Entry Nine

Chapter 8

Cognition

·         The villagers believe that the ritual counts the most, that it is the act itself that brings about results in a way that they can’t explain (i.e., by magic). The Pygmies, in contrast, belief that they are performing an act for a supernatural power (the forest), and so the thought that accompanies the act that makes the most impact. To the Pygmies, the act just emphasizes the thought. Thus, the Pygmies have more of a religion, whereas the villagers just emphasize the ritual and the “magic.” Because the villagers put more weight on the ritual itself, to the villagers, the Pygmies appear to conduct their rituals very casually.

·         “It was not long after this that everyone started talking about when they should bring the molimo to an end. There seemed to be no specific length of time that it should run, and it was just a question of convenience….. There was the matter of the elima to be considered too… the main problem was not the fulfilling of ritual necessities, but rather how to make the most of the festive occasion.” This quote reflects the cognition of the Pygmies and (as stated above) their lack of emphasis on the ritual itself. The event of the ritual is decided on factors of convenience and not because of requirements of the ritual itself.

·         There is also a lot in this chapter that compares the cognition and the conceptions (understanding of the world) of the Pygmies with their view of the village.

o   “As we filed from the leafy plantation, leaving the forest behind us, we left a kind and friendly world and entered a different one. Here, if the world was open to the sky, it was also open to greed and suspicion and treachery” (159). This quote reflects the Pygmy conceptions of life outside the Forest—it is a different world, open to evil. Because of this conception, the Pygmies take much that the real molimo is not seen by the villagers.

o   Also when the villagers ask about using the house of the dead person, we see the conceptions of the Pygmies in this: “as far as they were concerned they had finished mourning their personal loss as soon as their mother had been buried. From then onward they had been fulfilling their duty to the forest by rejoicing with the molimo for the long and good life that had been granted to the old lady. They had acknowledged the gift of the fire of life from the forest, and the forest’s right and power to withdraw it; they had acknowledged and accepted the facts of life and death as both being, equally, the gift of their god”. This quote pretty much covers it all. It explains Pygmy religion as centered on the Forest as their god, a context which determines all their perceptions, from death to the interpretation of all events.

Symbols and Rituals

·         The old woman kicking the fire is a strange but insightful ritual. The old woman dances and then kicks the “sacred molimo fire,” scattering it in all different directions as she attempts to “stamp the fire out of existence.” The men then do a dance, giving the fire new life and putting the embers back. This process is repeated several times. This ritual relates to the legend of men stealing the molimo from women and forbidding them to see it. It is a symbol of woman asserting her claim on the fire of life and the ability to extinguish it.

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      Another ritual is the old women tying all the men together. Moke responds to this action: “This woman has tied us up. She has bound the men, bound the hunt, and bound the molimo. We can do nothing.” This ritual shows the molimo as being tied to life and to the men, and woman’s power to extinguish life.

Brief Paragraph:

To analyze this chapter we would use Structuralism. Structuralism “organizes the static world of the individual” (class notes). (Most of the time when I quote I am quoting from class notes). This chapter has a number of cultural categories through which we can understand the Pygmy world. The forest is “good”, and life outside the forest is “bad”. “Good” and “bad” doubtless approximate the conceptions of the Pygmies, but they also make it easier for outsiders to understand their world.