By laws governing Kikuyu homesteads
It was forbidden for a hut to have two doors.
It was taboo to lean a spear up against the roof of a hut. All spears had to be either stuck in the ground, or leaned against the fence or under the eaves. There was no penalty for breaking this taboo, but it was never done. Under no circumstance is a spear allowed inside the hut of a woman.
The door is a sliding one and is not hinged and it must always be opened on the side that a man’s father and grandfather opened it. If a person opens it on the wrong side he must go out again, shut the door, and re-enter correctly: otherwise he may not eat any food in the hut.
No one may close the door other than the owner of the hut. A visitor may open the door to enter, but closing the door must be left to the woman or her sons.
A husband may not shut the door of his hut save on his wedding night.
When entering a hut, a person had to pass and enter the kitchen space on the side of the fattening ram’s pen, gicegu.
You may not keep standing inside a hut. If you do not want to sit then you must go and stand outside.
It is taboo for young boys and girls to swing with the door lintel. They are wishing the death of their parents.
It was taboo for a man to sleep on the side by the outer wall of his wife’s bed.
It was taboo to start moving a woman’s hut to a new site while she was menstruating.
It was taboo for a fire in a hut to go out at any time when beer was being brewed in that hut, or when any special ceremony or sacrifice was taking place in that hut or in connection with it.
In no circumstances might all the fires in a homestead be allowed to go out together. For the purposes of this rule the subsidiary homestead of a married son attached to his father’s homestead counted as part of the main homestead.
If a cooking pot cracked while food was being cooked in it, that food might not be eaten except by women past childbearing.
If a woman was preparing castor oil from castor oil berries, and during the process of heating them over the fire, she either let them boil over or dry up in the pot, a purification ceremony and sacrifice was essential.
Should anyone in anger or drunkenness pluck thatch from any hut in a homestead, a sacrifice and purification would be essential to avoid disaster.
In a woman’s Nyumba, the head end of her bed was towards the thegi. The head end of the girls’ bed was towards the gicegu and the footend towards the thegi (see Fig. 3.13). It was taboo for anyone to sleep in these beds except with their head at the head end of the bed.
A circumcised man may not under any circumstance approach the side of his mother’s side of the kitchen or touch her bed.
Young unmarried girls who are circumcised may not sit on the Kweru side of the kitchen but must sit on their bed side. All grown men had to sit on the Ruri side of the hut.
There is only one fireplace in a hut consisting of three stones. In the event of a temporary secondary fireplace being created by the addition of a two more stones, the head of the family may eat food from that secondary fireplace.
If the fire drying rack above the fireplace, (itara) breaks and falls, a sacrifice must be done to replace it.
It was prohibited to pass food through a crack in the wall of a hut. Such food had to be taken out and brought in through the door before it could be eaten.
It is not permitted to pass food over the fireplace to a person on the other side, nor can food be taken around a pole. Food passed over the door may not be eaten by the head of the family.
If anyone deliberately broke a cooking pot or a gourd in a homestead, the purification ceremonies and sacrifices involved the slaughter of seven goats and sheep,
If a man or woman fell down within their own homestead, purification and sacrifice were necessary.
If a bedstead broke when someone was sleeping in it, purification was required of the person.
No one might touch or approach the garbage dump (kiara) of a homestead other than the members of that homestead. If they did so, purification would be necessary.
If anyone, other than a child that had not been “born a second time,” or a very sick person, defecated within a hut or in the courtyard, a purification ceremony was essential.
It was taboo to come into contact with the menstrual blood of any other person (something which could happen easily in a hut), and purification was necessary if this happened. (There were certain minor exceptions).
In certain circumstances huts were pulled down and either left to rot or the materials stacked for future use; these circumstances were linked with death and divorce respectively.
It was taboo for any person including a child to die inside a hut. In the event of such an occurrence purification of all the inhabitants of the hut was necessary and the hut demolished.
If the child’s harness, ngoi was accidentally left outside overnight it must be beaten with a leather strap in the morning being asked, “where did you sleep?”
If the owner of a homestead cut himself and drew blood either while in the homestead or when he was out in the fields, he had to sacrifice a goat or sheep for purification.
If a hyena should enter a village or homestead and dung either in the open clearing of the entrance; area (thome) or in any courtyard (Nja), ceremonial purification was essential.
If a hyena should enter a hut, a purification ceremony must be performed.
If a jackal barked in the entrance area or in the courtyard of a homestead, a ceremonial purification was necessary.
Should any beast—calf, goat, or sheep—suck or lick any part of a human in a homestead, that animal had to be sacrificed for a purification ceremony at the village of a relation-in-law.
Should a toad, frog, or lizard fall or jump into the fire in the hearth of a hut, a purification ceremony was essential.
If an owl hooted near a homestead, or worse still, perched on any hut or granary, purification was necessary.
If a snake was killed within the confines of a homestead, a purification ceremony had to take place,
It was taboo to kill a bird called (Cossypha or Robin chat), Kanyoni Kanja, within the confines of the homestead.
If a kite, when flying over a homestead, let its droppings fall on any person, that person had to be purified, the manner of purification depending upon the sex of the person involved.
homesteads
