Marilyn Silberfein discusses rain performances conducted to manage
drought directed to N’gai, the Creator and Supreme Being, and Aimu, the spirits
of the departed.23 These spirits were invoked because of their powers to control
and predict rainfall levels. The purification and related rainfall ceremonies
centered on knowing when to expect rain. The presence of rain symbolically
implied purification because water represented the ability to wash and cleanse.
In other cases, this relationship comes from old myths. Paul Kavyu shares
his research on the rain prophets prior to the widespread redirection of rain
forecasting to the Ministry of Health.24 In Paul Kavyu’s study, participants
communicated with the power of “Mwathani” and higher spirits but never really
knew if the prayers would be answered.25 For this reason, rain prophets, called
Athani,26 were sought to conduct rain ceremonies and sacrifices.
“Two sacrifices are made for rain...When Mutitu Hill is heard roaring late at
night, or early morning hours, the already dead prophets are asking for a
sacrifice for their friends who give them the prophet’s power. This request is
made to the living Mwathani or the person concerned. After weeks after the
roaring, the person living who is concerned has to give some one alive for the
request.... The second sacrifice is made in all Mathembo in the country, to the
spirit who lives in two pools in Mutiti Hill...This has been in [the] form [of]
crops, a bull, or a goat (preferably black in colour) and ghee.”27
These accounts are presented primarily to show the complexity and
interconnectedness of purification ceremonies in Kenya and even beyond. Not
only did the act purify the individual, it also cleansed the community and
environment. It was also a process that involved communication with the spiritual
23 Marilyn Silberfein, Rural Change in Machakos, Kenya: A Historical Geography Perspective, (Lanham
University Press of America: Temple University 1989), 33-34.
24 Paul Kavyu, “Rain Making and Prophecy in Kamba People” (Seminar Paper #52, Institute of African
Studies, December, 1973), 2. The Ministry of Health representing the new society structure for predicting
rain, but of course not all follow the “magic” of these predictions.
25 Kavyu, Rain Making and Prophecy, 2.
26 According to Kavyu in 1973 the Athani were only practiced in the villages.
27 Kavyu, Rain Making and Prophecy, 3.
198
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