The name is absent

Also in pre-colonial history, Kenyans treated the return of individuals like
hunters, soldiers, and fighters in the same fashion. They had to go through
purification processes to properly reintegrate back into the society. This was a
practice that even carried into the colonial years. The askaris (African) soldiers
were purified when they returned home from WWII. These soldiers returned to
the villages with venereal diseases, sicknesses, and trauma - conditions
associated with risky behaviors and exposures. The state did not have any
programs or facilities to treat these types of problems, leaving soldiers to rely on
traditional healing practices like purification as the solution.

The Mau Mau Oath Purification

During the Mau Mau period, the practice of purification was extended to
treat Mau Mau fighters returning to their homes, also referred to as oath
cleansing. The new Mau Mau oath purification relationship was a product of the
Mau Mau period in which the oath took on pollutants that did not previously exist.
Mau Mau fighters threatened the village because they were contaminated with
offensive and taboo-breaking Mau Mau oathing practices. ⁵⁹ It is important to
remember that Mau Mau fighters took oaths to kill Europeans and oathers that
attempted to impede the progress of the Mau Mau movement. Their acts were
seen by some as polluting acts requiring purification. Therefore, specialists or
priests were sent to many communities across Kenya for cleansing as a result of
Mau Mau soldiers returning. The rationale was as Baruch Schwartz and David

⁵⁹ These new oathing taboos vary from the engagement with blood, sexual behaviors, and death.

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