Even though funeral ceremonies in the Luhya nation are never planned, they are always expected to go smooth with little room for error. Inside those ceremonies are secrete series of a whole rituals of syllabus
Any small error, the funeral directors will tell you that you will welcome back the ‘funeral spirits’.
At many times, the ceremonies and rituals are conducted according to the nature of death, Cause of Death, the age of the dead and so on.
Let us look into the details of the rituals and their hidden meaning, rather secretes of Luhya duneral ceremonies .
Bad Sendoff
A bad and poorly arranged sendoff is done for people who died mysterious and unexplained manner.
Only people who died via road accidents are given a good sendoff, but the rest are supposed to get a bad treat for their final sendoff.
This is done to distance the clan form the evil spirit of the dead which maybe hunting its Killers.
Such deaths could include if you were killed by robbers, malicious people, dawned in water etc
As part of the ceremony, the dead is given a corporal punishment by the uncles, besides, a well organized violence is organized by a group of uncles to main and destroy properties within the home and neighboring homes, this is done to chase away the spirit that maybe larking around the village.
In the small organized violence, the uncles destroy any valuable properties they run into using crude weapons like pangas and machetes. It is said that they can kill even a health human if they run into him or her since they are normally ‘possessed’ after drinking bang and changaa.
It is said that if you give the dead a good send off, his spirit will return back to the clan instead of going hunt its killers. The badder the sendoff, the better the ceremony!
Other victims who will be accorded with a bad send off include girls who had reached age of marriage but never got married, otherwise bachelors are also not spared.
Apart from their private parts being pierced with sharp thorns, they are supposed to be buried in the garden away from the homestead, the other ‘good deads’ are normally buried in the homestead.
There is a prize tag for those who at first time run and discover dead bodies, if you know the homestead, match on and pick the healthiest animal in the shade, walk away and don’t speak to anyone. They will just know.
However, it comes with a disadvantage, you can’t sleep in your house or anyone else until your are cleansed!
The animal is for sale, and the money is supposed to be merried. You can’t invest it!
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