Ndindi was a witchcraft ritual.
Land use rights
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According to Meru tradition, the Athi demarcated hunting zones and defined them as belonging to a hunter or clan. These zones were demarcated using a ‘fire-stick’.[1]
During the 1700s, the ‘fire-stick’ demarcation system appears to have been fused with the cursing rituals of the Agumba resulting in a witchcraft ritual known as ‘Ndindi’, essentially a stick which was curved with clan markings and smeared with bright red-ochre to enhance visibility. This stick was ‘communally cursed’ then used to demarcate the hunting zones of the using community.[6]
In Kikuyu tradition, the Athi are recalled as having sold the Kikuyu land in the Kabete region. They were partially assimilated into this community and as late as 1983, groups of Athi were thought to be resident in the Rift Valley region of Kenya.[4]