03/25/2021
Women played a significant role in the Mau Mau including their role as seers.
In line with the traditional aspects of women's participation in Mau Mau was the option of serving as a seer. In traditional Kikuyu society the position of seer was one of the few prestigious and potentially powerful positions that women could occupy. The role of the diviners in the religious life of the Kikuyu society was regarded highly. There were professional diviners, Andu Ago, who were entrusted with "unravelling those mysteries beyond the human mind by mediating between man and the "spirit world". Although women did not normally become Andu Ago, a woman could be seized with prophecy and become famous as a prophetess, seer or a healer by magical means.
The seers were traditionally important members of the Kikuyu war councils and their jcb was to bless and cleanse the warriors and to determine the propitious time and place for raids. In the Mau Mau, the role of seers---and this included women seers---was seriously taken and fighters would often consult a seer on matters related to the success or failure of intended combats with colonial troops or on the safety of movement from one camp to another. The death of Arundel Gray Leakey, better known as Murungaru among the Kikuyu, was prompted by a woman seer called Waruguru from Githini in Nanyuki, who prophesied that the Mau Mau fighters could only win if a European was buried alive together with a black goat. General Tanganyika executed the prophesy in October 1955 on the urging of a medicineman who confirmed the 'accuracy' of the prophecy.
Several battles were also postponed or avoided by the Mau Mau fighters after being advised against them by these seers. Mohammed Mathu (Urban Guerilla), describes one of his encounters with a female seer, she said:
"We were not to have any contact with women while carrying our weapons, and when we killed someone in battle we were to go to the nearest river, wash ourselves, and if possible be cleansed by a seer. Before being used again all our weapons were to be rubbed with the stomach contents of a sheep.”
He also relates how a woman seer purified over 100 fighters in a traditional ceremony at Eastleigh. The leaders believed that their misfortunes, including the loss of men in battle, were being caused by failure to remove the evils contaminating them."
Apparently, Mau Mau fighters placed a lot of faith in seers just as they did on the power of prayer before and after military operations. Another woman, famed for her "prophecies' in Nyeri, has this recorded about her: "Rhoda was a remarkable woman. Like Sergeant Githukia, she possessed vast reserves of courage. She did not take any active part in fighting but her contribution to the work of Mau Mau can never be forgotten. She was a psychic. She would warn the forest fighters not to approach a certain spot as the enemy was patrolling. Her predictions were always right.....She was an important asset to the Mau Mau. We always went for her advice..."
It is also known that, as part of its intelligence work, the Colonial Government used the same strategy of Arathi to gather plans and strategies prepared against the Government. This was especially effective in the forest where fighters had grown accustomed to being informed beforehand what was likely to happen, for instance, where and when Government forces would strike. The work of the seers, therefore, was to steer the fighters clear of likely traps and unprecedented losses on their side. The Government planted "prophets" and "prophetesses" as Government spies who provided wrong information as to where and when the Government troops would strike. For their own safety, they would alternate accurate "prophesies", for the benefit of the Mau Mau fighters, but often give deliberate misinformation that led to disastrous defeat on the part of the Mau Mau in crucial encounters. . .
Santilli, 1977; Gachihi, 1986.
