African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 505
The other strategy used by these communities to treat illnesses associated with natural
causality includes the process of steam inhalation (fundo/humo). The leaves, bark, and
roots of certain herbal medicines are boiled, and part of the solutions is taken orally while
the rest is used to steam bathe the patient. In the folk explanatory models, steam bathing
and inhalation help the patient recover from illnesses such as fevers and flu through
sweating. They also resort to induced sneezing by the use of herbal powder from herbs
such as obuo madongo and indama to expel body intrusions they believe cause fevers,
headaches, colds, flu, dizziness, and nose bleeding. Among the Luhyia, diseases of the
chest are also treated by steam inhalation involving herbal solutions from a herb called
litoto.
Illnesses Linked to Spiritual Causes and Breach of Taboos
As in the beliefs of other African communities, personified supernatural agents may
cause disease among the Luhyia and Luo. Some misfortunes, described as disease in the
folk explanatory models, are caused by malevolent spirits. The Luo and Luhyia people
believe that spirits may send sickness and death to express their demands. When the
indigenous people attribute illnesses to spiritual causes, they always explain the origin in
terms of displeasure of ancestral spirits or God. People who are afflicted by the
supernatural agents of illness resort to spiritualistic healing. This type of healing is, to a
large extent, based on the belief that there are some people who are endowed to cure
certain diseases revealed to them through the help of spiritual powers. The traditional
therapeutic procedures in this case involve special rituals and gestures to propitiate the
spiritual forces so that they can restore human health. When such rituals are ignored, the
spirits send more punishment in the form of illness. In this regard, the traditional people
perceive disease and illness as reminders to the living that they should accord the spiritual
powers the respect they deserve. Diseases in this sense sanction the living to maintain
proper relations with the dead and the invisible world.
The people of western Kenya believe that supernatural punishment also results from
breach of taboos and contravention of moral order. When people go against established
social norms, it is tantamount to disrespect to the ancestors who are guardians of tradition
and morality. In this sense, disease and therapy are important in harmonizing personal
and social experiences that are affected by visible and invisible interactions. For the Luo,
chira is the consequence of a breach of both known and unknown taboos. The symptoms
of chira include persistent headache, wichbar, coughing, and diarrhea. More specifically,
illnesses that gradually cause body wasting are linked to chira. Other diseases that the
traditional Luo and Luhyia associate with the breach of taboos are infertility, early death
of children, and the contraction of incurable diseases among children and adults.
The breach of taboos is against social and moral codes that are necessary for the
perpetuation of life. Among the Luhyia, immorality exposes individuals and their
lineages to conditions of ritual impurity and danger, referred to as luswa. They have
mythical explanations of luswa, which, in some cases, result in inherited diseases such as
chronic skin ailments. Health conditions, which the people associate with breach of
taboos and supernatural causality, are treated through traditional sacrificial rituals.
Victims of ritual impurity spread illnesses, and traditional practitioners of health care