Note 4 — Chapter V · CIRCUMCISION CEREMONIAL

The last great itwika ceremony was at the end of the big famine of 1898–9, and was held about the time that the Government founded Fort Hall.4 The gatherings were formerly held on the area between the Thika and Chania rivers, just above the junction of these two rivers, and the name Thika is derived from its connection with the itwika. The last itwika was held near Kalaki’s, in the district known as Tingnanga in Mimi wa Ruchu’s country; it is said that on account of the decimation of the people by famine and small-pox it was decided not to hold it at the old place. The next itwika will take place when the grandchildren of people of the same rika as the chief Kinanjui have all been circumcised, and the decision of the date rests with the athuri ya ukuu of the Maina generation, this being the senior generation to-day. This apparently corresponds to the ngaje of the Masai (vide Hollis’s “Masai”).