Entry Eleven

Chapter 10

This chapter explains many similarities and differences between the villagers and the Pygmies in terms of their cognition; of how they see the world and how that in turn affects how they go about certain rituals and interpret events. Both groups can take a certain custom and because of the cultural context of their brains can change the custom to reflect their values and worldview.

 “When a custom was adopted by one people, they gave it their own particular character and     meaning, and frequently changed it so that it was all but unrecognizable, except through the common use of the original name” (185)

Differences between conceptions of Villagers and Pygmies:

·         Blood

 For the villagers, blood is a terrible and powerful thing “associated with injury sickness and death.” The first appearance of menstrual blood is a calamity: the girl is defiled and puts her family in danger. She is secluded and has to be ritually cleansed and purified from the evil she brings on her family.

For the Pygmies, blood is equally dreadful, but it is a symbol not only of death but of life. Menstrual blood means life, and it is not a frightening thing. When menstrual blood first appears, it is perceived as a gift and is received with gratitude and rejoicing that the girl is now a potential mother.

The Pygmy conception of blood accords with the basic understanding of all Pygmy life: the Forest is good, and so everything is a gift from the Forest and is good. The villagers do not see the blood as a gift or as good, but only as evil and a thing to fear, because they have no underlying concept that everything is good.

·          

      The elima

In the village, the girl is secluded and experiences much shame, so she has to get married immediately. “The whole affair is a shameful one in the eyes of the villagers, as well as a dangerous one. It is something best concealed and not talked about in public. The girl is an object of suspicion, scorn, repulsion, and anger. It is not a happy coming of age.”

On the contrary, the elima in the Forest is very different. The elima is “received with gratitude and rejoicing…There is no mention of fear or superstition, and everyone is told the good news… the girl enters seclusion, but not the seclusion of the village girl. She takes with her all her young friends... In the house of the elima the girls celebrate the happy event together… It is a time of gladness and happiness, not for the women alone but for the whole people.”

As explained above, the custom and rituals of the elima reflect values and worldview. The event of the elimais the same for both groups: they both mark the coming of age of a girl, they both are about finding a husband, they both include seclusion. However, the entire conception of the Pygmies and Villagers are different, so the elimas take on a different value. As related above, the Pygmy conception is that everything is a good gift from the Forest, so the elima is happy and good, and everyone rejoices. The village conception, on the other hand, is one of spirits and fear, so the elima is a time of shame and fear and distrust.

·          

      The leaves

For the villagers there is a certain type of leaves that elima girls are supposed to wear for magical protection, and another that is ineffective and invites disaster. The pygmy girls wear the ineffective leaves saying “This plant makes such pretty skirts; why should we make ourselves ugly with that plant? This is a time to rejoice.” These contrasting practices reflect the differing conceptions of the villagers versus the pygmies. For the villagers, the ritual has a great importance not shared by the Pygmies. The leaves that protect the villagers from spirits have no meaning for the Pygmies, so dress is determined by what looks better to them, not what has meaning because of their conceptions of spirits.

“The conclusion is of this particular elima was an anticlimax. The Pygmies are not a ritualistically minded people; to them the important thing about any festival is that they should openly express their emotions and accept the realities of whatever situation the festival marks. Instead of living in constant fear of the spirits of the dead, preforming elaborate rituals to remove the souls of the departed as far away as possible and as quickly as possible, the Pygmies sing in their memory for months on end during the molimo.”

This quite is self-explanatory, and shows us how the Pygmies see the world as compared to the villagers. They are not ritualistic, they are not afraid of spirits and death, and they don’t have a need to move on quickly after death. Rather they embrace life and sing in memory of the dead, not moving on quickly but rejoicing in the lives of people in the past and of life now. Underlying this practice is the conceptions of the Forest as good

Brief Paragraph:

This chapter is organized in a way reflective of Interpretive Anthropology. Interpretive Anthropology seeks to examine each culture in its own terms and describe it in a way that others can understand. This chapter explains the cultural conceptions of both the villagers and the Pygmies and attempts to describe it in a way that is easily understood. (for example: the conceptions of blood, the elima, leaves.. etc.)