African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 906
Superstitions and Dreams
The link between dreams and superstitions in most of the Bantu communities of western
Kenya are the themes of death, life hereafter, and success. The people believe that
distressing dreams come from evil spirits. Dreams are considered auspicious if they are
related to common values about prosperity. Ill-omened dreams revolve around death,
which is the greatest form of evil to befall families, lineages, and clans. In death-related
dreams, people talk of having seen and eaten roast meat or seen or heard mourners and
other funeral-related experiences. People chronically predict their imminent death if they
dream about roast or raw meat on sticks (minyama khuvisala in Luhyia), or about havng
participated in meat-eating feasts. Community members abhor similar dreams even
among healthy members. However, when those who are very sick have such dreams
regularly, they are comforted by the thought of imminent death.
Among the Tiriki, Maragoli and Banyore, impending death, which is communicated
through dreams, can be averted through various rituals. If a person dreams that one of his
or her relatives is dead, he or she must look for a branch of a lisazi or elisatsi tree and
beat the relative with it. After doing this, the person expresses regret for having dreamt
that the other was dead. The people believe that this ritual prevents such a bad omen from
coming true. The Bukusu and the Maragoli seek advice from a specialist called omunyosi
or mulyuli when such dreams persist. All the Bantu groups predict looming death by
dreams in which a sick person talks of having been turned away from the land of the
ancestors by one of his or her living-dead relatives, especially by a grandparent. In this
case, it is believed that the dreamer will have a longer life than had been imagined.
Paradoxically, the Abaluhyia believe that dreams about the death of members of a social
group are not necessarily ill omens. At times, such dreams may indicate that the person
dreamt about is experiencing momentary prosperity. In such cases, the person depicted as
dead in the dream is described metaphorically as having been “too satisfied after a meal”
(yegurhe, yiguti, yakwiguta, or yigurhi).
There are also superstitions about nightmares, especially among children. People
perceive nightmares as communications from ghosts or evil spirits about unknown
misfortune. They are signs of disasters expected to befall individuals, lineages, families,
or the community as a whole, due to the neglect or offence of the living dead. Bad
dreams are therefore warnings about impending calamity meted out on human beings by
supernatural forces. People often become troubled about such dreams and seek recourse
after consultation with dream prophets, referred to as bayoti by the Bukusu. When the
prophets and other mem bers of the therapy management group believe that evil spirits
cause nightmares, they apply medicines with strong scents. These medicines are put
under the pillows of the victims. Apart from dreams, the Bantu of western Kenya also
correlate people and other organisms with omens in various ways.