The name is absent

Will you now stand firm with the people of Christ in worship and witness?

Do you affirm that, by the help and grace of God, you will confess the faith of
Christ, and fight against the world, the flesh and the devil?

Do you promise to attend regularly further instruction in the Christian faith?

After this question and answer period, the one being cleansed is forgiven
and blessed. For Christian believers, this strategy offered a solution for being
accepted back to the community via the church. However, for many, these
statements did not carry the meaning and tradition of their inherent purification
process based on a “serious oath”⁹⁸ that if broken would result in death.
Therefore, the church option was an approach for a limited number of
participants, with the bulk seeking purification through their traditional practices
led by the specialist under the watchful eye of their elders.

My Interpretation of Purification

On January 9, 2010, the Emerald Initiative, an association consisting
primarily of Kenyans from the Kikuyu, ended their meeting located in Katy,
Texas, in a discussion on the Mau Mau oath and oath purification. This meeting
was organized by the members of the Christian based organization to promote
economic, educational, and social support for Africans in the African Diaspora.
Most of the members grew up in Africa before moving to the United States and
still maintain strong ties with their families on the African continent. The oathing
discussion was prompted by a viewing of an oath cleansing reenactment

⁹⁸ The Kithitu was considered serious. For the Kikuyu it was the gutahiko based on Kershaw, Mau Mau
from Below, p. 329.

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