There is frequent talk of oaths in Petals of Blood—both the one that the KCO wants Kenyans to take as well as the Mau Mau oath, which featured in some of the characters’ pasts. We will look briefly at that oath and what it meant for characters like Nyinguri and Abdulla.
The British colonial presence in Kenya began in the late 19th century and extended into the 20th. Resistance against it largely centered in the Kikuyu population, Kenya’s largest native tribe. For years, they had been pushed off their lands and forced to live in ethnic reserves. Most worked for white farmers in an area known as the White Highlands, a fertile place where young Europeans settled after WWI or when they moved there from Rhodesia.
The Mau Mau resistance movement began in the 1940s and was officially banned in 1950. This did not stop their activities, however, and they began attacking white settlers as well as Africans whom they saw as complicit with the whites.
The oath was one of the most powerful—and, in some eyes, infamous—part of the Mau Mau. It was a secret “blood” oath of unity, required to join the struggle. If one broke the oath, it could bring a curse upon that person and their family. Rumors swirled about the “savagery” of the oath, with tales of digging up corpses, copulating with animals, eating body parts, and more, but most of them were wildly overblown. Mickie Hudson-Koster explains, “Contrary to the long-standing discourse of savagery, the Mau Mau oath was actually an elaborate, dynamic, and sophisticated ceremony based on ancient oathing traditions, symbolism, and beliefs. It was reconstituted from its former state to one that was much more offensive, secretive, dangerous, and inclusive of other groups such as women who were previously excluded. The oath was a product of the economic, political, cultural, and social unrest of the time.” It is important to note, however, that about 2,000 Kikuyu were killed by Mau Mau fighters for refusing to take the oath.
An Aljazeera interview with living participants in the Mau Mau uprising spoke of the oath, with one explaining, “The [Mau Mau] oath was a mixture of so many things I cannot tell …. You are joined together, you won’t leave them and you’ll fight and support fighters for the freedom of this country” and another saying “We took the oath because it was an oath of unity and it had some effect. After taking it we were very united and did not fear anything. There was a state of unity; you cut yourself here, you suck that blood and also your friend sucks blood, that is for unity.”
There are a few accounts of the language of the oath, which differ slightly from each other. In their study, Mau Mau from Within, scholars Donald L. Barnett and Karari Njama included one such version: “I swear before God and before the people who are here that I have today become a soldier of Gikuyu and Mumbi and I will from now onwards fight the real fight for the land and freedom of our country till we get it or till my last drop of blood. Today I have set my first step (stepping over a line of a goat’s small intestine) as a warrior and I will never retreat. / And if I ever retreat / May this soil and all its products be a curse upon me! / If ever I am called to accompany a raid or bring in the head of an enemy, I shall obey and never give lame excuses / I will never spy or inform on my people, and if ever sent to spy on our enemies I will always report the truth / I will never reveal a raid or crime committed to any person who has not taken the Ngero Oath (Oath of Violence or crime) and will steal firearms wherever possible / I will never leave a member in difficulty without trying to help him / I will obey the orders of my leaders at all times without any argument or complaint and will never fail to give them any money or goods taken in a raid and will never hide any pillages or take them for myself / I will never sell land to any white man. And if I sell: / May this soil and all its products be a curse upon me!”
