Anthropology - The Forest People
According to Colin Turnbull the Mbuti not only look at the forest for a religious system but more for a way of life. The Mbuti look to the forest for all aspect of their life. The forest is the provider and the protector of the Mbuti, and also provides the Mbuti with food, shelter, work, and an overall reason for being. The Mbuti feel that there should be no reason to go outside of the forest except to do so to exchange goods with the villagers. The Mbuti benefit from the villagers and the villagers benefit from the Mbuti in the exchange process, but the Mbuti are not fond of other acts that the villagers feel they should carry out. The villagers feel that the Mbuti should incorporate more of their ways into their everyday living, and to a certain extent the Mbuti humor the villagers with the Elima ritual. The Mbuti may take part in certain acts with the villagers but learn with the death of Balekimito, a well respected elder woman of the tribe, that things were not right and it was time to go back to the forest and remain true to their own beliefs and ways.
The Mbuti tribe work hand and hand with one another it is a system of each individual person putting in their efforts for the betterment of the tribe as a whole. The men play their part in hunting and getting while the women and children assist by making loud noises to scare that game out for the men to kill. The women carry out a major roll in the tribe for they are the ones that build the huts. The Mbuti do not stay in one location of the forest for to long at a time and every time they move the women all go out into the forest and gather supplies to build their huts. Ones work is never done for when you complete your hut you move on to help the next. This is why the Mbuti system is such a beautiful thing to know of. Everyone works; eats, plays, and growes together all form the natural recourses of the forest.
The Mbuti tribe carry out a ritual explained by Turnbull as The molimo, which is...
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