The
Mbuti religion is focused on the forest and sees the forest as a very sacred
place. They consider themselves as “children of the forest”. There are two
central rituals in the Mbuti religion; the molimo and the elima. The molimo is
a musical instrument that the people use in the “Song of the Forest”, which is
a festival they have that lasts about a month. They see the
molimo as a living thing when it is being used to play music. They consider the molimo so alive that they
feed it, give it water, warmth, and shelter. Their society believes in
the balance between silence and noise. When there are imbalances between the
two they bring the molimo out to play music. The molimo is the Mbuti’s way of communication
between the forest and the people and overall serenity.
The
elima is a formal ritual to mark a young woman’s first menses. It is a time of
sexual freedom to help her select a future partner. During this time the women
are taught the elima songs as well as how to be a mother. This is a very joyous
time for the Mbuti tribe. At the end of the ceremony the girls as considered in
the Mbuti tribe as adult women.
Fuentes, C.
2005 Mbuti pygmies. In Encyclopedia of anthropology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Electronic document, http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sageanth/mbuti_pygmies/0
Myself being catholic, it is very interesting seeing how the Mbuti's religion works. I see some similarities and differences. Catholics sing many hymns during mass as well as use many musical instruments like how the Mbuti use the molimo, and teach the women elima songs. However, I could never imagine trying to feed a musical instrument and give it water. I personally think that is particularly strange.
ReplyDeleteI see the elima as kind of the catholics way of saving yourself until marriage. Although the Mbuti do this ritual at a much younger age then when the average catholic woman gets married. I also think that the women are having sexual relations with many different men ("sexual freedom") during this time to find their future partner ("the one"). Catholics only believe in having sex with your husband so there is a big difference there.
One thing I found very interesting was that the Mbuti actually use some type of birth control during this time when the women are trying to find their future partner. There have been no occurrences of babies being born because of this ritual. This is interesting to me since I am aware than many different religions are against birth control methods.
You guys are awesome!!! Thanks for doing this great reflexive comment. The only thing I see so far reading all these comments is the references. You are using APA, I believe, and you need to look at page 11 of the AAA Style Guide, if you mean to write a chapter within a book (Encyclopedia). However, I see it is online, so maybe page 14 of the Guide I posted on Canvas. You will need to make a decision there, and you can email me and ask me before your final presentation. But overall, you guys are doing a great job. Thank you!
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