タイタ族の社会組織と儀礼

Kichuku主導型からMuzi主導型への変容過程を中心として

抄録

This paper aims to analyze the social change from the 1950's to the 1980's in the Taita ethnic group which is one of the Bantu agriculturalist groups residing in southeast Kenya.
The traditional social organization of the Taita consists of three groups: (1) kichuku (a patrilineal descent group), (2) weni (a religious ritual group), (3) mitalo (a numbered group). Among these three groups, kichuku has played the most important role in the social life of the Taita. Kichuku has four subgroups: (a) kinyumba which consists of three generations (ego's father and mother, ego's own generation except married sisters, and the first descending generations except married females), (b) kichuku kitini which consists of four generations, i. e. small lineage, (c) kichuku kibaa which consists of seven or eight generations, i. e. large lineage, (d) izanga which consists of some large lineages, but is not a clan. Weni is a group whose members are offsprings of a great grandfather and consists of ego's own consanguineous generation. Weni members pray to a great grandfather's skull kept in a cave (ng'ome) as their own god. The function of weni is the performance of religious ritual. Mitalo is a fairly complicated group in comparison with the above two groups. Mitalo means number in Taita and this consists of one to ten numbered groups. For example, in Sungululu, where I conducted my research between May 1984 and April 1985, people belong to group No. 4 (wanya), and in Taita four is inya. It is, therefore, quite obvious that these ten groups are numbered in Taita. We can analyze the membership of mitalo as follows: (1) as Taita or non-Taita, (2) as an agriculturalist or a pastoralist, (3) as a member of a patrilineage or not, (4) as a male or a female, (5) according to a residential area, hills or plains, (6) according to friendly or hostile human relations. Although the members life in kichuku and weni has been restricted to the Taita alone, mitalo has covered other ethnic groups: Kamba, Pokomo, Giriama etc. Identity as a Taita consists of these three traditional groups.
It is, however, the current of the times that brought a new situation to the Taita, with which the three traditional groups could not cope by themselves. There have been several important historical influences on the Taita society: (1) Christianization from the late 19th century, (2) Colonization, (3) Independence in 1963, (4) Land consolidation etc. In this current of times, muzi has become a modern administrative unit. Muzi means a village in Taita and its background is kichuku kibaa. However, the new social function of muzi is wider than kichuku kibaa; muzi manages administratively the three traditional groups of the Taita. Muzi members hold elections every two years and they select the members of the muzi committee. The most important role of muzi is to promote a cooperative work among the members. In this way, the functions of the three traditional groups have been gradually declining and were almost replaced by muzi).
We can see the social change from kichuku to muzi mainly in religious ritual. I will discuss the change of the participant groups in birth, initiation, marriage, funeral, crisis, divination and justice. The number of the rites of passage and divination ritual has been decreasing year by year and the christian church has taken the initiative in them. The function of justice has been transfered from the council of the traditional kichuku kibaa's leaders (mwandu) to the modern muzi committee (wagosi wa muzi). The christian Taita is not so interested in the traditional diviner (mlagui) any more. The ownership of ng'ome in which ancestors' skulls had been kept turned from the kichuku kibaa