As the echo of the 17-gun salute thundered through Nyamira village on Sunday evening, followed by the roar of a military fly-past, a profound silence descended across Kenya.
Amid the emotion lay the coffin of a man who never wore the ultimate political crown, yet reigned in the hearts of millions. The "people's president": Raila Amolo Odinga.
Odinga's death last week at the age of 80 has shaken the nation to its core. Analysts and headline-writers have been underscoring the near-irreplaceable void he leaves - not only in politics, but in the very conscience of the country, with comparisons drawn to Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after white-minority rule ended.
"Raila belonged to that rare class of political personalities who transcend the ordinary calculus of power and ambition. Like Mandela, he carried the burden of a people's hopes," Kenyan historian Chebii Kiprono told the BBC.
From social media timelines to nightclubs, echoes of his favourite reggae song, Jamaican Farewell, continue to fill the air - a poignant reminder of the man and the movement he inspired.
