because it guarantees a domicile to peacefully and
safely cultivate the precious soil, which supplies
their material needs and permits them to seek out
a “high place” to perform their “magic,” tradi-
tional ceremonies and, perhaps most important,
to burn ritual herbs and offer sacrifices in undis-
turbed tranquility under a mokoyo tree facing
Mount Kenya.
The mokoyo tree, which is sometimes called
the “strangling tree” because the sacrificial lambs
are strangled underneath one of them, is consid-
ered divine, and it may be compared to the
Christian conception of the church because the
Gikuyu traditionally had no “temple made with
hands.” The Gikuyu call themmoti wa Ngaior
moti wa igongona, or, respectively, “God’s tree”
or “ritual tree.” That is, the mokoyo is no less
than the “House of God.” It is said to symbolize
the Mountain, and the Gikuyu customarily wor-
ship in its shade. Jomo Kenyatta even posits that
the name Gikuyu is rooted in the tree (i.e.,
mokoyo: the tree;mogekoyo: a Gikuyu person).
The trees are no longer plentiful in Kenya because
the early European “settlers” routinely cut down
most of them after confiscating the Gikuyu land.
The Gikuyu, even today when many have con-
verted to Christianity, continue to offer sacrifices
on monumental occasions, such as the beginning
of the planting season, rites of passage (i.e., birth,
death, marriage, etc.), before crops ripen, at cere-
monial purifications after an epidemic, during
droughts, and at the harvest of “first fruits.”
Last, but not least, Kikuyu people traditionally
constructed their homes with the main entrance fac-
ing the mountain. In addition, they buried the dead
with their heads turned toward this most sacred site.
Pamela D. ReedSeealsoMountains and Hills
Further Readings
Finke, J. (2000–2003).Traditional Music and Cultures
of Kenya. Retrieved May 15, 2007, from
http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya
Gyekye, K. (1996).African Cultural Values:An
Introduction. Philadelphia: Sankofa.
Kenyatta, J. (1938).Facing Mount Kenya:The
Traditional Life of the Gikuyu. London: Heinemann.
Mbiti, J. (1989).African Religions and Philosophy(2nd
rev. ed.). London: Heinemann.
Mwangi, R. (1983).Kikuyu Folktales:Their Nature and
Value. Nairobi: Kenyan Literature Bureau.MUMMIFICATION
Mummification is the name given in ancient Egypt
to the preservation of a corpse for eternity.
Although it appears as a practice in several other
African societies, mummification remains most
identified with the Egyptian society. The
Egyptians left no detailed descriptions of the
mummification process, although there are
enough fragments of pictures to give contempo-
rary readers an understanding of the complex
process. Almost all written descriptions of the
details of mummification derive from the writings
of the early Greeks, who visited Africa and
recorded what they saw or were told. Greek
writers such as Diodorus, Herodotus, Plutarch,
and Porphyrus provide enough detail to allow us
to reconstruct the process of mummification.
Usually the process began right after death
and could last for 70 days. The body was moved
to a special funerary house for purification
where the preparation for eternity began. Among
the first actions of the priests responsible for the
mummification was the laying of the body on an
operation table, where the brains were removed.
Then the specially trained surgeons, the ones
who dissected the body, would select one of their
number to make an incision in the left side of the
cadaver with a knife made of flint. This was a
ritual incision that would be used to allow the
priests to remove the organs. Each of the organs
was treated separately and with great respect.
The organ was embalmed, drained of blood,
wrapped in cloth, and then placed in specially
prepared vessels. These viscera jars were first
found in the funerary cache of Queen
Hetepheres, the mother of Per-aa Khufu.
These viscera jars, often erroneously called
canopic jars, were placed alongside the Neb Ankh,
often called the sarcophagus. Here they were pro-
tected by the Four Sons of Heru, Imsety, Hapi,
Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef, who guarded the
liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines, respectively.Mummification 433