when the wind is in the west and the clouds turn back:
when the wind is in the west and we are
thirsty because the rain clouds turn back:
when the wind is in the west and the rain clouds turn back:
when we are thirsty because the wind is
in the west and the sun beats down on us:
when the wind is in the west and the rain clouds turn back:
when the rain has passed along far off in
the distance because the wind is in the west,
then we shall drink, for the children shall bring us water:
the children will go to dip up water for
us at the water-pits because we are thirsty:
they shall go to the water for us, they shall dip up water:
they will fetch water for us because they want us to drink
because they feel that we are being slaughtered by the sun,
and we shall drink, when they bring us water we shall drink,
The importance that the Bushmen place on rain is highlighted in their language. The word for rain and water is !khwa, but there are two types of rain. First, there is !khwa gwai, male rain, which is a hard, pelting rain that can be accompanied by hail. Then, there is !khwa:/aiti, female rain, which is soft and is soaked deep into the ground. The bushmen also describe the shape of rain by calling a dark rain cloud the rain's body, the columns of rain falling from the body are legs, and mist generated from a female rain is rain's breath.
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| Elands at a watering hole |
The Bushmen also have animals, specifically the eland, that they associate with rain and believe has the power to bring rain. These animals are called !khwa-ka xoro. Specially trained shamans, called 1khwa-ka! gi:ten, can use these animals to control rain. They capture the rain animal by night at a watering hole and lead it out of the water and up a mountain. They will then either milk the animal to produse soft rain, or cut it so "the rain's blood flows out, so that it flows on the ground"(2).
Rain shamans also had to battle with spirits of the dead to stop particularly bad thunderstorms that threatened the village. The Bushman believed that some of the spirits rode the rain with thongs like horses' reins, and the shamans would try to get them to tighten the rains to stop the thunderstorm.
1.James, Alan. The First Bushman's Path:
Stories, Songs and Testimonies of the /Xam of the Northern Cape.
Pietermaritzburg [South Africa: University of Natal, 2001. Print.
2.James, Alan. The First Bushman's Path:
Stories, Songs and Testimonies of the /Xam of the Northern Cape.
Pietermaritzburg [South Africa: University of Natal, 2001. Print.
3.Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. "Mood Songs." The Harmless People. New York:
Vintage, 1989. Print.
After writing a 2,332-word paper about the Bushmen in the Kalahari, I really enjoyed reading this, Jenna. Rain is of paramount importance to the Bushmen, and sometimes they will dig up roots from the ground and squeeze them until a drinkable liquid drips out. I can't imagine having to do this since all I need to do to get water is turn on the faucet (or sometimes just put my hands beside the motion sensor). Rain dances are a significant part of Bushmen culture, so it's obvious that nature can sometimes have an effect on a people's culture. Jenna, from the Native Americans to the people who live today, how do you think rain has influenced culture in America?
ReplyDeleteI think agricultural or natural cycles in general have influenced us a great deal, even in ways we might not recognize. For instance, how schools take the summer off, since families needed their kids then to go farm. Thank goodness for farming societies of America's past; I don't think I would have survived going to middle school the whole year 'round.
ReplyDelete(It's a frightening place anyway, sometimes. To quote Boromir, "There is evil there that does not sleep.")
Very interesting post Jenna, we actually discussed the influence natural cycles have on our society in my environmental humanities class when we discussed the way in which Barbara Kingsolver conveys the notion of rain and its effect on different cultures in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. For some cultures rain is a matter of life and death, for others a way to destroy or save crops, It is interesting to see how important rain is to the Bushmen while for others it is a nuisance or an actual disturbance if there is too much of it for crops such as grapes presented in the Grapes of Wrath
ReplyDeleteThe symbology of the Bushman either milking the animal or cutting it open is quite interesting. In a sense they are offering up an animal to please "God" or the higher power up there that controls rain. This practice of using animals to come closer to God is prevalent all throughout history, beginning with Adam. Adam taught his children to do this and, because they wrote it down, we can enjoy it today.
ReplyDeleteWith all the memorizing we've been doing, I noticed that the poem you posted would be great for committing to memory - good flow and lots and lots of repetition. Do you know if it comes from their oral tradition? Seems likely to me.
ReplyDeleteMarc, I think that it has influenced people in a great variety of ways. When water was only accessible to a group of people from a river, as in early civilizations, they had to live close to the water. And, it's also had a lot to do with architecture as we saw through your post on Rome and concrete. Now, however, we take it so much for granted. Earlier peoples had to work so hard to transport it, but now we just flip a tap, so I don't think it has to do near as much with our way of life now as it did back then.
ReplyDeleteAlicia, yes, I noticed that to, so I put it as another example what I think is Eloquence in the Bushman culture-repetition! It is indeed come from their oral tradition. All the poems, stories, and songs in the book that I found are just translations taken straight from the speaker's mouth. I think this kind of repetition, seen so much in their poems, is how the Bushman people were able to preserve their oral knowledge. It definitely helped me a lot when parts of King Benjamin's speech were similar to those before!
ReplyDelete