The name is absent

symbols, types of symbols, and symbolic meaning.³⁸ Victor Turner defines a
symbol as “a thing regarded by general consent as naturally typifying or
representing or recalling something by possession of analogous qualities or by
association in fact or thought.”³⁹

Turner discusses two types of symbols, dominant and instrumental, which
are examined as they relate to the Mau Mau Oathing Model. There are several
dominant symbols incorporated in the practice that are important in conveying
the overall meaning and purpose of the experience. For this analysis, dominant
symbols may be viewed as objects like blood, sex∕taboo acts, ng’ondu mixture,
and war weapons. For Turner, dominant symbols are consistent, autonomous,
and constant as they can appear throughout the ceremony or only in specific
phases. The dominant symbols for the Mau Mau oath “represent not beings but
поп-empirical powers of kinds of efficacy.”⁴⁰

Instrumental symbols can be analyzed in wider contexts and include
numbers and banana leaves. Instrumental symbols are interrelated and also
connected to the overall goal of the ceremony.⁴¹ The Mau Mau model aims to
show that all oath instances were associated with zero to many symbols - each
could represent a particular type and have a specific meaning. To understand
this in more detail, six symbols and their use have been selected for discussion.

³⁸ The symbolic structures and properties change to respond to social processes and environmental
alterations.

³⁹ Victor Turner, The Forest Of Symbols, (Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press, 1967), 19.

⁴⁰ Turner, The Forest Of Symbols, 31.

⁴¹ Turner, The Forest Of Symbols, 32.

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