Iteso culture of exhuming bodies after 15 years to appease spirits dying but still alive

Like any other tribe in Kenya, the Iteso have unique cultural and religious practices that distinguish them from others.

One of the practices is exhuming human bodies at least 15 years after their burial to perform certain rituals on them. The community believes this makes the dead kind and friendly to the living.

The Iteso community believes that at death, the body is separated from the spirit (eparait), which goes to live in the bush. With time, the spirit moves deeper and deeper into the bush.

However, many of the spirits come back to disturb the living. The Iteso believe that the spirits of the dead are greedy and need sacrifices of food, meat and drinks.

The oral tradition of the Iteso postulates that the legendary Oduk, who is considered to be the first father of the community, was the one who ordered the practice of exhuming bodies from bushes or graves after some years. This was a way of appeasing the dead and stopping them from disturbing the living.

Linus Etori, who hails from Teso North attests to the prevalence of the practice among members of his community.

“Since I was born, I found our community members practising it and they have continued to encourage the new generation to uphold the tradition at all costs,” says Etori.

According to him, this is a life-long tradition that has been adhered to by members of the community for a number of reasons. However, the major reason is to appease the dead and stop them from causing calamities within families.

“A family could experience strange sicknesses and they could visit a diviner or sorcerer who informs them that the ailment or problem is caused by the spirit of some departed relative,” explains Etori.

“What such a family could do is go exhume the body and make some offering such as slaughtering a goat. We believe by doing so, we will be appeasing the spirits and make them stop causing the problem.”

According to Etori, the bones are never reburied after being exhumed. Rather, they are taken to a special place (usually under a special big tree) and left there after appeasements have been made.

Though the practice has dwindled over time due to the influence of Western religion and modernisation, some families still practise it to date.

Many older members of the community are concerned that their children will bury them in coffins or concrete graves and prevent this practice, thus suffocating the dead in the earth.

Therefore, many Iteso community members who still hold this culture avoid using coffins or concrete graves to make exhumation possible.

Funeral rituals are important to the Iteso and many of them say it is one of the primary reasons for having children. “If you don’t have children, who will sacrifice at the head of your grave?” posed Etori.

Known in Iteso language as Ekutet, the ceremony of exhuming the body is usually carried out by elders. The elders selected to perform the rite are those who are past child-bearing age.

The practice involves slaughtering of a bull and a ram for feasting alongside traditional beer called Ajon, which is made from millet.

However, for the ceremony to be approved, the elders have to ascertain that the spirit of a particular dead person was disturbing a family member through sickness or some other misfortune.

The meat is eaten and beer taken as those participating in the ritual shout and reprimand the spirit of the dead person to leave the sick alone.

The sick person is fed liver from the slaughtered animal before the remains of the dead are exhumed and the bones hidden at the bottom of a tree at the edge of the homestead.

After exhumation, elderly women dance around the scene but those performing the ritual inside the grave and those transporting the bones to the tree do not talk to keep any misfortune at bay. It is feared that if you talk you could go mad.  The Iteso believe that once the remains of a dead person who is believed to be haunting the living have been exhumed and the rituals done, the sick person would fully recover.