and baptism, which culminated in the Eucharistic ceremony on Easter Sunday, in the same way, a M eru man could not be
viewed or taken as a responsible adult without going through the Mariri
dirges, circumcision, the Kioro ritual, culminating in the mock fight and
killing o f a Maasai moran (warrior). Thereafter, as a confirmatory gesture, the neophyte is given a new name.

2. The Rites ofPassage (Trans. M.B. Vizedom and G.L. CafFee; Chicago, IL: University
o f Chicago Press, Phoenix Books, 1960), 21.
3. Victor Turner, Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (6th edn, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989), 95-130.

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242

In conclusion, I will briefly discuss the conflict that the two rituals present. To the M eru, circumcision, the Kioro ritual, the mock raid, and namegiving informed their total cosmological outlook and self-understanding.
For the Christians, particularly in the fourth century, their cosmology and
self-understanding was informed by their instruction, baptism, and sacraments (especially the Eucharist). The question for us is: What is the cultural position or, better still, what is the cosmological outlook o f a M eru
who, after going through all the tribally prescribed community rituals of
self-understanding, later on converts to Christianity, whereby the church
presents him with another set of similar, albeit contesting rituals?

Rite o f Christian Baptism

The meaning and rite of Christian Baptism has undergone many changes
with the passage o f time since the founding o f the church in the first and
second centuries CE. Certain important basic beliefs, however, remain as
a continuing thread since the times o f Jesus and John the Baptist to the
present day. O ur examination of the meaning and practice o f the Christian
baptism will however be limited in at least two aspects:

We will limit ourselves to adult baptism. Whereas infant baptism has resonances with adult baptism, it invites a different set
o f socio-theological consideration.
Christian baptism has its antecedents in the Old Testament and
similar practices in the inter-testamental period, but the full
flowering o f its meaning and practices are arguably found in the
second century BCE onwards.

St. Augustine, one o f the most important church fathers, takes time to
examine the meaning and the practices o f Christian baptism. We will,
therefore, limit ourselves to the Augustinian period o f the fourth century CE. Water baptism was an important part o f Christian initiation from
the very beginning o f the church and as it continued as the new religion,
spreading into the Roman Empire.
Paul was the first to articulate the theology and practice o f baptism as
dying to the past (Romans 6:34; Colossians 2:2) and beginning new life
in Christ filled with an energy and freedom that he, Paul, and others like
him had not known before. The water used for baptism was sometimes
poured over the person being baptized, and the ritual was understood
more in terms o f washing and regeneration than in terms o f death and resurrection. Finally, the process o f Christian initiation was concluded with
prayers and sharing o f the Lords Supper. The pattern o f Christian initiation described in the early writings becomes more elaborate with each

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succeeding century. There were also variations on the pattern depending

on time and place.
During the fourth century, a simple confession o f faith in Christ no
longer sufficed for baptism as had been the case previously. Those seeking
baptism had to look for a member o f the community who would sponsor them. Mortos says, If they were prostitutes or pimps, makers o f idols,
actors or entertainers, gladiators or soldiers, they would have to find new
professions4 before they could be considered for baptism and membership into the church. Also, all those seeking membership into the church
had to avoid murder, violence, adultery, and promiscuity. Tertullian, one
o f the church fathers, says, we are plunged into the water not in order to
stop sinning but because weve stopped sinning.5
Prior to baptism there was the long period of preparation called the
catechumenate. This was a time in which the catechumens/initiates were
instructed on ethical rather than doctrinal matters. U ntil the year 313 CE,
Christianity was outlawed in the Roman Empire and whatever Christian activities took place prior to this date were done in secret. Because of
the resultant danger o f persecution the catechumens were told very little
about the sacred mysteries o f the Christian faith or o f their meeting place.
The dates for baptism here varied. Initially, it was performed right after
conversion, then being linked to any Sunday before the celebration o f the
Eucharist, then during or just before Easter, or any other important dates
in the Christian calendar, such as Pentecost. Baptism was seen as being
necessary for salvation. For those Christians, however, who died in persecution before their baptism, Hippolytus assured the faithful that they
were being baptized in their own blood (ibid.).
A few weeks before the annual baptism, the catechumens who were
chosen for full initiation into the church began a period o f more intense
preparation. They were presented to the bishop or his representative,
and their worthiness for baptism was attested to by their sponsors. The
responsibilities that they were now to take upon themselves were made
clear. Martos avers, as catechumens, they could call themselves Christians but with baptism they would become members o f the faithful.6
Baptism was a once and for all event.
Once they were accepted as candidates, they began to receive doctrinal instructions for the first time, listening to the words o f scripture and
hearing them explained along with their teachings, which were part of

4. Joseph Martos, Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Christian Church (London: SCM Press, 1981), 168.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 169.

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the churches tradition. Each Sunday they were exorcized o f the evil spirits that had ruled them in the past and that might tempt them again in the
future. The bishop prayed over them, blessed them, touched and anointed
them with oil, and, finally, signed them with the sign o f the cross on different parts o f their body. Alternatively, the bishop could blow on them
the breath of the Holy Spirit.
Over the succeeding week after each exorcism, the candidates were
instructed daily, their lives re-examined, and the following Sunday they
underwent further exorcism upon making promises to renounce the devil
and all his works.
The catechumens were taught the Lords Prayer and made to memorize the Apostles Creed at this time. They would, at the same time, be
made to taste salt to remind them that they had become the salt o f the
earth. Two days before baptism, they were made to fast o f food and bodily
pleasures in order to experience a more complete dependence on God.
O n the eve o f baptismthis would normally be the eve o f Easterthe
vigil o f the feast of the Christian Passover began. The candidates would
be invited to attend the occasion. They would sit in the darkness, and then
the Paschal candle, the symbol o f Christ, the light o f the world was lit.
The candidates would hear the hymns o f praise and prayers o f thanksgiving, and the reading of Holy Scripture. Popular sermons revolved around
water and the spirit, particularly concerning Gods spirit moving over the
waters at creation, about the floods destruction of sinners and N oahs salvation through the flood. The exodus o f Israel through the waters o f the
Red Sea would be expounded as would Ezekiels vision of the valley o f dry
bones being brought to life through the spirit. The candidates kept vigil
throughout the night in preparation for the dawn.
Early morning, at the baptismal pool the candidates would strip naked.
The m en were assisted by deans and the women by deaconesses. Standing in the water they were asked, Do you believe in God, the Father
Almighty, the Creator o f Heaven and Earth? The candidates were
expected to answer in the affirmative. The second and third questions
were whether they believed in Jesus Christ, Gods Son, their Lord, who
was brought into the world to suffer for it; and whether they believed in
the Holy Spirit. Water was then poured on them and they were anointed
in the name o f Christ as they came out o f the pool.
The candidates were given white garments to wear, symbolizing their
new life as Christians and the fact that from that point forward, they had
renounced evil and would be clothed in Christ.7

7.

Ibid.

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The Christian neophytes were now fully baptized as new Christians.

They joined the assembly of the faithful, and would for the first time partake in the Eucharist, which they had never attended before.

The M em Rite o f Circumcision o f Boys

According to the social structure o f the M eru who live on the south-eastern slopes of Mt. Kenya, the males are structurally divided, in ritual terms,
into babies, young boys, senior boys, warriors, and elders. The young and
senior boys stages continue until circumcision. Those who are circumcised about the same time are said to belong to the same age-set and are
collectively known by the same age-set name. David Rimita, writing about
male circumcision among the M eru, says, This was the most important
initiation as it separated a child from a grown-up. It was the yard-stick for
measuring maturity. It was like being born for the second time.8
M eru people traditionally circumcised their boys in intervals of
between four and five years. The boys ages varied from twenty to twentyfive. These ages have currently been drastically reduced to about eleven
to fifteen years with the encroachment o f Western civilization and the
attendant change in the value system. This allows the young novice time
to go to high school, the school system having been incorporated as a rite
of passage from elementary (primary) school to secondary school in the
Kenyan education system.
Traditionally, the period o f circumcision was existentially a liminal
stage for the whole comm unity The initiates and non-initiates became
involved in one way or another with that important rite. All the relatives
o f the initiates took part, whether in cooking, in offering gifts to the initiates, or in the associated general celebrations. The occasion was full of
drama and suspense for everyone.
For permission to be granted by the Lamala, the council o f the ruling
age-set, for circumcision to take place, the boys who had already been inidated into the Nchiibi (council o f the mature but uncircumcised senior
boys) would meet together. The decision would be made that they were
now sufficiently mature and could no longer endure the ignoble reference o f being termed Mwijithe uncircumcised. This was a derogatory
term, as no one respected a Mwiji. A Mwiji could neither marry nor be
entrusted with the secrets o f the M eru society. It was a taboo for a Mwiji
to have had sex with any woman or girl. A penalty for such a polluting act
to the community was for his biological father to be fined a ndewa (bull),
for the warriors to consume before they agreed for him to be circumcised.
8.

David M. Rimita, The Njuri-Ncheke ofMem (Diocese o f Meru: Kobe Press, 1988), 33.

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A Mwiji was supposed to give way should he meet with a Nthaka on the
footpath. A Mwiji was, therefore, held in very low esteem in the very hierarchically structured, patrilineal M eru society. The non-initiates, therefore, always looked forward to a time when the ignobility o f Mwiji state
would be traversed through circumcision.
After the Ijiji (pi.) came together and decided that it was the correct time
for them to be circumcised, they organized themselves into groups and
smeared their bodies, especially their foreheads, with cow dung, clay, and/
or black soot from the smoky fire. Then they would put ostrich feathers
on their heads, tie a metal cattle bell round their waists, and wrap them selves in cow, goat, or sheep skins. Some would wrap dry banana leaves
round their waist instead. They tried to disguise themselves as m uch as
they could and then would walk up and down the roads and pathways
singing the Mariri songs. In the Mariri songs the boys would normally
suggest through riddles that they have something troubling them.
Ii-ii mwiri...
Nditia nkcnama...
Muntu wa kirugu...
Ati ndene!

Oh hear you all...

Im strolling up and down the footpaths...
One who is possessed...
Never knows where he is going!

The boys would then send one or two o f their representatives to the
Lamala of the ruling council to negotiate their circumcision. Normally
that would be granted. The councils consideration was whether there
had been an ample harvest, whether there was any impending danger of
drought or locusts. They would also consider their tribes relationship
with neighboring tribes in order to ascertain whether or not there was a
possibility o f an attack from their enemies.
The period o f Mariri dirges culminated with the boys visiting their
relatives, especially their paternal and maternal uncles, in order to collect gifts and blessings, as they were to be ushered into the warrior stage.
It is important to add that at this period o f the Mariri dirges, which lasted
until the day o f circumcision, the boys enjoyed complete autonomy. They
would often sing the most obscene songs without retribution. In contrast
to their previous experiences, now everybody moved out o f the way at the
sight o f approaching Ijiji! This was a time for role reversal. It was their
time to say whatever they wished to whichever person or group o f persons they chose.
A few days before the date set by the Lamala for the circumcision, the
Mugwe (priest-prophet) encircled the whole field where the operations
were to take place. H e ritually sprinkled water mixed with honey and cattie blood, uttering words o f blessing as he proceeded. In his company
were the ritual elders. The circumciser would normally be imported

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from among the Maasai or Samburu tribes. It was believed that the rite
of circumcision was taught to the M eru by the Maasai,9 who themselves,
it was believed, were taught by God.10 Ritual operators from Maasai and
Samburu were favored by the M eru for their efficiency, skill, and probably divine potency. This was no ordinary practice, as it was divinely instituted and sanctioned.
From a historical point o f view, there are conflicting reports as to the
origin o f the circumcision ritual. Some people hold that it came from
northern Syria in the third millennium BCE, spreading east o f Mesopotamia and then southwards to Egypt. At this early period, the practice was
associated with fertility, marriage, and manhood.11
O n the day o f circumcision, the boy was blessed by his parents. He
was given a sign on his forehead with white ira (ochre) by his mother as
a blessing. After the blessings, each boy was escorted by his ritual father
(a person chosen by the family to take care o f neophyte , advise him, and
sometimes shield him from arbitrary beatings that went with the circumcisin ordeal) to where all the other boys were gathered. This would usually be around six a.m. The candidates, who must be naked, were taken
to the river in a kind o f Shakespearean holy chase.12 They washed their
bodies in the cold water. This ceremony was supposedly for cleansing
the candidates o f all their past blemishes o f youth, but in reality, the cold
water anesthetised the body, making it numb, so as to withstand the circumcisers knife.
Leading elders from the community, specially chosen by the Mugwe,
followed the candidates, spitting honey and offering their blessings for
the initiates. After the cold splash, the candidates were led to the field for
circumcision. The candidates would sit in a semicircle. The circumciser
entered the field and started the operation from the left to right. The left
hand and/or left side were imbued with divine favor as far as the M eru
people were concerned. The candidates sat facing Mbwaa, the mythical
origin o f the Meru. Mbwaa is said to be in the eastern side o f the M eru
region. Nonetheless, nobody can point to the actual place. It is not unlike
the Garden o f Eden, whose actual location is unknown.
Fr. Daniel Nyaga has emphasized that what was important to the M eru
was not the actual ritual operation but the moral teaching that went hand
9. Rimita, The Njuri-Ncheke ofMeru, 24.
10. Mcritz Mcker, Die Maasai, ethnographische monographie eines ostafrikanoshen
semitenvolkes (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1920), 444.
11. Ibid.
12. Julius Caesar, Act 1, line 8: Caesar believed that The barren [Calphurnia, his wife]
touched in this holy chase [touched by Mark Antony who will be running in the race o f
Lupercal] will be able to shake off her sterile curse( Calphurnias sterility).

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JONATHAN KATHERU GICHAARA

in hand with the circumcision ordeal.13 Circumcision was the visible sign
o f admission to the membership o f the tribe and any M eru worthy o f the
name had to undertake this ritual. The initiation through circumcision,
however, was only a gateway to the instructions that followed. Beginning
from the night before the circumcision, some dirge leaders (Itharia) would
be invited to come and advise the young person or group o f young people.
The advice, which would normally be in the form o f songs/poetry, would
relate to morality, respect for parents, respect for elders, and the fact that
the boy must heed the advice o f the ritual father when in seclusion.
Fr. Nyaga continues to point to the fact that even after circumcision
the young initiate was in a very ambivalent stage. H e was neither a Mwiji
(uncircumcised) nor was he a Nthaka (warrior) in the M eru sense o f the
word. In fact the warriors would tease the young initiates and ask them, If
you are a Nthaka, what is your warriors name? But the people outside
the seclusion house (gaaru), such as the uninitiated boys, mother, sisters,
or younger brothers, would never dare call the initiate by his old name.
They normally referred to him as the Nthaka (warrior) even though he
had not been given his warriors name. In fact at this stage, the novice was
nameless! Victor Turner points out that
during the intervening liminal period, the state o f the ritual subject, otherwise called the liminar becomes ambiguous, neither here nor there,
betwixt and between all fixed points or classification; he passes through a
symbolic domain that has few or none o f the attributes o f his past or coming state.14

The boys were secluded in a house made specifically for that purpose
for a period o f three to six months. It should be be noted that this period
has been drastically shortened by the formal school system, which claims
the attention o f the same candidates as the traditional school that went
hand in hand with circumcision. In seclusion, only the circumcised warriors were allowed to visit the initiate. The parents, especially the mother,
women, and children generally were kept away During that period the
initiate was supposed to confess all the sins that he had committed. This
included sexual misadventure, stealing, lying, and so on. The important
thing to note, here, was that the community used this occasion to gauge,
institute, and enhance social morality.

13. Fr. Daniel Nyaga, Mikarire na Mituurireya Amiiru_(Nairobi: Heinmann Kenya, Ltd.,
1986), 62-76.
14. Victor Turner, Dramas, Fields and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society (Ithaca,
NY: Cornell University Press, 1974), 232.

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249

If a woman was discovered during the confessions (mauriro) to have

had sex with Mwiji she became a social disgrace to be named and shamed
in dances, songs, and other community celebrative recitals and dirges.
Sexual purity and other social/ethical standards were revered and much
observed. The height o f the period o f seclusion was the Kioro ritual. The
neophyte was said to undergo a burning through this ritual. This was
the day when the boy was expected to be purged of everything that pertained to his youthful self and entered ritually into manhood or warriorhood. The occasion came after the boys wounds had healed.
The Kioro, an iron bar measuring about one foot long, one inch wide,
and one tenth of an inch thick, is commonly used for putting brand marks
on cattle. The Kioro would be placed in the very hot fire until it glowed
red hot and then used to inscribe an indelible mark on cattle or some other
animal. The pseudo-story concerning the Kioro was that it would be used
to bum around the neck o f the male organ. The delicate organ was said to
withstand the ordeal because o f the medicine brought into the seclusion
hut by the medicine man. The pseudo-story was meant for women, children, and the non-initiated boys who have never been burnt.15
The real drama began on the morning o f the day appointed for the ceremony o f burning.
One candidate could be burnt alone or several candidates burnt at
the same time. The parents o f the candidates to be burnt were required
to provide food, beer, and other drinks for the day. They also provided the
firewood for heating the Kioro, which would be in the fire for the greater
part o f the day.
Those carrying out the initiation would smear their hands with the
clear sap o f the M uchamaru tree and then touch the red-hot Kioro. The
contact would produce smoke which would be utterly petrifying to the
non-suspecting initiates. There are bushes in M eru, such as the Miraa
(khat), Mikilinyai, and M uthara, with leaves which explode like small
fireworks when put on the fire. Those carrying out the initiation would
secretly throw some o f these leaves into the fire which would sound like
small explosives or fireworks. The initiate would be entreated to confess all his past sins and indiscretions. The ritual operators would turn
secretly and pretend to be stoking the fire and in the process throw some
more leaves onto the flames. As the leaves exploded, the candidate was
told, You can hear for yourself, these explosions mean that you have not
confessed anything yet; dont blame us for whatever happens to you!
Several other tricks were performed. When the novice saw the initiators
touch the red-hot Kioro and heard the sound o f the fireworks, he would
15. Rimita, The Njuri-Ncheke, 35.

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have no doubt that he would burn. He would confess all his past sins.16
The seeming extremity of the ritual was often used by community leaders
as a form o f social control over the activities of uncircumcised boys. The
knowledge o f the ritual and the possible sanctions for unregulated sexual
activity that could befall uncircumcised boys would be sufficient for the
women and the girls to keep away from them.
Before sunset, one o f the people carrying out the ceremony would
be disguised all over to look like a clown but was said to be a medicine
man (Mganga/Mugaa) from an unknown far place. He was brought in by
escorts, carrying horns and other paraphernalia. O n entering the home
of the candidates he started to tremble and engage in other ecstatic theatricals, such as falling over, foaming, and grunting. The ritual warriors
would shout that there was evil in the home that had to be exorcized. The
father and other male relatives pretended that they were removing evil
by collecting soil or grass and throwing it away. The medicine m an was
helped to the hut o f the candidates. He was assisted to sit down and he
beseeched the candidate in a coarse voice to confess all his faults, failures,
and indiscretions. The initiate this time was held tightly so that he could
not run away. The whole episode had great psychological effect on the initiates who believed that the medicine man was real.
W hen the confessions were over, the novice was held and laid on his
back. One o f the participants would take the red-glowing Kioro outside
the hut and tell the anxious relatives to bless it by spitting on it for the sake
o f their son. He then went inside and started shouting, asking for water.
Water was brought in and the candidate was heard by those outside crying loudly, begging not be burnt. As the candidate cried out the Kioro was
put in the water and all those present would shout chaaa, a meaningless
incantation indicating that the candidate had withstood the ordeal. Those
outside could only see the smoke and steam coming from within the hut.
They would be extremely anxious, not knowing the drama involved!
The candidate was then told that he had become a man and m ust obey
all the instructions that follow because as a circumcised man he had littie choice but to do so. By now, the candidate would be most attentive to
whatever he was told. He believed he had survived the Kioro ordeal by a
whisker through the intervention o f the medicine man.
The instructions that followed this ordeal mainly centered on morality, bravery in defence of the M eru nation, never to spill the blood o f a
tribesman, obeying ones parents and ritual fathers, ecological care o f the
motherland, and care o f the children of the tribe. All M eru children belong
to the M eru nation and as a circumcised man, one must never discriminate
16. Ibid.

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251

against his neighbors children. O ther matters relevant to community were

also inculcated at this time. At a later point, the novice was taught the tactics of war and his place as a member of the defence council of warriors, the
Lamala, to which he was later accepted through other rituals. The instructions usually began with the incantations: Kubububukubu! Kububu bu
Kubu! and then Mbingiritu kura ithui kiama kia m untu-um utane. The
words do not mean anything, but echo a thunderous noise like thunder in
a storm or the noise o f large rolling boulders. In fact, the noise can be best
likened to rolling boulders that knocks aside everything they meet. This
was an indication that what he was about to hear was extremely important. Moreover, these things had to remain the guarded secret of the initiated only, and never be divulged to an uncircumcised man, woman, or
child.17 From a biblical point o f view, this could compare, approximately,
to the thunder and wind that Elijah experienced on M ount Carmel, before
God spoke in a still small voice (I Kings 19:11-13), or the lightning, thunder, and smoke at M ount Sinai as Moses received the ten commandments
(Exodus 19:16-18).
Suffice it to say that the Kioro marked the climax o f the liminal stage.
After the Kioro, what remained were ceremonies o f incorporation or, following the lead o f Victor Turner, namely that o f reaggregation.18 These
included the ceremonial, physical coming out o f the seclusion hut. The
young man received blessings from his parents; his m other shaved his
head for the last time. The next time his hair would be cut was in marriage
when his wife would undertake this task. A woman relative could take the
place o f the m other in the ritual shaving. Invariably, except in extraordinary circumstances, everybody in the M eru community would get married, when it came time for their respective age group to do so. The young
warriors, who would num ber twenty to thirty, lived in the gaaru, guarding the community from the attacks o f any would-be enemy. In this communal life they continued to receive further instructions from the senior
warriors and elders as they provided peer support to one another.
O n the day o f coming out o f seclusion (Gutura-Nyumba) the novices
were taught how to use bows and arrows. They were shown how to hold
a spear, club, and shield in war without dropping them. The young warriors would act with bravery and eagerness to go to war. They would want
everybody to know that they were as strong and fierce as a lion and were
ready to defend the M eru nation.
As part o f the ceremonies o f incorporation, the candidates were led out
for a mock raid, after receiving further blessings from their parents. The
17. Ibid.
18. Turner, Drama, Fields and Metaphors, 232.

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Maasai (Uru) were at once the imaginary, and often the real, enemies of
the M eru people. Paradoxically, however, the Maasai were also the model
for anything worth emulating by the M eru. For example, the M eru circumcision rite is said to have been borrowed from the Maasai, while a
M eru who spoke the Maasai language was the envy o f his people. At the
mock raid each candidate had to pin one Maasai to death, while all those
captured were tied with ropes carried by the initiates as Maasai captives. The procession then returned home singing.
Leader:
Mwana umwe athiria...
Response: ohjaii!
Leader:

One young warrior has annihilated the whole o f the Maasai

nation...
Response: It is true, he has.

The second ceremony o f incorporation is called Kuratha M ukuu, literally translated as shoot the fig tree. The m ukuu grows naturally near
rivers, as does the mugumo tree. The young warrior would shoot any one
o f these trees with an arrow to figuratively disclaim any responsibility for
all those he might kill in later inter-tribal wars. After shooting the m ukuu
or m ugumo tree, he threw all the remaining arrows and the bow on the
ground and ran back home. The candidate was now a warrior and was
free to fight and kill the enemies o f the M eru nation without any guilt or
retribution. What remained was for the candidates, who had now proved
themselves within the framework o f the M eru warrior-hood rite, to be
given a name.
I will not go into the fine details of the naming ceremony, but up until
now the warrior had been nameless. He could not be referred to by the
old name o f youth. He was a brand new person. N either did he have a
name o f the warrior stage. In the intervening period, at best, his name was
Nthaka, a warrior. He had no personal name. Victor Turner tells us that
during the transition stage, the ritual subject is ambiguous. He passes
through a realm that has few or none o f the attributes o f the past or the
coming state. He is yet to be consummated.19 The candidate who until
now had been nameless had to be given a name. His ritual father consuited with the candidates biological parents and they would agree on
what name to call him. The name was derived from one o f his biological fathers qualities. For example, if the father of the candidate was a kind
man, he therefore had the quality of kindness. This quality is kiao in the
19.
Victor Turner, Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites o f Passage, in
W.A. Lessa and E.Z. Vogt, eds., Reader in Comparative Religion (N ew York: Harper Collins
Publisher, 1979), 235.

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M eru language. Therefore, the boy would be called Muntu-wa-kiao,

meaning the person o f kiao. In short, the name would be M ikiao. All men
in the M eru community had M as a prefix to their names. It signified
that they had passed through the initiation rite.
The naming o f the warrior was done at night on the fourth day after
emerging from seclusion. During this ceremony, many names were presented to the candidate, who refused them all. He accepted only the name
agreed between his ritual father and his biological father. During this ceremony the older morans (warriors) each held two sticks which they hit
against one another and pretended to be forcing the candidate to accept
a name. The candidate pretended to cry as if in pain. However, no beating took place at this time. Several candidates could be given names in the
same ceremony, but each person was named separately.
After the naming ceremony, the candidates went to live in the gaaru.
From here food was brought to them and they performed all their duties
from the gaaru. The candidates only left the gaaru upon marriage. Victor Turner makes the point that the ritual subjects at this stage, whether
individual or corporate, were in a stable state once more. They now had
the rights and obligations o f a clearly defined and structured society. They
were expected to adhere to certain customary mores and ethical standards.20 In the case o f the M eru, the ritual subjects now had names, could
own property, and would subsequently be allowed to marry.

Critical Parallelism Between the Meru Circumcision o f

Boys and Early Christian Baptism as Liminal Stages in
Comparative Rites O f Passage
I propose now to deal with the analytical parallelism between the M eru
circumcision rite and the Christian rite of baptism under three phases following Victor Turners21 theories: namely, separation; marginality (transition); reaggregation.
Separation
In the early Christian church, one who wanted to join the church declared
his intention to do so. Such an individual was called a pre-catechumen.
Origen o f Alexandria has described for us the process which the catechumen underwent. He says: The Christians began by testing the souls of
those who would listen to them ... Before they are allowed to join with
the community they must give sufficient evidence o f their desire to live a
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., 235fF.

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virtuous life.22 D uring the time o f Augustine these pre-catechumen, otherwise known as competentes, were nothing more than people who had
intimated their desire to become Christians. Sometimes they were merely
referred to as seekers. I find an interesting parallel o f this group of
Christians with the uninitiated M eru senior boys, the Ijiji who on coming o f age sought to be allowed to be initiated into warriorhood. They
dressed in all manner o f paraphernalia and strolled up and down pathways
singing the Mariri dirges seeking for their plea to be heard. Dujavier could
as well have been speaking o f either o f the two groups when he said that
the Christian competentes, were closely examined as to their readiness to
enter the church in order that they may listen to the word.23 Turner says
that this phase o f separation comprises symbolic behavior signifying the
detachment o f the individual or group either from an earlier fixed point
in the social structure, from a set o f cultural conditions, or from both.24
Another interesting aspect of this period, especially in the case o f M eru,
is the role reversal. The boys enjoyed complete but momentary autonomy. During the Mariri dirges, they could insult anybody without any retribution. People had to move aside for them. It was a momentary reversal
o f status before entering the marginal stage proper. Discussing the paradoxical drama o f role reversal, Victor Turner records for us the interesting case o f the installation rite o f Senior C hief Kanongesa among the
N dem bu o f Zambia. Normally the senior chief was seen as the apex o f the
highly structured political hierarchy o f the people. The senior chief, in a
sense, represented, symbolically, both the totality o f the community as an
unstructured entity and also the tribal territory itself with all its resources.
The chiefs word or wish was a command. But during his installation
there was a complete role reversal. The chief was made to sit in silence.
Any person who considered that she/he has been wronged by the chiefelect in the past was entitled to revile him and could express fully his
or her resentment. During this haranguing, the chief had to remain the
pattern of all patience and humility. H e was given a slave girl as his ritual partner. It is a time for role reversal. The rank and file commoners
became the chiefs while the chief became the commoner. It was a time
of the separation o f the candidate from his earlier fixed point in the social
structure.25

22. Michael Dujavier, The Rites of Christian Initiation (New York: William H. Sadlier,
Inc., 1979), 33.
23. Dujavier, The Rites of Christian Initiation.
24. Turner, Ritual Process, 94.
25. Ibid., 97-102.

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This stage o f separation of the neophytes from their earlier fixed point
also symbolizes what Mircea Eliade calls a return to illo tempore, that is, the
mythical period.26 It is a symbolic return to the genesis o f time, the sacred
time. For the M eru, the foundation o f their community is based on the
m yth that their founding forebears were circumcised and indeed taught
the circumcision rite by the Maasai. All true M eru males must, therefore,
go through this tribally prescribed ritual.
In the case o f the Christians, to truly identify with Christ means to
be born into that community which attempts through ritual, symbols,
and general life disposition to be Christ-like. It was the privilege o f new
Christians seekers to identify themselves with the rich Christian traditions and its secrets. Eliade says that, for the archaic person to defend himself\herself against the terror o f history, he must have recourse to these
mythical returns. In this way, the archaic person is able to make cosmos
or order out o f the chaos o f history.27
There is a fitting parallel here to our two cases. In order for the Christian to feel safe in this world, one has to entrust his or her life to Christ
through conversion and enter into the ritual o f baptism. Similarly for the
M eru, in order to be able to counter the militating forces o f his socialpolitical and historical environment, he had to learn the secrets o f his
community through a return to their mythical sacred tim e by way of
circumcision. This return is what Mircea Eliade calls abolishing history. It means that the liminal stage that the neophytes were seeking to
enter did not fall properly into the mainstream o f the ongoing history,
but was a kind o f return, at least psychically, to the very origins o f their
self-understanding.
Marginalit
This was the most important period in this ritual process. In the early
Christian tradition, this was the time for the bishop to invite the candidates into the church by the profession o f their faith. They had now
acquired the title o f catechumen. DeM eer records that the catechist or
bishop would begin an address to the candidates, in which he would give
a short description o f the secret o f the faith and the duties o f a Christian.
But he did so without actually bringing in the actual text of the symbolum
[creed] or the mysteries o f initiation.28

26. Mircca Eliade, The Myth of Eternal Return (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Press, 1974), 28.
27. Ibid., 20-21.
28. F. Van Der Meer, Augustine the Bishop: Life and Work of a Father of the Church (Trans.
B. Battershaw and G.R. Lamb: N ew York: Sheed and Ward Ltd.,1961), 353.

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This is comparable with the M eru families who would invite some
known dramatist/counsellor/dirge-singer to come, not just to entertain
the neophytes and their family members for a few days before and including the eve o f circumcision, but also to advise the young boy(s) on the
kind o f lifestyle that was expected of them. In the early church it was at
this time that the bishop concluded the period o f instruction with a littie solemnity consisting o f four rites: (a) candidates received the sign of
the cross upon their forehead, (b) hands were laid upon them and a kind
o f exorcism was performed, during which evil was breathed out o f them,
(c) they received for the first time the sacrament o f salt, and (d) they
received a piece o f exorcism bread.29
W hen Christianity was introduced in M eru, instruction classes among
Methodists were meant to achieve two things. First, the candidates gained
knowledge of the Bible, which they had not possessed before. Secondly,
the Bible acted as a basic manual o f instruction on literacy. The popular word among the M eru for church people became Athomi: literally,
those who knew how to read and write. It was at this time that the M eru
Christians were taught the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed. The
missionary minister would usually appoint somebody or a group o f peopie to see to the spiritual welfare o f those to be baptized.
There has been strong suggestion that in the early church, especially
the church o f N orth Africa, the sign o f the cross that the bishop marked
on the candidates forehead was done in the form o f an indelible tattoo.
This would be reminiscent o f the ancient practice where slaves and soldiers bore a mark to show to whom they owed service. The slaves bore
their masters sign, while the soldiers bore the name o f the emperor.30The
inscribing o f an indelible tattoo can be compared to the actual circumci
sion operation among the Meru.
A permanent sign o f the cross would have left an enduring mark that one
had identified at once with Christ and church. From this moment onwards,
the Christian catechumen was also referred to as a Christian. They received
Christian instruction. They entered through fasting, learning of scriptures
and guidance from their sponsor, the bishop and the the community of
the faithful. The novices were supposed to be or were viewed as Christian babies. They had no significant rank among the faithful. They were
expected to take instructions. The catechumens had their own special place
in church where they stood during the preaching o f the Word, and when

29. Edward S J. Yarnold, The Awe Inspiring Rites of Initiation: Baptismal Homilies of the
Fourth Century (Slough: St. Paul Publications, 1971), 5.
30. Ibid.

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257

time came for the celebration of the Eucharist (Holy Communion), they
were required to leave.
In the M eru case, the neophytes were referred to as Nthaka, the warriors, but curiously they were also told they were not warriors yet. They
were made to feel they were nothing, simply there to be seen but not
heard. They could not speak until they were addressed and given permission to do so. Often, the M eru Nthaka received arbitrary beating for all
sorts o f flimsy reasons. Yet, like the Christian novices who had already
received the signification o f the cross, partaken o f the holy salt, had holy
hands lain upon them, and been exorcized o f evil, the M eru novices had
reached a point o f no return. The two groups are a betwixt and between.
They were people who were not-here-and-yet-not-there. It is a liminal
stage. They were an inter-structure people, or perhaps they can be considered to be an anti-structure?
Augustine makes an interesting point in regard to some catechumens
who had relapsed, going to the Roman Theatre and doing things that
were forbidden by the church. He, the bishop, would ask, perhaps a catechumen thinks that he can allow himself this saying, am only a catechum en. Indeed a catechumen? Have you then one forehead to bear the
cross o f Christ and another wherewith to go to the theatre?31
It would seem, therefore, that the church took the signification on the
face very seriously, even though the candidate had not yet gone through the
sacrament of baptism. The same applies to the Meru, where for the neophytes, circumcision was not deemed complete until the candidate went
through the mystery o f the Kioro ritual and the attendant instructions.
DeMeer makes the point that the sacrament was held as a mystery by Christians and non- Christians, just like the awe-inspiring non-Christian religious practices outside the church. After all, how could there be a religion
without mysteries?32 The sacrament salt acquired different meanings at
different times for Augustine. Sometimes it was taken as the apostolic salt
which drives away the stench and foulness o f sin, sometimes as a symbol
o f the gift of discernment by which to distinguish between what is heavenly and earthly. Sometimes it reflected the scriptures where Christians
are called salt o f the earth. O ther times, it stood for the pillar of salt into
which Lots wife was turned. Augustine, the bishop, would even see the
signification o f salt as that prudence which Lots wife lacked and as a warning to the faithful never to turn around and gaze at the Sodom of their sinful past.33

31. Der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 355.

32. Ibid.
33. Ibid., 356.

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The symbolism o f salt as a deterrent for sin and stench is consistent

with the M eru idea that a Mwiji (uninitiated) was foul, dirty, and stinking and could not sit with the Nthaka (warriors). It was common for warriors to rebuke a Mwiji saying, Move away from here, you Mwiji, you
stink! It was also common for warriors to sternly warn a warrior caught
doing wrong, D ont behave like a Mwiji, or derisively say o f some errant
warrior, He has become a Mwiji.
The climax of the Christian ritual was the mystery of baptism. Similarly, the Kioro (burning) mystery with its theatrical incantations was
the height o f M eru circumcision. What followed afterwards were rituals/ceremonies o f incorporation. Augustine once asked from the pulpit,
What things do we treat as secret; only the sacrament o f Baptism and
the Eucharist.34 This clearly shows that baptism and Eucharist were supposed to be a hidden secret from the uninitiated.
There is an interesting similarity in the way the candidates received
completeness through their respective ceremonies. In the M eru ritual,
Fr. Nyaga makes an important point concerning the shaving of neophytes
before the day of circumcision: mwiji eenjagwa mutwe na akoona ati
gutaari antu angi a mwiri jwawe aatigagwa na there35 (a loose translation
would be the boys after they had their heads shaved by their mothers, they
themselves went ahead and shaved the hair off all their other body parts).
It was absolutely unacceptable for a boy to proceed for circumcision with
hair on any part o f his body, especially the armpits and around his genitalia. He also had to remove all the ornaments, talismans, and amulets before
proceeding to the river, in which he entered completely naked. Interestingly, DeMeer makes a similar point in regard to baptism in N orth Africa
in the early church:
The candidates now remove all their clothing... they lose their hair. N ot a
hair pin must remain on the heads, not an earring on the ear, nor a ring on
the finger, nor an amulet about the neck. They enter the mystical womb o f
their mother, the church, as they have come out o f their earthly mother.36

The Christian initiates descended into the streaming cold water. This is
comparable to the morning cold bath where the M eru initiates would
splash themselves in the flowing river. DeM eer says that moving water
was essential. Standing water, a natural seal o f corruption, could never
have been the symbol o f the new life which was not subject to corruption,
nor could it have represented the souls new potentiality.37
34.
35.
36.
37.

Ibid., 355.
Nyaga, Mikarire na Miturire ya Amiiru, 62.
Der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 367.
Ibid., 365.

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Just before the baptism, the candidates in the Christian ritual were
asked to face west, the region o f the suns departure, o f darkness and the
demons, and there renounce the devil and his angels. This done, they turn
to the east, the direction o f the rising light and symbol o f him who once
triumphed over the sunset. They dedicated themselves to their true Lord
and turned finally to God.38 Facing east was known as adhesion to Christ,
the source o f light, as opposed to the act o f renunciation o f the devil: facing west.
In the M eru ritual, the candidates face east, the direction o f Mbwaa,
the mythical ancestral origin o f the tribethe illo temporethe ontological genesis o f the community. It is a silent prayer o f dedication by each
individual candidate to God and the tribe. In the M eru cosmology, religion was anthropocentric. You conceived of God in relation to the tribe.
God and the ancestors were conceived in the M eru milieu as they related
to the day-to-day life o f the people. The M eru believed in the wholeness
o f life. God was embodied in the entirety o f life. There was no dichotomy between the secular and the sacred. All o f life was sacred and one
united whole. For the M eru initiate, to pledge himself to the tribe was at
the same time pledging himself to the ancestors and to God. The candidate surrendered himself to the process o f becoming a complete person in
the M eru sense: one who had fulfilled all that the community required
to be whole. A fully fledged M eru who had gone through all the tribally prescribed initiations would, henceforth, be able to offer sacrifices and
partake in community deliberations. He was acceptable to the community, the ancestors, and, ultimately, acceptable to God. He was a full M eru
without blemish.
In the Christian baptism, some scholars say that the candidate was
taken on the shoulders o f a deacon and immersed into the pool. Christian scholars have yet to agree on the actual method used. The candidate
would be baptized three times in the water; the first time in the name of
the Father, then in the name o f the Son, and finally in the name o f the
Holy Ghost. As the candidates emerged from the pool, there were shouts
of Eja, milites Christi39 (Come now, soldiers of Christ), and soldiers
o f Christ became the novices5designation from that time.
The Kioro ritual, just like the baptism for the Christians, was the apex
o f the M eru ritual. The neophyte was deemed complete. He had gone
through the tunnel and become a complete Meru. Circumcision and the
Kioro ritual, not unlike baptism, took place once in the candidates lifetime. The medicine man and/or the circumciser were the personification
38. Ibid., 364.
39. Ibid., 372.

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o f the sacral nature o f the M eru ritual, just like the priest/bishop in early
Christian baptism. The red-hot Kioro was the symbol o f last purification
o f the polluting Mwiji status. The neophyte had to be purified through
fire. Whatever withstands fire shows that it is steady, immovable, and
enduring. It is a mark of dependability and trust. This is comparable to St.
Peter saying that our faith being more precious than gold must be tested
(purified) through fire (1 Peter 1:7).
The M eru neophyte could now be trusted with the sacred defence of
the comm unity H e could also be trusted with the sacred secrets of his peopie. Just as the Christian novices would be referred to as milites Christi,
soldiers of Christ, the M eru novice would, henceforth, be a Nthaka
(warrior). It was the grand finale of the circumcision ritual. The neophyte
was now free to leave the seclusion hut. For the first time he could be seen
by everybody. H e would be revealed. He would be uncovered. H e was
a Nthaka, M eru militia, just like the milites Christi. W ithout belabouring the point, this was the process o f becoming both a Christian and
a M eru warrior. The m oment would be full o f suspense and drama. The
neophytes saw the warriors touching the red-hot Kioro, and the sputtering o f the fire darts, they saw the medicine man disguised and speaking in a hoarse voice. This compares with Augustine telling the novices
that the ritual water is holy and that through the invocation o f the Trinity
there will be a mystical change, even though the novices may physically
appear as their old selves. The old had passed away, the new had come.
From henceforth, they were new creations, with emphasis on the process
o f becoming (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I believe it is necessary for me to make certain sociological/anthropological observations about this state o f liminality. Sociologists/anthropologists have various names for describing this experience o f the neophytes.
Com m on words include communitas because o f the bond which the
candidates feel for one another. In the Christian sense they will call each
other brother or sister, meaning that they have the same spiritual parentage. In the M eru, they will use the word Bamo, a derivation from
Baaba (Father), meaning you are son o f my father. In other words,
they are brothers ritually. Among the M eru, you could not do something
which your bamo advised you against. If, for example, you were very
upset and about to take some desperate action, the person to confide in
was your bamo. Bamo was also important in listening to family feuds,
especially matters to do with conjugal conflicts.
Turner observes that the attributes o f liminality or liminal personae
(threshold people) are necessarily ambiguous, since this condition and
these persons elude or slip through the network o f classification that normally locates, states, and positions people in the wider cultural space.

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Therefore, they may be described as anti-structure or, more conveniently,

inter-structure. Liminal entities are neither here nor there; they are
betwixt and betw een the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom
or convention.40
Turners liminality is often likened to death or to being in the womb.
It is marked by invisibility, darkness, wilderness, or to an eclipse o f the
moon. The two rituals that we have explored portray this ambiguous status. The neophytes have no proper place in their respective communities.
They have no fixed and personal names. They have no rank. Turner calls
them an anti-structure people. They are there to be seen, but not to be
heard. This is well borne out in the M eru example where the neophytes
may not speak unless they have been addressed or given permission to
speak. Typically, they are removed, secluded, darkened, hidden, and without rank or insignia. You could say they are socially dead.
Regarding this stage, Arnold Van Gennep says, the novice is considered dead, and he remains dead for the duration of his novitiate. It lasts for
a fairly long time and consists o f a physical and mental weakening which
is undoubtedly intended to make him lose all recollection of his childhood existence.41
What follows, o f course, is the positive part, namely, the instructions.
We have already seen how the novice in the Christian ritual is made physically and mentally weak by fasting intermittently for the greater part of
three months prior to baptism and observing total fasting for the last two
days prior to baptism, and how the M eru novice was made vulnerable
through circumcision, insults, beatings, and threats until they were in
a mental state to receive instructions. Van Gennep observes, When the
novice is considered dead, he is resurrected and taught how to live, but
differently than in the childhood.42
Turner would see this stage o f liminality as characterized not only by
death and decomposition, but also by gestation and parturition. Culturally, the initiate is in a dynamic state. It is limen (threshold), signifying
the great importance o f real or symbolic thresholds at this middle period
o f the rite. It is also a tunnel state in the sense that the novices have been
and are becoming. It is a hidden state and often mysterious. They are also
ritual luminaries because they are moving symbolically to a higher status
and they are being stripped o f status temporarily, taking on a transient role
that is dictated by the cultural requirements.43

40.
41.
42.
43.

Turner, Ritual Process, 94-108.

Gennep, The Rites of Passage, 75.
Ibid.
Turner, Betwixt and Between, 23443.

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Another informative aspect o f this ongoing experience o f the ritual

passengers is their structural inferiority. Here, all the novices are banded
together, with no rank or insignia. The high and the low are all brought to
the same level. The sons o f the chief and the sons o f the commoners are
banded together in a communitas.
M uch as we may say that the neophytes represent an anti-structure
state, and, therefore, occupy an ambiguous and paradoxical position,
between the instructors and the novices there is often complete authority
and complete submission.
The passivity o f neophytes to their instructors, their malleability, which is
increased by their submission to ordeal, their reduction to a uniform condition are signs o f the process whereby they are ground to be fashioned new
and endowed with additional powers to cope with their new station in life.44

The ritual performance for the neophyte is transformative and confirmatory. The initiate undergoes complete metamorphoses o f the old self.
H e is dead to sin/ritually dead to the old state. He becomes a dynamic
new person. The old passes away and ushered in is the confirmatory new.
There are two further aspects o f the ritual process that I would like
to deal with briefly, and these are the place for social memory and performative action. The neophyte, after undergoing the brain-washing, is
banked with new information. They are taught the creeds o f the church;
or in the case o f the M eru novice, the history of the M eru tribe, their ritual chants and dirges. The novice is supposed to repeat the same to the
bishop before baptism or, in the M eru case, the novice repeats the same
to the warriors who come to visit him in his seclusion hut, and, more
importantly, to his ritual father. Communal social memory or communal
remembering, anamnesis, was a crucial ritual practice.45
Performative action is another important aspect o f ritual process. The
elaborate performance of such rituals as circumcision or baptism gives the
rite the efficacy and importance intended. It confirms to the memory of
the onlookers the reality o f the ritual. Victor Turner aptly brings out vital
aspects o f the communication o f the sacra, the heart o f liminal matter. He
says sacra may be communicated as:
(a)

Exhibition, what is shown: which would include evocatory

instruments or sacred articles, such as relics o f deities, heroes,
or ancestors. In this category we also include sacred drums
or medicine bundles. In the M eru case, the Kioro, which had

44. Ibid., 242.

45. See Paul Connerton, How Societies Remember (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1989).

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acquired a new meaning other than a mere iron or steel bar, was
shown and evoked. In the baptism ritual the Holy water in the
pool was seen.
(b) Action, what is done: in the M eru case, the iron or steel bar
which had been heated red hot was touched by the ritualists;
they ran outside with it and shouted for cooling water. In the
Christian baptismal rite, the candidate was immersed in water
three times in the name o f the Trinity.
(c) Instruction, what is said: Turner observes that among the
instructions received by neophytes may be such matters as the
revelation o f the real, secularly secret names o f deities or spirits believed to preside over the ritesa very frequent procedure
in African cultic or secret associations.46 They were taught the
main outlines o f the theogony, cosmogony, and mythical history
o f their societies or cults, usually with reference to the sacra.
Needless to say, great importance was attached to keeping secret
the nature of the sacra and the formulas chanted and instructions given them.
The three perspectives to which I have briefly alluded constitute the crux
of the liminality. I agree with Turners observation that instruction is also
given in ethical and social obligations, in law and in kinship rules and
technology to fit neophytes for the duties o f future office.47
In the instructions, neophytes were forced to think about their society,
their cosmos, and the powers that generate and sustain them. Liminality,
therefore, becomes a stage o f reflection.
Reaggregation
N ow the neophytes had gone through the baptism for the Christians and
the ritual Kioro ceremony for the Meru, they were complete and were
full human beings. Now, they had to be ritually accepted back into the
community just as they were ritually separated from it.
Augustine told the congregation that they had only two things that they
treat as secret. One is the baptism and the other is the Eucharist. Once
the neophytes had been admitted into and participated in these two sacraments they were seen as the newly-born children o f that virginal but
fruitful mother, the church.48 This is an idea that repeatedly occurs in
Augustines works and sermons.

46. Ibid.
47. Turner, Betwixt and Between, 343.
48. Der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, 369.

JONATHAN KATHERU GICHAARA

264

Each novice received a white garment o f linen to emphasize their

change o f life and their commitment to the life o f purity and stainless living. DeM eer suggests that:
they probably put on sandals and during their octave period they were most
careful not to touch the earth with the soles o f their feet. They listen attentively and hear the Bishop praying. They hear him repeat Christs words
over the bread and wine, and they hear the loud Amen from the congregation. Then there is the singing o f the Psalm Come ye and taste how sweet
the Lord is. At this moment a festive drink is handed to the novices, a little
milk and honey, the ancient ritual food for the newly born.49

For the M eru, ceremonies of incorporation included the mock raid, when
the neophytes pretended to make an attack into the Maasai country. Then
there was the ceremony o f Kuratha mukuu, literally, shooting the fig tree.
In this action, the candidate imagined that he has speared an enemy in battie. The new warrior would leave his arrows and bow at the foot o f the
tree to disclaim any responsibility or ritual uncleanliness should he kill in
the defence o f the M eru nation.
All that remained, for the neophytes, was to take on new names as an
intrinsic part of the reaggregation.50 Then the candidates would become
structured people again. The new names symbolized that they were no
longer their old selves. They were comparable to the new garments of
linen for the Christian neophytes. In fact, the missionary church in Africa
coerced the Africans who converted to Christianity to take new Christian names. The joke was that the so-called Christian names were English
cultural names, such as George or Godfrey. A few rebels, like the father of
the author o f this article, took their given cultural name, in his case Kiruru, as their Christian name to the dismay o f some missionaries. It was a
rare occurrence for Africans to be baptized with their own indigenous African names.
I think the mock raid compares very well with the Holy Com m union (Eucharist), which the Christian faithful partook for the first time
after baptism. In the M eru case, who knew how many times the warriors
would in reality have to either attack or defend themselves from the Maasai? The mock raid was a preparatory exercise, an anticipation o f the real
events to come. It was an exercise in warfare. The point is, by participting ifi the raids and duties o f the community, one blended his name and
personality with the wider social mores o f the M eru people. In the same
manner, the Christian faithfuls were expected to present themselves for
comm union on a periodic basis. The communion is both a memorial and
49. Ibid., 370.
50. Ibid., 356.

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265

an anticipation o f the coming o f the Lord. The Christian faithfuls are said
to energize themselves by often partaking in communion.
The novices in the two rituals returned to their respective wider society
with renewed and enhanced knowledge o f how things are and how things
work in their community as a whole. They had become once more subject
to custom and law, and an integral part of their particular social structure.

Conclusion
As I conclude this article, I hope the point is made that in the M eru cosmological worldview, what mattered most was the indelible act of circumcisin, accompanied with the attendant rituals, rites, and ceremonies. As
for the Christian, the most important rite was baptism and taking part in
the communion. In the context o f Africa, and particularly among the traditional set-up amongst the Meru, an interesting anomaly arises when
someone converts to Christianity and is then invited for baptism. Circumcisin for a M eru was all he needed to understand himself and his cosmos. Christianity makes similar claims that ones ultimate reality exists in
placing ones faith in Jesus Christ and the church. The obvious question,
therefore, is: What is the cosmological outlook o f a full M eru who has
fulfilled all his tribally prescribed rituals, including circumcision, who then
converts to Christianity? In other words, is a M erus cosmological outlook
through the church or through his socio-cultural milieu?
To answer this question would invite a lengthy discussion. Nevertheless, it has been observed that the church occasioned a crisis among the
Meru. An often quoted episode is said to have taken place among the
Maasai, whose rituals are akin to those o f the M eru. A missionary went to
evangelize among the Maasai. After a long and what the missionary considered an inspiring sermon, he sat down satisfied that his eloquence had
won the day. The Maasai chief stood and said,
Bishop, you have spoken very well but you made two mistakes. One you
did not invite us to either support you or disagree with your claims. But secondly, your idea o f God is not new to us. We can tell you a lot more about
listening to God and performing the rituals o f our community. Perhaps the
only thing you need to expound on is the idea o f God having a son beside
ourselves, and yet you say God has no wife.

It would appear that those who adhered to the rituals o f their community
and later converted to Christianity lived as people with a split personality.
They lived with such a tension since they are called to be faithful to both
sets o f rituals and faith claims. It has often been the case that some o f those
converting to Christianity have disavowed their tribally mandated rituals,

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JONATHAN KATHERU GICHAARA

calling them heathen ways, which need to be left behind once they have
seen the light.
The community did not always take kindly to such attitudes. In 1914,
twelve boys converted to Christianity through the Methodist church,
but five of this num ber subsequently died, burnt to death in an arson
incident.51
The well-documented Uganda martyrdom of twenty young Catholies and twenty-three Protestants at the hands o f Kabaka Mwanga in 1886
should also be seen in this light of contesting sets of values and cultural
conflict.52 Therefore, it would appear that many African Christians live
with that kind o f tension, where they straddle two worlds. The world of
the church and its attendant rituals demand loyalty to them, as does the
world o f the tribally prescribed rites and rituals which claim the M eru
human person as its own!

Glossary
A thom i:

Literal meaning is the literate ones/those who know how to read

and write. Singular: Muthomi.

Bam oo:
Gaaru:

Ritual brother.
Large hut outside the village where the initiates lived communally.
The term is also used to denote the house in the homestead where
the father o f a household lived. One had always to qualify which
gaaru was being referred to.
G utura nyumba: The day o f coming out o f the seclusion hut.
Ira:
Itharia:

White or red ochre.

Dirge specialists. These were steeped in the lores o f the Meru community. Singular: Kitharia.

Kioro:

Purifying sacra. Usually a steel or iron bar about a foot or two long.
In normal life it is used to brand cattle or other animals.

Kuratha Mukuu:

Literal meaning, to shoot the fig tree. Metaphorically, it was part o f

the rituals o f incorporation into the community after initiation and
seclusion.

Lamala:

Council o f the ruling and defence council, composed o f circumcised

young males.

51. Zablon John Nthamburi, A History of the Methodist Church in Kenya 1862-1967,
unpublished PhD dissertation, Claremont School o f Theology, Claremont University,
1981,115.
52. Tom Malabu, The Story of the Ugandan Martyrsat Namugongo (Kampala, Uganda:
Tour Guide Publications, 2006), 30.

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267

Mariri:

Dirges sang by the non-initaited boys in the days leading to their

cicumcison. A different form o f Mariri was sung by herdsmen as
they led their cattle to and from the grazing area.

M auriro:

Boys confession sessions in seclusion.

Mbwaa:

Mythical origin o f the Meru people. Mbwaa is said to bein the East
o f Tigania People , but nobody can point to the actual place.

M uchamaru:

A tree which produces clear sap. The sap was used to hood wink the
initiates to confess their earlier indiscretions and/or misdeeds. Plural: Michamaru.

Miraa:

Twigs belonging to the khat family. When eaten they produce a hallucinogenic effect.

Mugaa:

Medicine man. Plural: Agaa. In Kiswahil: Mganga. Plural: Waganga.

M ugwe:

Community parsonage; priest and/or prophet.

Mwiji:

Mature uncircumcised boy. Plural: Ijiji.

N chiibi:
N dewa:

Council o f mature uncircumcised boys.

Bull.

Nthaka:

Warrior or warriors. Plural or singular.

Urru:

The Meru term for the Maasai. Could also mean a Samburu or other
related communities. More generally means foreigner.

ib l io g r a p h y

Connerton, Paul. How Societies Remember. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
http://dx.do1.org/10.1017/CB09780511628061
Der Meer, F. Van. Augustine the Bishop: Life and Work of a Father of the Church. Trans. B. Battershaw and G.R. Lamb. N ew York: Sheed and Ward Ltd., 1961.
Dujavier, Michael, Rev. The Rites of Christian Initiation. N ew York: William H. Sadlier, Inc.,
1979.
Eliade, Mircea. The Myth ofEternal Return. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974.
Gennep, Arnold Van. The Rites of Passage. Trans. M.B. Vizedom and G.L. Caffee. Chicago,
IL: University o f Chicago Press; Phoenix Books, 1960.
Malabu, Tom. The Story of the Ugandan Martyrs at Namugongo. Kampala, Uganda: Tour Guide
Publications, 2006.
Meker, Meritz. Die Maasai. Ethnographische monographie eines ostafrikanoshen semitenvolkes. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1920,
Mortos, Joseph. Doors to the Sacred: A Historical Introduction to Sacraments in the Christian
Church. London: SCM Press, 1981.
Nthamburi, Zablon John. A History of the Methodist Church in Kenya 1862-1967. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Claremont School o f Theology, Claremont University, 1981.
Nyaga, Daniel, Fr. Mikarire na Miturire ya Amiiru (Customs and lifestyles o f the Meru). Nairobi: Heinmann Kenya, Ltd., 1986.
Rimita, David Maitai. The Njuri-Ncheke ofMeru. Diocese o f Meru: Kolbe Press, 1988.
Turner, Victor. Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure Ethics. 6th edn, Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1989.
Drama, Fields and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell U niversity Press, 1974.

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Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites o f Passage. In WA. Lessa and E.Z.
Vogt, eds., Reader in Comparative Religion, 23443. N ew York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1979.
Yarnold, Edward S.J. The Awe-InspiHng Rites ofInitiation: Baptismal Homilies of the Fourth Century. Slough: St. Pauls Publications, 1971.

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