Why would Dog Commit Suicide?

The Overtoun Bridge is an arch bridge located near Milton, Dumbarton, Scotland which was built in 1859 and has become famous for the number of unexplained instances in which dogs have apparently committed suicide by leaping off of it.

The incidents were first recorded around the 1950's or 1960's when it was noticed that dogs - usually the long-nosed variety like Collies - would suddenly and unexpectedly leap off the bridge and fall fifty feet to their deaths.  In some cases, however, the dogs would survive, recuperate, and then leap off the bridge again.  The locals have a name for these dogs: second-timers.

What makes this tragic mystery even more mysterious is that many of the dogs that jump from Overtoun Bridge jump from the same side and from almost the same spot: between the final two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge.

But why is this happening?  What would compel otherwise contented canines to leap from the stone structure?

Some believe that the bridge is haunted.  In 1994, a man threw his baby son off the bridge claiming that it was the anti-Christ.  Later, the man attempted suicide there as well.  Was Overton Bridge responsible for this tragic event?

Another theory comes from Celtic beliefs that Overton Bridge is a "thin place" where the barrier between the world of the living and the world of the dead meet and sometimes cross over.  Some believe that dogs are more sensitive to the paranormal and perhaps they are getting spooked by spirits.  In fact, one psychic toured the bridge and, although she admitted that she felt nothing malevolent - only peace, her dog pulled on its leash to the right side of the bridge.

A more rational explanation for the "dog suicides" could be the mink population that resides under the bridge in the brush.  Veterinarians and animal experts have pointed out that a dog, overly excited at the smell of the minks and unable to see over the sides of the bridge, might leap over the side on impulse not realizing that they are on a bridge at all.

Whatever the explanation for the famous Dog Suicide Bridge actually is could be debated for years without satisfaction.  Just take some advise from the locals and keep your best friend on a leash when visiting Overtoun Bridge.

Dogs just want to jump. What do we really know?

What does Wiki say?

What others say ..

The Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James

In my second book - The Divine Dance of Diani, i have briefly mentioned The Way of St. James -

“El Camino de Santiago, Saint James Way, is the name given to the road the pilgrims followed in the middle age to get to Santiago, now considered by UNESCO, a World Heritage Site. Today, the city attracts visitors from all over the world thanks to its fantastic monuments. Many institutions such as hospitals and hotels were founded to help the pilgrims on their way to the holy city. The oldest description of the journey is from the 12th century ‘Kitab Ruyyar’ by the Arab author Idrisi,”

“What is the big deal in the walk?”

“It is a memorable pathway and a profound spiritual experience. Basically, it is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain where the remains of the apostle Saint James the Great, are said to be buried.”

“Is that it?”

“Were you expecting more?”

“How did it all start and end up being of such significance to Christians in Europe?” I asked.

“The Church created a system of rituals to atone for sins and these included confession, absolution, and penance. According to this system, pilgrimages were a suitable form of expiation for some sins, and they could be used as acts of penance for those who were guilty of certain crimes. Penance in this context meant, repentance of sins. In the catholic traditions of sacrament, penance is reconciliation and confession of sins. To ultimately be forgiven.

“More interesting is that there is still a tradition in Belgium to this day of freeing one prisoner a year on the condition that he walks to Santiago wearing a heavy backpack, accompanied by a guard.”

“How long is the walk?’

“The entire ‘Camino’, which is about 900 km long from France to Santiago, takes about 30 days, an average of 30 km a day. If you just want to receive the official certificate of pilgrimage, the Compostella, you’ll have to walk at least 100km. A network of shelters along the way in old monasteries, inns and seminaries, offer free lodging to the genuine pilgrims but not tourists. The pilgrims’ passports are stamped to give evidence of completion.

Many who walk ‘The Way of St James’ are not experienced walkers at all. They have never done any serious walking in their lives neither are they likely to do so in future. Here, it can simply be undertaken for the pleasure of it.

“It is very refreshing to walk. And even more refreshing to walk with a spiritual purpose,”

“Does the Muslim pilgrimage ring a bell?”

“Of course it does?”

“You have not seen or heard anything yet.”

“Try me,”

“Ever heard of Kumbh Mela?”

“You’ve got me. No I haven’t,”

The Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James is a spiritual journey that pilgrims of all faiths and backgrounds have traversed for over a thousand years. The pilgrimage originally began at one’s doorstep, though modern trekkers today would find that rather difficult, particularly American pilgrims needing to cross the Atlantic. While there are a number of established routes leading to Santiago from all directions, the most popular is the Camino Frances, which crosses the Pyrenees Mountains along the Spanish-French border starting in St. Jean Pied de Port.

This Camino route covers 800 kilometers that traverses an idyllic northern Spanish countryside. By following the yellow painted arrows marking the road, a pilgrim can expect to walk 12-15 miles a day to reach the next town for the night. At this pace, a pilgrim can reach the Cathedral de Santiago in 6 to 8 weeks time to attend the Pilgrim's Mass held at noon each day. Some take more time, others less. Some choose to travel by bike, and some have done the Camino on horseback. Along the way travelers encounter albergues, refugios and casa rurals that cater specifically to the thousands of pilgrims of all ages that take this journey each year, immersing themselves in the local food, culture and history dedicated to this experience.

Pilgrims walk the Camino for various reasons. Some to seek penance, others enlightenment, and still others for a sense of adventure, yet all progress toward the Cathedral in Santiago where it is believed the remains of the apostle St. James are held. Most pilgrims choose to carry a scallop shell with them to symbolize their journey in honor of St. James. According to legend, scallop shells are said the have covered St. James’ body after it was found on the shores of the Galician coast. Another, perhaps more useful symbol is a walking stick to aid a weary pilgrim on his or her journey. Most pilgrims also carry a document called the credencial, purchased for a few euros from a Spanish tourist agency, a church on the route or from their church back home. The credencial is a pass which gives access to inexpensive, sometimes free, overnight accommodation in refugios along the trail. Also known as the "pilgrim's passport", the credencial is stamped with the official St. James stamp of each town or refugio at which the pilgrim has stayed. It provides walking pilgrims with a record of where they ate or slept, but also serves as proof to the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago that the journey is accomplished according to an official route. The credencial is available at refugios, tourist offices, some local parish houses, and outside Spain, through the national St. James organisation of that country. The stamped credencial is also necessary if the pilgrim wants to obtain a compostela, a certificate of completion of the pilgrimage.

Regardless of whether a pilgrim’s journey begins for religious, spiritual or cultural reasons, the meditative nature of the Camino offers the perfect landscape in which to dedicate contemplation. Pilgrims follow the path amidst the villages, towns, rivers, mountains and fertile valleys that have changed the lives of millions of pilgrims who walked before them.

 Paul Coelho - did a pilgrimage - so did Pope John Paul II

I will tell you something about Kumbh Mela ..

Benefits of Moringa Seeds

click here for more on Moringa seed

good and Bad Fruits for Diabetes

Mohammed Kijuma from Lamu - 1855 to 1945

While at Kipungani in Lamu - I took a 35 minutes speed boat ride to the Lamu museum. I could not help but notice 2 whole rooms dedicated to an individual I had never heard off. Yet his history is so rich and wondered why not a single mention of him in our school curriculums – even in primary school. I was disappointed. I bring you Mohammed Bin Abu-Bakr Bin Omar al –Bakari (commonly called) Mohammad Kijuma).

Kijuma was born in Lamu around 1855. As a child he went to Koran school and studied under the most renowned and educated authorities in Islamic theology, but quitted before completely his studies.

In the 1870s Kijuma accompanied his mother Mwana Kamari a woman of noble decency on several journeys to Zanzibar and Arabia. In the course of his life Kijuma undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca no less than four times. 

Encouraged by his teacher he perfected his style of scribing and soon not only scribed for the local people but also for the sultan of Witu. Kijuma was employed by the German Neukitchener Mission around 1888. He began to cooperate with the Europeans, for whom he worked as a copyist and interpreter of old Swahili poetry. Because of his vast knowledge he was consulted by the most important scholars working in the field.

Kijuma in a midst of a strict culture – he is not only what I think as a Kenyan know protégée, he was openly a free thinker. His closeness to the missionaries and other Europeans and his enquiry and controversial discussion and eventually conversion of Christianity brought him to a lot of trouble. Probably this may be the reason little is known of him.

His egocentric character and his involvement in reprehensible dance competition in a conservative environment, contributed to his ambiguous fame.  On one hand he was suspected of seducing the youth and preventing them from their religious studies; but on the other hand he gained a high reputation as a musician, dances and poet. The sultan of Zanzibar himself employed him as a palace musician and dancer at his cost in 1901.

After leaving the sultan Zanzibar around 1908, Kijuma returned to Lamu where he lived in a precarious economic condition. In 1932 when Kijuma finally was baptized, his fourth and last separated from him and took his son Helewa (which is a Swahili term meaning understand) born in 1855, with her, Nevertheless, Helewa stepped into his father’s shoes and became a famous carver who carved for instance the parliament door of Nairobi.

  

 Kibangala

Certainly one of the most beautiful pieces carved By Kijuma’s the lute (kibangala) by that time the instrument had already been widely introduce on the east Africa coast, while it was also widespread in all areas adjoining the Indian ocean. Probably Kijuma had come across it on his journeys to Arabia and Zanzibar on the 1870s and found at the Lamu museum is the only original from Lamu which has survived until today.

On matters of poet and scribe - Swahili is one of the few African languages which have a tradition of writing of which there is evidence going back beyond colonial periods as far as the 18^th century. Arabic script was not only used in Koran schools to write down religious text in Arabic, the lingua Sacra, but was also adopted by writers and copyist to codify their Swahili dialects.

From everyday correspondence to long narrative Swahili poems, text of different kinds were written down by skilled scribes who often worked on commission. Consequently the scribe and the composer of a text were not usually necessarily the same person. This also holds for the text written in the handwriting of Muhammad Kijuma. It is often hard to tell whether a certain poem was only composed or copied by him.

Commissioned by European scholars interested in Swahili poetry such as Alice Werner, H.E Lambert and Ernest Damman, he copied and often a noted for more poems than he composed himself. He became one of the most preserves of the poetic traditions of Lamu, the literary center of the coast. He was a mediator who taught foreigners how to read and understand archaic text in the light of Swahili culture and history. Many editions of old Islamic poetry were produced in the first half of the 20^th century by scholars who relied on Kijuma one of another way as an interpreter and scribe.

His interest in conserving tradition in times of great change is also reflected by his own poetic work. One of his poems called “customs from old Lamu” by Dammann is in fact an account of extinct customs based on information that he gathered from elders. His eagerness to learn more about his culture, but also about the foreign culture of the missionaries and colonial officers made him study both sides. Even though Kijuma was turned between perspectives of the missionaries and those of the Muslims inhabitants of Lamu, he continued to seek information and consultation on both sides.

Another poem that is generally attributed to Kijuma, the “utendi WA Liyongo” reflects his romantic Endeavour to preserve cultural heritage that he was proud of. In this poem of the east African epic hero Fumo Liyongo (comparable to the German Siegfried) he builts on different oral traditions and puts them together in one work, a technique also employed by authors who based their works more on Islamic narratives traditions.

In addition to his written works Kijuma used to take part in poetic competitions where poetry had to be composed spontaneously often in response to the antagonist’s poem. Competitions of various kinds between different town quotas were regularly held in Lamu in music and dancing competitions often linked with the poetic battles Kijuma also gained fame so that the sultan of Zanzibar noticed his talents.

Together with his wife Ernst Dammann came to Lamu in 1936 to do research on old Swahili poetry. Mohammad Kijuma had already been recommended to him as an expert on the old poems written in Arabic scripts. Right from his first day on the island, Damman started a close and fruitful relationship with Kijuma which turned into mutual esteem and friendship. The resulting collection of poems (“Ditchtungen in der Lamu-Mundart der Suaheli”) was published soon after Dammann’s return to Germany. Numerous other articles based on their cooperation were to follow.

Furthermore Kijuma took Dammann and his wife on several executive to show them sites of historical interest which also involved sailing to the neighboring islands Manda and Pate. In one of the poems WA safari utendi, Kijuma recorded some of the excisions in the poetical utendi style and later sent the manuscript in Arabic script to the Dammann’s in Germany. The poem which Dammann unnoted and published in 1942 (Begins with a walk on Lamu Island and goes on to depict the sailing tours to other sites in the archipelago.

Kijuma died in about 1945 and was buried in Lamu according to the Islamic religion and rites.

He is best remembered by many scholars as a Kenyan genius only known by a few people.

 I was informed Kijuma is a subject of research by several universities across the globe. By sharing this  - you will also help to  create the awareness of Mohammed Kijuma locally too.

I would like to thank Maureen Sialo of Lamu Museum for being resourceful.

Mohammed Kijuma (1855- 1945)