A Luhya Death

Today, while I was helping to make chapatti--a fried flour flat bread, similar to Indian naan-- and chatting with the mums in Baraka, we heard loud screaming and wailing from next door. The mums ran out of the house and I followed to see what was the matter. After a brief moment, one of the mums came back and said that the mother of the woman next door had died. Mum Jane explained that the woman was Luhya, and one of the Luhya traditions is that when a family member dies, the family members must scream and yell and wail loudly. Part of the reason is to express the grief inevitably felt, which seems healthy, in my opinion, and would ensure that people do not suppress such heavy emotions. (I made a comment about males in our society often being taught to hide sadness and tears in our society, and Gladys said it was the same way in Kikuyu society but I guess not in Luhyah tradition.) Gladys mentioned later that it was also a traditional means of appealing to and pleasing the gods when someone dies.