Letter Bukusu death ritual disgracefulHowever, the events that followed, during the celebration of the Lufu, were not cultural but defilement. And, very unfortunately, even the Fourth Estate captured the events in its rawest form. They were incomprehensible and had little to do with the culture of the Luhya in general or the Bukusu in particular. If culture is about the customs and ideas that govern the lives of a particular society - and tradition is about the process of handing down or dispensing cultural ideas and beliefs - then the Baengele clan need to change their anthropological perspective. To the best of my mind, Lufu is not anything about property division among all and sundry. It is about cutting off the hair of the bereaved to symbolise a new beginning, taking an inventory of the assets and liabilities of the dead to symbolise the idea of perpetuation of responsibility and counselling the bereaved on the best way to handle their grief. Which of these ideas were the Baengele clan celebrating during those obscene exchanges over property? Was this not a simple case of perversion of culture calculated to cause unnecessary mental and psychological trauma to Mr Wamalwa's core family? A. N. WASIKE,
Kenyans were treated to really embarrassing drama after Mr Wamalwa's death. While the nation mourned him as a patriot and exemplary leader, the Baengele clan trashed his memory through their disgraceful lack of respect for the wishes of the dead. Listen to Mr Wamalwa talking in life before the wedding: "I am now longing for the time Yvonne and I will be walking hand-in-hand down the aisle as the whole world witnesses and shares one of my most joyful moments". And after the wedding: "All I can tell you now is that it is a wonderful feeling. If I were perhaps a poet, I could have the words to express the feeling." These are no doubt words of a man who truly loved his wife and would have loved to see her enjoy her life without interference. But the Baengele do not seem to want that. To count everything in the house, including the chairs, the beds and the shirts he owned, not forgetting the dogs he had, was a very bad show. No wonder other communities received it so negatively. PETER B. KUSIMBA, |
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