Celebrating Easter Kenyan style

By John K Kariuki

Father Tacicio Harris struggled under the weight of a huge wooden cross slung over his shoulders, leading a procession from his old parish church with a dwindling and ageing congregation in tow on Good Friday.

Despite his perennial pleas to the faithful to flagellate him, they were too courteous and old to give him any meaningful lashing closer to what Jesus Christ got.

Meanwhile many youthful would-be congregants found nothing cool in carrying crosses and skipped the event. They preferred the overnight discos marketed under the Easter banner.

Consequently, many entertainment spots have geared up for good business, courtesy of our imbibing, beauty pageantry and other associated earthly rituals and sins that have substituted the spirit of Easter.

There are several raffles going on riding on the wave of Easter. But their jackpots are not safaris for two to Saint Peter’s Holy Basilica in Rome or a tour of Jerusalem to retrace the footsteps of Christ. Instead, winners will sample our five star hotels and game parks.

Sunshine ahead

For many of us, Easter is a welcome break from the ‘January season’ that easily stretches from January to March. This season has many hassles such as school fees, but around now we start seeing a little sunshine ahead.

Easter, Kenyan style, is not the time for renewal of our Christian faith but the season for upcountry visits for family meetings and feasts that are a far cry from the last supper. Pity that they scrapped the once-famous East African Safari Rally, a motor sport event that had been synonymous with Easter in Kenya since 1956.

For Christians, Easter symbolises the fact that Christ preached and taught eternal life during his three-year ministry. If he had not risen from the dead, he would have been considered just another Rabbi and perhaps our current clergy would have chosen other careers, like maize roasting and skinning rabbits.

However, his resurrection changed all that and gave the final and irrefutable proof that He was really the Son of God and that He had conquered death.

Talking of rising, I will not vouch that all who are observing Easter, our Kenyan way, will be alive today, Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection! Not with the multiplicity of industrial and homemade brews, some of which are pure poison like paint thinners and concoctions from sisal juice and old torch batteries.

Christ, as the Lamb of God (John 1:29; Acts 8:32; 1 Peter 1:19; Rev 5:6) replaces the Old Testament lamb eaten on Passover evening each year. The New Testament symbols of the bread and wine were instituted so that Christians could eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, the true Lamb of God. Christ’ sacrifice replaced the need to kill a spring lamb. Luke 22:19 shows that Christ substituted the bread and wine to be taken annually in commemoration of His sacrifice for the remission of our sins.

Saxon goddess, Eastre

The feast day of Easter was originally a pagan celebration of renewal and rebirth. Celebrated in the early spring, it honoured the pagan Saxon goddess Eastre. When the early missionaries converted these Saxons to Christianity, the holiday was merged with the pagan celebration and became know as Easter. It fell around the same time as the traditional memorial of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

The meaning of Easter was also changed to reflect its new Christian orientation in many negotiations, deal-cuttings, ‘holy’ edicts and intrigues that characterised the early church.

The 40 days of Lent, eggs, rabbits, hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Egypt and Babylon. These are all antichrist activities, like our hurried national forgetfulness of the IDPs who will celebrate a second Easter in tents, leaking with rainwater.

On Thursday, scores of employees exclaimed hallelujah and thronged nightspots to wash away the cumulative dust of the year’s first quarter from their throats with drinks.

"Wazee tumetoka mbali (we have come far, gentlemen)!" they toasted again and again.

Contrary to the Easter message of Christian bonding and renewal of faith, many fights will break out this weekend in various social places after spirited carousing. I dread the prospect of any renowned artiste visiting for a live performance this Easter. For this could lead to an odd teenage suicide on account of being denied permission to attend.

Many of our leaders could be gearing for an upcountry Easter tours to be with their constituents. But often they grab the limelight and for the wrong reasons. They make weird declarations even from the pulpit and church precincts. Easter becomes a season for political backbiting and hitting below the belt that often eclipse Christ’s message.

Paint the town red

I remember the Easter of 1990 vividly. I was a new teacher at Jaribuni School in the hinterland of Kilifi District. Cosmas, my friend lived and worked in Kilifi town some 40km away. I would sojourn at his place many times, when, in the impetuosity and adventure of youth, we would paint the town red.

Arriving in town early on Good Friday that year, I was surprised to find Cosmas’ house locked early in the morning — he always woke up late. His neighbours’ apprehensive glances did not help things.

Cosmas had recently been talking about racketeering in gemstones and such other hazardous enterprises. I feared the worst and looked around helplessly.

"Your friend has changed a lot lately," a kind neighbour said.

Thanking God that my friend was still alive, I wandered into town. I stumbled upon a weekend crusade in a park and decided to while the time away as my plans for a weekend of partying had been scuttled.

And on the dais was Cosmas, giving his testimony! From the usual claim of total deliverance from smoking bhang, chewing miraa, drinking illicit brews and fornicating he added a completely new, and perhaps a Kenya first, angle to his testimony: "You can all verify these claims with a teacher in Jaribuni Secondary School!" he said, giving out my name.

I slunk away, in deep shock. It took me until Easter Monday to forgive Cosmas and see things objectively. I swore to be a witness henceforth of virtue and strength in other people instead of despicable things.