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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To what or whom does an elder recite a prayer at the planting ceremony?
(a) Rain dancers.
(b) Gikuyu God.
(c) Mountain.
(d) Future harvest.

2. What was the first ruler of the Gikuyu people like?
(a) Benevolent.
(b) Beloved by the people.
(c) Stupid.
(d) Tyrannical.

3. What does a man pay when he is initiated into the religious and sacrificial council?
(a) A goat.
(b) A lamb.
(c) A cow.
(d) A ewe.

4. What is the fourth stage of the marriage arrangements?
(a) Holding a feast.
(b) Sending gifts to the bride's parents.
(c) Slaughtering the sheep.
(d) Setting a day to sign the marriage contract.

5. What serves as churches for the Gikuyu?
(a) Sacred trees.
(b) The river.
(c) Sacred huts.
(d) Sacred groves.

6. When an animal is to be sacrificed to God, where is the ceremony held?
(a) In the woman's hut.
(b) On the top of Mount Kenya.
(c) At a sacred tree.
(d) In a clearing in the jungle.

7. What do the boy's parents have to collect?
(a) Money for a dowry.
(b) Sheep and goats for a dowry.
(c) Jewelry and food for a gift to the girl's family.
(d) Cattle for a dowry.

8. How many sheep are slaughtered for the marriage feast?
(a) Four.
(b) Six.
(c) Seven.
(d) Five.

9. How is the first stage of youth marked in the Gikuyu tribe?
(a) By piercing the outer ear.
(b) By piercing the navel.
(c) By shaving the head.
(d) By painting the body.

10. When a man becomes ill, ________________ are sought.
(a) Medicine men.
(b) Gikuyu gods.
(c) Seers.
(d) Elders.

11. What is done to the girl's body prior to surgery?
(a) It is massaged and adorned with beads.
(b) It is washed in the mother's hut.
(c) It is blessed by the medicine man.
(d) It is painted with sacred colors.

12. In what manner is the sacrificial animal killed?
(a) Strangled.
(b) Pierced with an arrow.
(c) Throat cut.
(d) Hung.

13. Why does Kenyatta feel the Gikuyu form of education is better than formal education.
(a) The child is happier with this kind of education.
(b) The child isn't exposed to the wrong ideas.
(c) The child is learning all the time.
(d) The child doesn't have to leave the home.

14. How many oaths control the court proceedings of the Gikuyu?
(a) Three.
(b) Two.
(c) One.
(d) Four.

15. What kind of government did the British introduce when they came?
(a) Dictatorship.
(b) Democracy.
(c) Autocracy.
(d) Republic.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the school in the Gikuyu nation?

2. What does the father teach his son about plants and roots?

3. At what age is the first stage of Gikuyu youth marked?

4. What is the first stage of Gikuyu courtship?

5. When does a man become a member of the Court of Elders?

(see the answer keys)

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