By Stephen Makabila and Roselyne Obala, Nov 9 2009
An eerie silence hangs over an overgrown bush in one corner of a farm where four family members bend to look for the bones of a woman exhumed a few years ago. Mzee John Epatala, 89, emerges holding what look like leg bones and says solemnly: "These are the bones of my mother. We exhumed them to end a curse of sickness in our family."

Epatala says his mother’s remains were among few exhumed in the recent past in Teso North District, a region where a few cases of an old tradition of disturbing the dead to appease the living are still reported. "It’s a tradition we have carried out for years and I hope it will be carried on. Unfortunately, it is threatened by religion and I have fears for its future," says Epatala of Okuleu village in Teso North District.

Epatala shows a double-mouthed pot used for brewing beer in Teso exhumation rituals. Photos: Benjamin Sakwa/Standard

"When I was born, I found our elders practicing it and we have taught it to the new generation and told them not to erode our traditions at whatever cost," says Epatala.

The ceremony of exhuming the dead, known in Teso language as Ekutet, Epatala explains, was performed when elders felt the spirit of a particular dead person was disturbing a family member through sickness or other misfortune. "There is a strong belief that the sick person recovers fully once the remains of a deceased person, thought to be haunting the living, are exhumed," Epatala told The Standard in an interview.

Epatala says his own mother’s remains were exhumed when he was very sick as a teenager, and he claims he recovered fully after the ritual. "One day I fell ill and at the same time other relatives were sick and elders decided to perform Ekutet so that we could be healed," he said.

Epatala says after the ritual was performed, he was cured of the disease alongside his other ailing relatives and that was when he developed trust Ekutet. He said it misfortunes among the living were thought to be as a result of unrest by souls of the ancestors and elders had to ‘release their spirits by exhuming their bones’.

"Our elders would discuss and entrust the task of exhuming the remains to an elderly woman in the village," he related.

The ritual which is performed by elderly people who are past child bearing age, involves slaughtering of a bull and a ram for feasting alongside traditional beer called Ajon which is made from millet.

"The meat is eaten and beer taken as those taking part in the ritual shout and admonish the spirit of the dead person to live the sick alone. The sick person is fed on liver of the slaughtered animal before the remains are exhumed and the bones hidden at the bottom of a tree at the edge of the homestead," explains Epatala.

"After exhuming of the remains, elderly women dance around the scene but those performing the ritual inside the grave avoid talking to keep any misfortune at bay," he said.

Those transferring the bones from the grave to the tree do not talk. It is feared that should one talk they could go mad. However, not any dead person can have their remains exhumed. 15 years must have lapsed since one died. Epatala said after 15 years, they were sure the remains would have fully decomposed.

Epatala, centre, and his relatives search for his mother’s remains exhumed a few years ago.

"In every village, there were very tall trees which were sacred and used as the new resting place for the exhumed skeleton," explained another village elder Peter Akapi.

"No one dared to tamper with the skeletons or go near the place, it remained respected and only visited in times of calamities for more rituals," Akapi said.

Epatala and some of his family members showed the tree under which his mother’s skeleton was discarded. They displayed some of the bones, which still lie in thick bushes at the base of the traditionally sacred tree. They then returned them and covered them with leaves.

According to Epatala, Teso elders sought the advise of witchdoctors during misfortunes who advised them to start exhuming the remains of those buried over seven years ago. "Our forefathers took the advice and followed the instructions to exhume the dead," he said.

Leonard Ochana of the same village says the ritual was popular in the past but very few clans practice it now. "Christianity has condemned it and many people have stopped. Young people do even know it used to happen," said Ochana. A teacher, David Imutuan of Malaba Township Primary School, said the culture was fast being over-taken by modernity.

Source: Standard

Burial

By Isaiah Lucheli
The Iteso of western Kenya have a way of handling their dead that would horrify many other people in the world. About five years after burial, they exhume the skulls and skeletons and leave them exposed to the elements. The result is that if you travel through Teso country, you will get the impression that a major archeological undertaking is underway.

In homesteads and in thickets, the skulls lie exposed in a custom the community believes allows the dead to rest better than if they were six feet underground. Apart from allowing the dead a good rest, the custom is also intended to keep them from coming back to torment the living. The Iteso believe that once human remains are exhumed and exposed, the dead will no longer be able to haunt the living through nightmares, sickness, or other afflictions. The remains are placed on raised ground covered by shrubbery within the compound or at the base of a tree, where there is little interference.

Millet beer, locally known as Ajono, is regularly sprinkled over the site to appease the dead. What remain is ceremonially consumed by elders. The custom is slightly different among their cousins across the border in Uganda. Among the Soroti, who are closely related to the Iteso, the bones of the dead, the arm to be exact, are used to stir the brew, which is then consumed.

According to Iteso customs, the exhumed remains must be placed within the farm of the deceased, because the dead are bound to resist and cause difficulties if they are taken away. Children are warned not to touch or even go near the place where the bones have been put to rest. Children who play with these skulls risk falling very ill, and can only be healed if elders intervene and perform a specific ritual.

This involves slaughtering a sheep for the dead and serving them a traditional brew to beg for forgiveness on behalf of the ailing child. Okisai Okiring of Chakol Division in Teso District says the exhumation rite, known as epunyas, is conducted to stop the dead from tormenting the living. “It’s a belief among the Iteso that the dead are full of evil spirits. They strongly affect the lives of the living through diseases and other calamities,” he says.

Okiring says if the dead are not appeased by bringing them back to earth’s surface, they are capable of wiping out the entire community. “This rite is done to please the dead. If not done, a series of tragedies could strike and wipe out the whole community,” he says.

He says exhuming makes the dead more friendly to the living, and in this way killer diseases and other misfortunes are avoided. The elder observes that epunyas also gives the dead an opportunity to oversee the daily activities of the living. Laurence Ochodi of Amagoro village in Teso says epunyas is usually done five or 10 years after burial.

“We believe that after being in the grave for five to 10 years, the dead get tired and so we remove them from the choking grave and leave them in open air to rest,” says Ochodi. He adds: “When we bring the dead on the surface, they literally exist among us, they see what we do because they are part us and therefore have no reason to torment us.”

The ceremony is conducted across the board for the young and old, men and women. It is done in December after millet has been harvested. A lot of millet beer is brewed and animals slaughtered to celebrate this important Iteso cultural activity. Only elderly people are allowed at the graveside during the exhumation, which takes place at night. The Iteso are not the only community in Western Kenya with unusual customs regarding the dead.

http://www.ourstrangeworld.net/

Teeth

Unlike the neigbouring Luo and Western Luhya, the Iteso remove two lower teeth rather than four or six. The Banyala and Samia have borrowed the Teso greeting "yoga"

By Bernard Kwalia, May 19 2009
Snakes slithering among the mourners, sending them scampering for safety and a coffin that just would not fit in the grave. These strange incidents were part of the drama at the burial of a woman in Teso at the weekend whose death sparked a battle between her mother and her husband. Ms Catherine Achomo Emoit, a former teacher of Kocholia Primary School, died on April 14 after a long illness. Mr Peter Emoit Etyang, her husband of 16 years with whom she had a 15-year-old daughter, was getting ready to bury her on April 22 when his mother-in-law arrived with a court order directing him to return the body to the Tanaka hospital mortuary in Busia.

Customary law:
The mother-in-law, Mrs Resper Asorian Emuria, had applied for the order, saying that Mr Etyang was not legally married to her daughter as he had abandoned her for another woman. She said she wished to bury her daughter at her ancestral land in Aloete village. ‘‘Under Teso customary law, in the absence of a valid marriage, a man cannot bury a woman even if they were cohabiting. Mr Etyang has refused to identify himself as duly married to my daughter and he has never gone through the marriage formalities under customary law,” Mrs Emuria said in a sworn affidavit.

Counter-claim:
Mr Etyang filed a counter-claim, saying he had lived happily with his wife and had paid Sh90,000 and a bull as dowry. The two parties were told to settle the matter out of court after each failed to produce evidence to back their cases. Mr Etyang, the principal of Kocholia Secondary School, eventually paid a dowry of five cattle and two goats to secure the burial rights and custody of their daughter.

Snakes scatter mourners:
But Teso cultural purists were not amused at Mrs Emuria’s participation in the dowry negotiations. And as the re-arranged burial was about to start on Saturday at Kakemeri village, two snakes dropped from the house and headed towards the podium, sending mourners fleeing. After the snakes had been killed on a pastor’s instructions, who berated Christians who practise witchcraft, the coffin would not fit in the grave and proceedings were again disrupted for 40 minutes as the cemented grave was adjusted. Area chief Masai Kaunya blamed clan elders for allowing a woman to participate in dowry negotiations. - source: NATION