One of the most unusual tribes of Africa.
African kung tribe is one of the mysterious peoples that practically no contact with civilization and live by their primitive laws.
These people have names, they don’t keep track of time, and live on average no longer than 30 years, but in his short life mastering the fine art of hunting for wild animals and extraction of water in the desert. Famous kung Bushmen their mystical rituals…
Southern Africa is the Kalahari desert. It is there twenty thousand years ago and settled tribes of Bushmen kung. They engaged in hunting and gathering, believe in spirits and communicate with them during ritual dances. Bushmen look different from the other blacks: they have lighter skin and thin lips. Living according to ancient customs, this African nation roams the Savannah with groups of 20 – 60 people, consisting in relationship. The group settle at a great distance from each other to get to the neighbors, you may need from several days to several weeks of Hiking.
For twenty years, scientists have observed the life of the Bushmen and 900 revealed an interesting pattern: in the kung language has no words for numbers greater than three, also they do not use the script. Anthropologists decided to tie the age of the Bushmen to certain events that occurred in the tribe, but it didn’t work out. The Bushmen are simply no events known civilization.
During a severe drought when the crops fade and the loss of cattle, their way of life almost unchanged. Hunger they can satisfy, eating “bushinsky rice” – the ant larvae, and a real delicacy for them is the fried grasshoppers.
To get water in the dry season, the Bushmen, proceed as follows: at the bottom of a dried-up source, dig a hole, stick a tube in it and pull your mouth water from it. For collecting moisture is the shells of ostrich eggs.
The only event that is usually significant for the tribe – a murder among the Bushmen. For twenty years such cases were 3 to 4. Once it was connected to the theft of honey, since honey is considered to be the property of the person who found it. Another conflict occurred because when a young bachelor with one of the two wives of an elderly relative, but murder is not reached.
Usually, any conflicts are solved with the aid of poisoned arrows. A person need only to grab a poisoned arrow, and his fate is sealed. In this regard, it is the custom when meeting strange men to postpone bows to the side.
If the murder still occurred, then to a tribe it could become a landmark event. Sometimes, the women reported that they had a baby at the time when the murder was committed. If the child was born, when killing was not, to determine its age is almost impossible.
Over the years of observations, scientists have concluded that representatives of the tribe kung live an average of not more than 30 years. This figure is derived from the huge child mortality. To death kids the Bushmen are easy, believes that this is a common phenomenon, allegedly takes kids God.
The most respectable members of the tribe are considered kung healers, as a rule, they are men of advanced (for them, of course, standards) age. To protect the entire settlement, healers performed a ritual dance, during which fall into a trance. The action may be accompanied by use of drugs, and can last for up to 36 hours. Reaching the ecstasy, the healer leans over a patient and literally takes him from the illness in his body. After – “shakes” it out. Often the healer can hurt yourself, head down to the fire, to receive burns. Kung believe that this time he’s half dead, and this sacrifice saves his people.
