The name is absent

oppression. Both truth and unity were fundamental properties of the first Mau
Mau oath type, the one that every participant had to endure.

The additional oath types varied in number and nature.¹⁶ For example,
secondary literature points to specific warrior oaths called batuni and muma wa
ngero (the oath for killing)¹⁷ that were noted in Kikuyu oathing practices as a
second Mau Mau oath type. These second Mau Mau oaths were done after the
unity oath but before oathers went to the forest to fight. The second oath was
described as oathing based on extreme conditions. These oaths were designed
to prepare the select group Offighters to face death and centered on loyalty while
vowing to help each other during the fighting. These oathing ceremonies included
many more taboos, contact with excrements, and more sexual connections
between the participants or objects.¹⁸ As a consequence, they shaped the
oathing process by embracing taboos and cultural sexual violations that were
never a part of tradition.¹⁹ These acts were misunderstood by many British
colonial officers and referred as a return to tribalism and savagery, but the reality
was that sexual offenses in the society were carefully watched and frowned upon
by African society. The purpose of the warrior dimension of the oath was to
strengthen group loyalty and allegiance while fighting.

Very few Mau Mau participants took more than four oaths. The additional
oaths were usually conducted to promote the first or to strengthen a particular
¹⁶ Interview, S.S. Maveke, Machakos District, December 2008.

¹⁷ Clough, Mau Mau Memoirs, 109

¹⁸ Interview, P. Musuo, Machakos District, January 2009; Also, see Joram Wamweya, Freedom Fighter,
(Nairobi: East African Pub. House, 1971), 52-53. See also Clough, Mau Mau Memoirs, 109 and Mohamed
Mathu, Urban Guerrilla, (Richmond, B.C.: LSM Information Center, 1974), 42.

¹⁹ Interview, P. Musuo, Machakos District, January 2009. In the interview, Musuo describes the application
of blood and meat in the ritual process along with details on how the female body was used in the ritual
ceremony.

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