Kikuyu Boys Dressed for Initiation Dances, Kenya, ca.1905-ca.1940

Photograph of two Kikuyu boys dressed for initiation dances. The boys are wearing full tribal costume and their bodies and faces are painted with clay. Both are holding a spear and a shield.; This belongs to a series of Church of Scotland Foreign Missions Committee lantern slides relating to the Kikuyu Mission in Kenya, which was set up by Church of Scotland missionaries. Hospitals were established by Scottish missionaries in Kikuyu in 1908, in Tumutumu in 1909, and in Chogoria in 1922. The missionaries also introduced the Presbyterian Church to the area. The Kikuyu are Kenya’s most populous ethnic group.