ABSTRACT

Due to social changes-principally, the predominance of Christian and Western practices felt to be markers of “modernity,” and new economic realities-Gikuyu birth and death rituals are no longer performed with the frequency of the past. Individual choice and financial ability largely determine what rituals, or their aspects, are performed. For instance, the actual birth of a child is no longer a communally celebrated ritual event; such a celebration seems to have been replaced by the annual birthday party, a ritual dominant all over Kenya. Whereas the slaughter of sheep or goats was, in the past, connected to religious or quasi-religious occasions, now Kenyans generally stage “goateating” parties to celebrate just about any milestone in a family member’s life: circumcision, passing an exam, negotiations for a marriage proposal, a promotion at work, or college graduation. Furthermore, most Gikuyu death rituals have been substituted by Christian-like funeral rites.