induction occurred. Mau Mau required a type of cleansing that created
disruptions of cosmic proportions and reintegration in the community required
ceremonial intervention. Thus, it was imperative for many villagers to solicit the
services of purifiers to cleanse the oathing fighters and allow for their social
reintegration into the community. For example, the Mau Mau veteran D.M. Mulwa
stated that before his return to the homestead his mother searched for an oath
cleanser.64 The acts associated with the oath and the oath itself posed a danger
to the society.
During the Mau Mau war, purification ceremonies were extended to
cleanse from the oathing activities, a practice that prior to the 1950s did not exist.
During the Mau Mau period, the traditional oath changed, incorporating taboos
and acts that were never part of traditional oaths like the kithitu. As shown in
earlier chapters, the oath adapted to the Mau Mau moment. Not only did it
become criminalized and a practice that included women, it also changed in
character becoming a process that suddenly engaged in offenses and taboos
that were never previously associated with oathing. As a result of this
radicalization, oath purification became associated with the returning ex-Mau
Mau soldiers. In some ways, it signaled the end of the oathing process, allowing
soldiers to cleanse from the oath and related activities. Oath purification restored
the individual and society back to a place of order, good health, balance,
harmony, and cleanliness. The Mau Mau war forged a new relationship between
two very old practices in Kenya. Based on field reenactments and notes, The
64 Interview, D.M. Mulwa, Machakos District, January 2009.
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