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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. On what day is the woman admitted into the husband's clan?
(a) The sixth.
(b) The seventh.
(c) The eighth.
(d) The nineth.

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

3. What is done the day before the circumcision operation?
(a) A bracelet with bells is put around the ankle.
(b) The head is shaved.
(c) Feathers are put in the hair.
(d) The body is painted red and white.

4. How do the mother and the nurse educate the very young?
(a) Through poems.
(b) Through lullabies.
(c) Through stories.
(d) With toys.

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

6. What is a name of the Gikuyu God?
(a) Baloo.
(b) Ngai.
(c) Bogai.
(d) Lunai.

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

8. When is the piercing of the child's lobe done?
(a) At fifteen years old.
(b) At twenty years old.
(c) A few years after the piercing of the outer ear.
(d) At seventeen years old.

9. When the man has a hut suitable for his wife what happens?
(a) The bride is taken to his hut by his female relatives.
(b) He takes her to the hut himself.
(c) He builds the sacred fire in the middle of the hut.
(d) He begins furnishing it.

10. What do the girls and their sponsors do in the hut on the day of circumcision?
(a) They exchange vows.
(b) They sing a special initiation song.
(c) They dance together.
(d) The girls sit between the legs of their sponsors.

11. How many women are Gikuyu men allowed to marry?
(a) Twenty-five.
(b) Thirty.
(c) As many as they can support.
(d) Twenty.

12. What is the first stage of Gikuyu courtship?
(a) The boy sends gifts to the girl's hut.
(b) The boy sings outside the girl's hut in the evening.
(c) The boy and his friends visit the home of the girl.
(d) The boy asks the girl's father for her hand in marriage.

13. How many types of spirituality are there among the Gikuyus?
(a) One.
(b) Two.
(c) Three.
(d) Four.

14. What kind of games do the young Gikuyu play?
(a) Climbing trees.
(b) Pretend fighting and house.
(c) Singing songs.
(d) Hide and Go Seek.

15. What did the Gikuyus consider "white man's magic"?
(a) Money.
(b) Having one wife.
(c) Western medicine.
(d) Reading and writing.

Short Answer Questions

1. How many men do Gikuyu women usually marry?

2. What is the school in the Gikuyu nation?

3. What do the boy's parents have to collect?

4. What do the fathers teach their young sons?

5. What is the Gikuyu word for courtship fondling?

(see the answer keys)

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