The name is absent

destroyed by the power of this, the Thenge oath.”²⁵ This image is an example of
one oath site. It also shows how traditional oathing practices were applied during
the 1950s to curse British loyalists and supporters. The practice of writing this
curse down on a piece of paper next to the scene was a product of the 1950s.
The note was written in Kikuyu, clearly intended for other Africans.

Oathing locations were important for other reasons. The sites could carry
symbolic meaning. For example, oathing ceremonies in the forest possessed a
certain level of intensity and mystery that was different from the oathing
ceremonies in houses or in rooms. The forest location contains embedded
symbolism as the place of the dead, unknown spirits, and obscurity. The forest is
often viewed as a place where evil spirits dwell; as a result, individuals avoid it or
enter with caution to avoid the possibility of spirit possession.²⁶ For Mau Mau
participants, the forest represented a place that was beyond contact by
Europeans and others because of the fear and myths associated with the
forest.²⁷ Thus, the forests were a sacred refuge space.

However, this space also symbolized a place of isolation, a place of the
unknown, danger, evil, and a place of mystical power. In one Kenyan field
interview account, the oathing location was referred to as “a secret place set
aside to give people the oath to be one thing.” The interviewee continues to
describe various oathing sites, “...The oather [oathing] place was at Kavati near
Limurui in the caves in a forest. In Ukambani, there was a place called Thinu at

²⁵ KNA₅ witchcraft at Kiambu, dated October, 25, 1952.

²⁶ Jalobo JacanNgomlokojo, Rituals of Religious Worship Among the Traditional Alur, (Gulu, Uganda,
1985), 21.

²⁷ In some societies in Kenya, the forest was the place that the dead were thrown, thus people were hesitant
to go into certain areas of the forest. I have heard these stories in my family also.

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