We were driving home this evening and my 5 yr old says, "Mum, what language did Adam and Eve speak?"
Me: "I don't know, darling. I don't think anybody knows. What language do you think they spoke?"
Daughter, after a reflective pause: "I think they spoke African."
Me, quickly reflecting on recent readings which stated that people probably originated in Africa, and wondering what on earth could have led my 5 year old to that conclusion, "Why do you think that?"
Daughter: "Because they lived in Africa?" (Fair enough, I thought, they speak African because they live in Africa.)
Daughter: "I think they spoke Aboriginal and Spanish and Italian too."
Me, somewhat bewildered: "Why do you think they spoke those languages?"
Daughter: "Because I think they spoke every language."
Me: "Don't you think they would just have spoken one language?"
Daughter: "No. I think they spoke all the languages, or else where would they come from?"
That sounds like good logic from a 5 year old, I thought.
Daughter: "They even spoke German!"
Me: "Uhuh, why do you think they spoke German?
Daughter: "Because they were African!"
Five year old logic. Can't beat it.
Tuesday 19 March 2013
Monday 18 March 2013
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Reading!
It is 7.38pm. My son is in bed with his bottle, the dishes are done, my husband has gone to a bible study, and my daughter.... is lying in bed reading a book to herself! Hurray hurray! This is what I've been working towards for the last three years.
Books are wonderful things. They can take you to another world, just by opening the cover! Reading was a great adventure when I was a child. It still is, but especially when I was a child. I loved discovering hidden treasure and catching crooks with the Famous Five. I loved being swept up in the tragedies and triumphs of Anne of Green Gables. I loved the excitement and the characters in Enid Blyton's circus and school stories. I loved the world of colonial Australia conjured up in the Billabong series, and the particular wit and challenges of Sybilla in My Brilliant Career.
I am so glad my daughter can read to herself now. Although, reading is probably the thing I enjoy doing most with my children. Obviously she has been learning to read for some time now, but tonight was the first night I saw her pick up a book with 3 or 4 sentences on each page and read it undaunted. I am proud of her. She is only 5 and a half!
Books are wonderful things. They can take you to another world, just by opening the cover! Reading was a great adventure when I was a child. It still is, but especially when I was a child. I loved discovering hidden treasure and catching crooks with the Famous Five. I loved being swept up in the tragedies and triumphs of Anne of Green Gables. I loved the excitement and the characters in Enid Blyton's circus and school stories. I loved the world of colonial Australia conjured up in the Billabong series, and the particular wit and challenges of Sybilla in My Brilliant Career.
I am so glad my daughter can read to herself now. Although, reading is probably the thing I enjoy doing most with my children. Obviously she has been learning to read for some time now, but tonight was the first night I saw her pick up a book with 3 or 4 sentences on each page and read it undaunted. I am proud of her. She is only 5 and a half!
Wednesday 13 March 2013
Ritual torture amongst a technologically advanced tribe
I am studying anthropology. Anthropologists study humans, especially their cultural practices. My attention was recently drawn to a cultural practice of ritual torture amongst an ethnic group generally considered to have left the stone ages behind a long time ago.
Innate amongst these people is a cultural belief that death and sickness can be held at bay by rituals of pain and torture. In a twist of perception unusual amongst this culture, which generally focusses on the desires of the immediate present, people believe that if they undergo regular tortuous rituals now, they will avoid physical suffering later. These rituals usually involve painful physical exertion, often to the limit of a person's endurance, ritual ingestion of strange foodstuffs, and deprivation of satiety.
This ethnic group believes that a person's value is intrinsically linked to their physical abilities, and other tribesmen's perception of their physicality. Indeed, tribesmen who have reached the peak of their physical abilities are generally held up as Holy Muscle Men, a form of human God and something tribesmen devote hours of their day to achieving. The strongest and fastest tribesmen holds both economic and social domination, especially when negotiating a marriage or accumulating concubines. These strongmen are held in such high esteem that in some cases they are even considered to be above the system of law.
The more economic surplus this ethnic group generates, the more temples they erect, with at least one usually being found in every village. These temples usually contain several Physical Holy Men dedicated to inflicting ritual torture upon their devoted followers. In another paradox, this culture which prides itself on being cognitively aware, allows these Physical Holy Men to, almost hypnotically, co-erce participants into self infliction of pain. Indeed rituals are often accompanied by rhythmically hypnotic music.
Tribesmen often bring a large part of their earnings to give as an offering to these temples, in return for which they are allowed to take part in group ritual torture sessions. These groups vary in size from just a few people to hundreds and even thousands, with being part of a mass ritual considered to be a great privilege. Whilst suffering varies in amount, it is generally acknowledged that the more pain a person can take, the higher their place in the hierarchy will be, with those at the top suffering not only rituals of extreme physical exertion but also ritual beating by highly trained Holy Beating Men, and rituals whereby one's body is subjected to extreme temperatures.
In another cultural paradox, this ethnic group who are usually so fastidious about quality of information, have allowed the rituals prescribed by the Physical Holy Men to remain shrouded in mystery. (Perhaps all good religions need some mystery.) In other areas of learning, tribesmen are encouraged to question knowledge with the goal of adding to it, but the religious hold of the Physical Holy Men is so strong that tribesmen show unquestioning obedience, and the secret knowledge they posess is only divulged upon the receipt of considerably large offerings.
The goal of Malinowski, who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of anthropology, was to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, and to realise his vision of his world. Hopefully this little essay has helped shed some light on the strange practices of this unusual ethnic tribe.
Innate amongst these people is a cultural belief that death and sickness can be held at bay by rituals of pain and torture. In a twist of perception unusual amongst this culture, which generally focusses on the desires of the immediate present, people believe that if they undergo regular tortuous rituals now, they will avoid physical suffering later. These rituals usually involve painful physical exertion, often to the limit of a person's endurance, ritual ingestion of strange foodstuffs, and deprivation of satiety.
This ethnic group believes that a person's value is intrinsically linked to their physical abilities, and other tribesmen's perception of their physicality. Indeed, tribesmen who have reached the peak of their physical abilities are generally held up as Holy Muscle Men, a form of human God and something tribesmen devote hours of their day to achieving. The strongest and fastest tribesmen holds both economic and social domination, especially when negotiating a marriage or accumulating concubines. These strongmen are held in such high esteem that in some cases they are even considered to be above the system of law.
The more economic surplus this ethnic group generates, the more temples they erect, with at least one usually being found in every village. These temples usually contain several Physical Holy Men dedicated to inflicting ritual torture upon their devoted followers. In another paradox, this culture which prides itself on being cognitively aware, allows these Physical Holy Men to, almost hypnotically, co-erce participants into self infliction of pain. Indeed rituals are often accompanied by rhythmically hypnotic music.
Tribesmen often bring a large part of their earnings to give as an offering to these temples, in return for which they are allowed to take part in group ritual torture sessions. These groups vary in size from just a few people to hundreds and even thousands, with being part of a mass ritual considered to be a great privilege. Whilst suffering varies in amount, it is generally acknowledged that the more pain a person can take, the higher their place in the hierarchy will be, with those at the top suffering not only rituals of extreme physical exertion but also ritual beating by highly trained Holy Beating Men, and rituals whereby one's body is subjected to extreme temperatures.
In another cultural paradox, this ethnic group who are usually so fastidious about quality of information, have allowed the rituals prescribed by the Physical Holy Men to remain shrouded in mystery. (Perhaps all good religions need some mystery.) In other areas of learning, tribesmen are encouraged to question knowledge with the goal of adding to it, but the religious hold of the Physical Holy Men is so strong that tribesmen show unquestioning obedience, and the secret knowledge they posess is only divulged upon the receipt of considerably large offerings.
The goal of Malinowski, who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of anthropology, was to grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, and to realise his vision of his world. Hopefully this little essay has helped shed some light on the strange practices of this unusual ethnic tribe.
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