The African culture is inundated with traditional beliefs and practices. For instance, death and burial rites that were dismissed by the Christian missionaries as pagan and heathen still persist in spite of the indigenous peoples’ conversion to Christianity. The Maragoli community of Western Kenya performs death and burial rites to process and express their grief while at the same time honoring the deceased to transition to the next world peacefully. These ceremonies help to detach the dead from the living and usher their spirits to the ancestral world, and subsequently maintain healthy bodies, minds, and relationships for both the living and the living dead. Given the significance of these rituals, Maragoli Christians have adopted a blend of Christian and traditional cultural practices as they seek to fit within the two worldviews. Death affects the mental and physical heath of the community. Subsequently, the awareness of the consequences that improper rites of passage may cause to the lives of the families and communities forces the Maragoli to conform to cultural and traditional demands, with little allowance for their new-found faith. This chapter engages existing literature to provide an understanding of this interesting worldview.

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Death and Burial Rites for Physical and Mental Wellness Among the Maragoli Christians of Western Kenya

  • Oscar Chabuga Kagali,
  • Susan M. Kilonzo

摘要

The African culture is inundated with traditional beliefs and practices. For instance, death and burial rites that were dismissed by the Christian missionaries as pagan and heathen still persist in spite of the indigenous peoples’ conversion to Christianity. The Maragoli community of Western Kenya performs death and burial rites to process and express their grief while at the same time honoring the deceased to transition to the next world peacefully. These ceremonies help to detach the dead from the living and usher their spirits to the ancestral world, and subsequently maintain healthy bodies, minds, and relationships for both the living and the living dead. Given the significance of these rituals, Maragoli Christians have adopted a blend of Christian and traditional cultural practices as they seek to fit within the two worldviews. Death affects the mental and physical heath of the community. Subsequently, the awareness of the consequences that improper rites of passage may cause to the lives of the families and communities forces the Maragoli to conform to cultural and traditional demands, with little allowance for their new-found faith. This chapter engages existing literature to provide an understanding of this interesting worldview.