Why Kisii bachelors were buried at the gate with ‘imaginary wives’

 They were buried behind the fence [Photo: Courtesy]

Among Abagusii, when bachelors or spinsters died they are buried at the gate and at the edge of the fence and behind the main house respectively.

A traditional tree (Omware) was cut and thrown onto a bachelor’s grave as an indication that he was not married and as a pointer that he never continued the family tree.

Spinsters meanwhile were buried behind the main house a sign that a generation had ceased to exist.

A Gusii Historian Obino Nyambane who is also Director Culture; Kisii County Government explains that unlike when a married man or woman dies they get buried in the compound on the right and left side of the main door/house respectively.

 “For spinsters and bachelors, such rituals were never undertaken,” says Nyambane.

Bachelors were treated with contempt once they passed on. An elder would seize the stick at roof of the traditional hut and throw it backwards between his legs into the grave.

“The pole was considered as an imaginary wife. The bachelor could together with the said piece of wood be buried in the same grave,” explains Nyambane. 

Jeremiah Makori, a Gusii elder, says the remains of a married man were placed in the sitting room facing the main door while the woman’s was placed in the bedroom for an overnight stay.

“For the spinsters and bachelors such a ritual never took place. Their bodies were kept at the verandahs and disposed with contempt,” he says.

Makori explains that to forestall such embarrassment, bachelors would face elders in the community and forced to explain why they can’t marry.

“A decision could be made and a woman could be imposed on those men who are too adamant to marry,” he explains, adding that the impotent could be taken care of culturally to make sure there was an offshoot of their generation.