Different communities treat the dead differently. In traditional Kalenjin community, the dead were respected and given a good send-off as it was believed they were ushered into a new life.
Death was believed to be the transition from the living to the spirits.
However, those who forcibly ushered themselves into spirits by committing suicide through hanging were canned.
John Kutto, an 82-year-old resident of Kaporio village in Uasin Gishu county says those who hanged themselves were beaten to chase away evil spirits from evading the community again.
Kutto notes that the exercise was conducted by the elders of the community.
"Whenever such incident occurred, the old age people in the Kalenjin community were called upon to cane the dead before the body is untied from the noose," said Kutto adding that he has conducted the exercise severally.
Thomas Kurgat, Kaporio village elder said he has witnessed cases of suicide by hanging in his village. As a village elder, he says he coordinates with other elders to cast out evil spirits from striking the community.
"People should not commit suicide as a way of evading responsibilities or problems they encounter, there are many solutions to every problem," he said.
"In the Kalenjin community, we used to beat the dead and also cut down the tree which the person used to hang himself to prevent the evil spirits from luring other people to hang themselves at the scene again," adds the village elder.
Kutto's wife also added that; "Canning the dead has been very beneficial to the community as we have seen a drastic decrease in the number of suicide cases by hanging. We believe that evil spirits are chased away from the community whenever the dead is thoroughly beaten."
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