How Luo culture will shape Laboso and Okoth’s burials

The late Joyce Laboso and Ken Okoth. [File, Standard]

Having served as Sotik MP for nine years before winning the Bomet governor's seat in 2017, not many Kenyans knew that Joyce Laboso was married in the Luo community and that her body will be moved to Kisumu County for burial.

After her husband, Edwin Abonyo announced that the governor's remains will be interred in their Koru home, Kisumu county on August 3, a debate has emerged on how it will unfold.

The late Kibra MP Ken Okoth also hails from the Luo community and having spent most of his life in Nairobi, Kenyans wanted to know how his burial will be conducted.

Luo elders have come forward to tell Kenyans what the traditions say about burials in the community.

According to the elders, the traditions are universal and binding to every member of the community and that even during the Bomet governor’s burial, they will take precedence.

According to elder Justus Oliech, Laboso, and Okoth will be buried in accordance with the Luo traditions.

“I am not privy to their burial arrangements, but there are laid down procedures which are universal and binding to everyone,” he said.

Last night

Speaking to Standard Digital, Oliech said the traditions indicate that a married woman should spend her last night on earth in his husband's house according to the traditions of the Luo community.

This means the body of the governor must be taken to her Kisumu home on August 2, a day before the burial day as per the norms of the community.

The tradition dictates that a wife must be buried on the left side of the house with her head facing the main gate while a husband is buried on the right side of the house with his head also facing the gate.

For an unmarried woman (Migogo), things are different, she is treated like an outsider and is buried at the gate while an unmarried man is buried next to his mothers’ house.

The grave must be dug a night before the burial day mainly by young men who are served with traditional brews and roasted meat. The food and drinks are served at the graveside.

On the burial day, for a woman, the body is moved out of the house at 8am and placed on the left side of her house, it is also the same side where she is buried.

“The body must be taken out for viewing on the burial day at 8am and placed on the left side of the house, that is what our custom says,” said Oliech.

This is unlike a man whose body is moved out at night mostly after the grave has been dug and is placed on the right side of the house.

Once moved out, the body is free for viewing by close relatives and other members of the public until some minutes to burial time when the coffin is permanently sealed.

The burial of a woman should be conducted at noon or some minutes past midday, 10 hours after her grave was dug, but that of a man is at 4 pm.

During a woman’s burial, it is the widower to drop the first soil into the grave (on the coffin), but for a man, his father drops the first soil.

Green twigs or flowers are then planted on the grave to indicate that man is like a flower which will eventually dry up.

According to Mzee Oliech, the twigs or flowers symbolize the life of a human being that is why they are never watered. They wilt away and dry just like the life of a human being.

After burial the family members must stay in the home for three days before they can disperse.

Traditionally, an animal was slaughtered and elders invited to mark the house sweeping ritual at the end of the three-day mourning period.

In the modern-day, house sweeping ritual is presided over by invited church leaders who pray for the family members and the departed soul.

“Things have been adjusted a little to accommodate religion, I now see church leaders being invited to oversee the ritual,” Oliech said.

The widow or widower must wait until after the burial when he or she is set free to marry or be married. This, Mzee Samwel Oketch says was some kind of dream where the late appeared to the widow or widower and the two have fun in the dream.

According to him, this would take weeks or months depending on the relationship between the couples before the death.

 “If it occurred a short period after the death, it would be interpreted to mean you were in good terms with the late and the widow or widower will begin looking around,” Mzee Okech told the Standard Digital.

Once the dream had come, for a woman, she would go back to her parents’ home, spend a day before returning to her husband’s home and was now free to mingle with any interested man.