The African naming culture made marriage a respected institution in the society. One had to have at least one child so that their parents could be named after.
The respect for ancestors necessitated having children by all adult members of the society. This culture is also respected among the Mijikenda and anyone who dies childless when he or she had reached childbearing age, was buried in a unique way.
The manner in which a senior bachelor and spinster is buried among the Mijikenda is so demeaning that people do whatever they can to have a child before their final day on earth. Some even decide to have a child out of wedlock so that their remains are not buried in a 'terrifying' manner.
Before one’s remains are laid to his permanent resting place, the shrouded corpse is placed near the grave after several rituals have been performed. Mourners gather around it and an elder steps forward to perform another ritual.
He holds the corpse by its right ear. The elder loudly warns the spinster or bachelor that it was their own making that they never left behind a child. He instructs the deceased never to bother community members.
The elders talk to the dead because the Mijikenda community believed that the dead maintain communication with the living.
One last and demeaning ritual follows. A burning piece of wood is waved over the deceased’s behinds. The practice is believed to banish the spirit of childlessness.