
Mourner carries own cutlery Residents of Moulem Estate in Kisumu were
recently left in stitches when a woman who had come for a funeral
unashamedly whipped out of her handbag a plate, cup and a spoon after
the said cutlery ran out during meal time. As it is the custom in
Nyanza, meals must be served at funerals, as a way of celebrating the
departed soul. Thus, this particular one was not any different. A
relatively well known man had passed on. And this called for an
elaborate and dignified sendoff that saw locals throng his homestead a
couple of days before his burial. As usual, meals had been prepared in
plenty. Locals witnessed quite a number of strange behaviors. First,
there were those who, probably from distant places, arrived and
immediately they were done wailing, wiped their tears and headed
straight to the tent where food was being served. In one particular
incident, a mourner made a grand entrance; she uncontrollably wailed,
rolled on the ground, dirtying herself as she eulogised the departed
man. She praised him, expressing her grief and how the locality will
miss his kindness and generosity. Soon after wards, she dusted herself
and made a bee line for the improvised kitchen under a tent, where
meals were being served. Minutes late, she emerged with a mountain of
nyoyo (mixture of beans and maize), and a cup of tea. Mourners
salivate On the final day, the bereaved had hired services of an out
service catering company. They had prepared sumptuous nyoyo, tea and
ugali seved with beef for special visitors, whose aroma made most of
the mourners salivate, completely ignoring the eulogies read.
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What shocked the residents was the gusto with which one particular
whipped out a plate and other cutlery, when she was told all the plates
available had run out. “Apenjou jowadwa, tinde ji Biro e liel nyaka gi
plate, e liel yawa? (Let me ask you brethren, nowadays people come to
funerals with plates?” wondered a shocked mourner. “The world could be
coming to an end my friends, if people can carry such things to a
funeral. It seems some people only come to funerals to eat?” asked
another mourner. “Osiepna, thurwa kae, jii nyaka chiem ee liel. mang’a
duong kothoo,nyaka gweno, dhiang’ gi diek nyaka yang’ mar jomaobiro ee
liel. (My friend, around here, people believe in eating in funeral).
And when a ‘big’ person dies, you would always hear of plans to
slaughter bulls, chickens, goats and sheep in order to sustain the
expected big number of mourners that would grace the burial.)” answered
the other mourner. He added: “The bigger the name the bigger the
budget of food. So much is the emphasis that is put on food that in
some instances, we have a committee that ensures food is in plenty,
even if it means doing a fundraiser, otherwise people will forever
gossip the bereaved, claiming he/she starved them!”