THE SILENT WITNESS
The dead who are living in the spiritual world are also capable of giving blessings, if their bodies are treated well after death and the customs well followed.
Being that the African way of life is communal as opposed to the western way of life which is more individualistic, death of an individual is a communal event and an individual is deemed not capable of deciding what happens to his body after death. This decision is left to the community.
The earliest known evidence of the middle stone age Africa burying their dead was unearthed in Kenya at a place called Panga ya Saidi cave in Kilifi county. It was a body of a child estimated to be two to three years of age and archaeologists estimated that it was buried about 78,000 years ago.
In Kenya, among the Gikuyus, traditions did not allow them to touch the bodies of the deceased and a person who was dying was taken to the forest or to a hillside and left there to die. The body was then scavenged on by wild animals.
There was however a variation, depending on the social status, with the above-mentioned procedure being a preserve of the low status individuals. The persons enjoying high status in society were however subjected to elaborate funeral rites whereby there was burial, beer and a ceremonial sexual intercourse between the widows and hired men. Livestock was also slaughtered as part of the rites.
Among the Luos, there are several rituals that were and, in some places, continue being observed once a person dies. These were dependant on the age, race and the marital status of the deceased. They included announcement of the death, vigil, grave digging, the actual burial, accompanying the spirit of the dead to the actual battle ground, shaving, departure of mourners to their homes and serving meals to the deceased and its family by married women.
There was also a ceremony in which the deceased was remembered( rapar) which was hosted a year or years later and then the dividing of the properties of the deceased. The burial ground also depends on the age, sex and marital status. By going through all these rituals, it was believed that you will keep peace with the spirits of the departed.
These two are examples of the rituals practiced following death in Africa and Kenya in particular. They vary but largely share many similarities.
When we were medical students, we had an abundance of human remains which we were using to learn the anatomy of the human body. We used to wonder where these human remains came from. On enquiring we were told that members of the Masaai community used to throw away bodies of their departed ones in forests. Our Human Anatomy
“ Rituals have to be performed on the dead persons according to well laid out customs in existence with variations amongst different people. Failure to follow these customs may lead to the dead, who are believed to have supernatural powers, to confer curses to the responsible persons.”
Professors at Chiromo Campus( RIP Prof. Mungai and Prof. Kimani) would go around the country, especially in Maasailand collecting these abandoned human remains for the purpose of the medical students( me included) learning about human anatomy, with an intention of making great future doctors.
The members of the Kalenjin community dreaded any contact with dead bodies to such an extent that there was hardly any mortuary in Kalenjin land! There is a joke which goes like if you are at war with a Kalenjin man and he is about to kill you, pretend that you are dead. He will take off because you would have turned into a spirit.
Of note is that following colonisation, there was a drastic change in the way many African cultures responded to death, with many rites being shelved and many foreign customs being adopted. Changes also came due to contact between different tribes.
The conversation about cremation has gained a lot of impetus within Africa. One of the reasons for this increased interest in cremation is due to an explosion in population and the attendant scarcity of land used for the same purpose. Some have also argued about its convenience and the fact that it’ s cheaper than burial.
However, this method of body disposal is largely still being viewed as being un-African due to the heavy cultural and religious dispensation in which Africans live. With cremation, it means that the above-mentioned procedures that have been followed in order to appease the spirit of the dead stop being actualized. So, it is expected and feared in many cultures that calamities will follow.
In Kenya, we have seen many prominent Kenyans being cremated in the recent past, a practice that was largely a preserve of the Hindu. Many of those who have opted for cremation have always expressed it either verbally or in writing( in their wills). In many of these cases, the process has been seamless. In others there has been resistance due to clash between the practice and their respective cultures.
These events have also generated a lot of debates among Kenyans with some people supporting the practice while others are opposed to it. In Luo culture, cremation is a subject that is still being met with a lot of criticism, with scholars believing that the prolonged mourning and ultimate ritualistic burying of the dead among Luos has a beneficial effect to the community at large in coming to terms with death. This is due to the finality that defines death.
When Bob Collymore died on the morning of 1st July 2019, he was cremated at Kariokor cemeteries, following his wishes. Other prominent Kenyans who have been cremated include the late Hon. Kenneth Matiba, the late Jeremiah Kiereini, the late Prof. Wangari Maathai, The late Hon. Ken Okoth and recently the late Sir. Charles Njonjo.
We know that there are many cultures which are slowly being abandoned by many communities. Gikuyus for
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