Will Covid-19 kill our traditions? : The Standard

• XN Iraki 06th May 2020 10:00:00 GMT +0300

Coronavirus causes a respiratory disease that currently has no cure. It will change our views on death, irrespective of our level in the society. Paradoxically, it seems only death can change our  perspective on death. Curiously there is more activity around death than birth in most of our communities. Obituaries in the newspapers, TV and radio are a big business. I am yet to see birth announcements in our media. There are no weekly meetings to prepare for birth, we have such meetings for death. Matanga, Maombolezi and Machakaya are common terms. Does birth celebration   have such rich terms beyond baby shower, which is very new? By the way traditionally, the birth ceremonies were more elaborate?  What happened? Did kids become less precious because of lower mortality rates?
The crowd for burials are bigger than for baby showers. We donate more money for burial than for births. Politicians never turn up for baby showers, the crowd is too small. They know burials have big crowds , possible voters.
The prolonged mourning and elaborate ceremonies , some with feasts and dirges  are common after death. Birth ceremonies including birthdays are brief.

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Covid-19 has changed all that. We are now buried in the shortest time possible. The crowd is capped to 15. The weekly meetings are virtual, the contributions are virtual and the politicians’ platform is gone. More drastically is the call to bury Kenyans abroad, wherever they die. Repatriating Kenyans for burial is a time honoured tradition. Covid-19 could change that, you are buried where you die; in silence, the earth is the earth, it does not matter where you are. Economists might suggest that is cheaper and releases resources for the living. It might also be cool, saying my relative was buried in USA or UK, the same way we feel good when we say they are working there.  By the way how did a cemetery in Nyahururu get the name Siberia?

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Our helplessness as we watch deaths over covid-19 will shake our faith in religion and science. But deepen our appreciation of life and its purpose. Death equates us; the affluent and hustlers. Covid -19 has made that too plain. One question we may ask loudly is; shall we return to our traditions when covid -19 is subdued? My answer is ‘very unlikely’.

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 We could look back in future and ask; how did a small invisible virus change traditions that had defied wars and time? How did death change death? From there philosophers will take over.  

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CoronavirusCovid-19XN IrakiTradition