Among the people of Luo, suicide was a taboo. Nobody was allowed to commit suicide. In the old days, in Luo Kitgi gi Timbegi, it was an absolute taboo to commit suicide. The Luo believed that if a person committed suicide, they had become a ghost and would punish people who spoke at their funeral.
To prevent this, if a person committed suicide, say hanged themselves on a tree, they’d immediately be cut down from the noose and be flogged thoroughly. The body is also buried outside the homestead in a place referred to as ‘Gunda’ — set aside for such and other outcasts.
The Luo believed that flogging would stop the ghost of the person or evil spirits from roaming back home and prompting other people to kill themselves.
Suicide is a worldwide phenomenon, although its rate has been changing over the years and varying from one country to another.
“We found this culture taking place. We were warned never to name a child after such deviants,” says Joseph Odero
, senior chief and Elder from Suna Migorim.
However, those individuals who have attempted suicide but were unsuccessful are taken to a court of law and charged with an offense of trying to kill themselves.
In Kenya, the Penal Code states that any
person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanor (The Penal Code, 1962). Although considered to be less serious than say a felony, the offender may be imprisoned for a maximum of one year. In most cases, however, they are put on probation.
On the list of many who get buried away from their fathers’ homesteads as outcasts are unmarried women of age known as ‘migogo’ and divorcees who live with their parents.
Such women can also be buried at their aunt’s place in a low-key burial ceremony.
See more about their culture
in the video below;
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