- Many African communities have their own unique ways of sending their departed elders to the community
- For the Luo community, several practices are observed before, during and after the burial of an elder
- TUKO.co.ke spoke to some Jaluo elders who shared knowledge about these customs, although they admitted some of them are no longer followed due to modernity.
In many African systems, the death of an old person is a great blow to society, and for the Luo, it is considered the end of an era.
Source: Original
Under Luo traditions and culture, each elder had a major role in the community, and each loss would have to hand over that role to a different person.
What? What are the cultural customs of the Luo during mourning?
In the case of such deaths, a series of ritual practices had to be performed in honor of the departed. Each member of the family would enter the ‘chola’ directly. This was a period when they were ‘unclean’ and could not interact freely with other members of the community.
Nyandiko Ongadi, a member of the Council of Elders of the Luo, however, noted that many of these traditions have been forgotten and people tend to do things their own way.
For example, Ongadi noted that in Luo traditions, when a person dies, his grave cannot be dug before the body is returned home.
“If the grave was dug before the body arrived home, that would invite more spirits of death that would increase the deaths,” the old man told TUKO.co.ke.
He further explained that when an adult (one who owns his house) dies, he should be buried in his compound, and not anywhere else, according to Luo customs.
“The body is brought home through the main gate, with the head facing the front (of his house), it is placed outside his house while people look at the body and mourn. That is when the grave digging activities begin. At night, the body is kept inside his house and comes out the next morning while other burial programs continue,” Ongadi said.
He added that after a man leaves his father’s house and builds his own house, he will never sleep in his father’s house, even after death.
“No man should sleep in his father’s compound after building his own house. This is not in accordance with Luo traditions,” he explained.
Ongadi also explained that a will existed in the past, but based on Jaluo traditions and not following those traditions will harm the family members left behind.
Source: Original
How should a Kiluo old man be buried?
According to James Guya, an elder from Katolo village in Homa Bay county, the funeral of one elder was one of a kind.
“The grave would be dug during the day, and the deceased old man would be buried in the center of his enclosure, with his head facing the gate. This was important in informing any visitor that the head of the family had died,” Guya noted.
He said only women should be buried on the left side of the house.
However, he said many practices have been abandoned due to modernity and the advent of Christianity.
“Recently, we bury men and women on the right side of the house, especially on the side of the bedroom, because people are traumatized by seeing graves in the middle of the compound,” Guya said.
The old man further noted that every old man would leave behind an oral will, saying which of his cows would be slaughtered for the mourners on the day of the burial. This bull was referred to as ‘dher kayiem’, loosely translated as ‘free cow’, which everyone would eat.
A small game of ‘tero buru’ (a dance process, traditional songs and dirges to drive away the spirit of death) would be performed.
What rituals do the Luo do after the old man is buried?
The breaking of the ‘chola’ would follow the night after the burial, where a large mat would be laid on the floor of the deceased’s living room for all his children to sleep on for the first three days.
“The elder began by laying on the mat in that order until the younger child placed his back on the mat. On the third day everyone had their hair shaved, starting with the widow and then the elder’s child. This exercise was done by a barren woman or an older woman in the community. After shaving, a goat was killed, and the barren woman was done by community members,” he said. he explained.
He further explained that a month later, a big ‘tero buru’ would be done, shaving a little of the hair of each member of the family, ‘turo osuri’ (the practice of breaking a piece of wood in the middle of the roof of the traditional house of the deceased) by a male grandson, either from the family or from a different family.
A few days later, the ‘osuri’ was returned by the same young man who broke it, while people were eating and drinking.
“After a new ‘osuri’ is installed, the widow takes her younger brother-in-law who would serve her at her father’s house for a day or two, she returns with a goat, which is welcomed by the brother-in-law who was taking care of the house, the goat is killed immediately, and the widow cooks the widow’s food,” explained Guguya.
“The widow is then free to find an heir who would take care of her and the house of the fallen old man,” he added.
Source: Original
The old man also noted that during the ‘chola’ period, the widow was not taxed in the market.
“Widows had elegant clothes that when they went to the market they did not pay tax. Most of the clothes were white with short green or blue sleeves,” he noted.
Did Raila have a special seat in his Bondo home?
Earlier, TUKO.co.ke reported that the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga he has a reserved seat at his home in the countryside in Opoda Farm, Bondo.
Following his death, the chair was covered with a white sheet, to mark his absence.
The chairman was also kept away from when he was his wife, Ida Odinga. It also had a different color.
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Source: TUKO.co.ke
