Blood Symbolism
The application of blood in the Mau Mau oath was a common symbolic
gesture and took on different meanings and interpretations that were very
specific to the entire oathing experience. The blood presented in the ceremony
represented life and death. Oathing participants entered into a new life as they
underwent a rebirthing or initiation process represented in the use of blood. The
relationships to death are seen on the individual and movement level. On the
individual level, death was connected to the pre-oathed state of the person.42
Death was also associated with the individual in the form of a curse for breaking
oathing vowels and revealing the secrets of Mau Mau.
On the Mau Mau organization level, blood was symbolic of the eventual
death of the Mau Mau movement resulting in the birth of a new Kenyan nation
with the stolen lands being restored.43 It is important to note that this dominant
symbol had meaning in various phases. For example, during the vow phase, the
presence of blood referred to death connected to breaking the oath. In later
phases of the ceremony, eating bloody meat represented renewal, purification,
and life.
In many pre-colonial African societies, blood was the unifier in
relationships with others. It was used to unite individuals together as blood-
brothers based on a sworn brotherhood established through sucking the blood
42 The old individual dies and will no longer exist. This concept is similar to the traditional initiation of
young men and women.
43 Michael Todd Larson, “A Mau Mau oath-taking ceremony administered by General Blood performed on
February 2, 1956” Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, Chapel Hill, 1972.
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