Religion and Death Among the Bukusu During the Precolonial Period

Abstract

Death and dying is a very interesting topic to study. It has however attracted very little historical, socio- cultural and anthropological interrogations. Among the pristine Bukusu people of Western Kenya, death was accorded numerous socio-cultural rituals that constituted coded meanings which may have only been understood in the realms of religion. This paper thus attempted an examination on how traditional religion was a key determinant in conducting death rituals in the precolonial setup of the Bukusu community that was devoid foreign cultural influence. The findings in this paper were however extracted from a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (History) thesis which will be submitted to Graduate School of Laikipia University by February 2023. The broader objective of the thesis has interrogated mortuary and funerary rituals of the Babukusu of Kenya from 1895 to 2010. Being a historical research, relevant information in the study was collected in the field through extensive Oral Interviews (abbreviated as O.I in the footnotes) which was corroborated with other secondary sources to ascertain the relevance of the information.