Remember this: Women’s Place was not always allocated to a
non-hunting role. Even if woman didn’t hunt she was important to be mediator
between animal or the cosmos for the ‘good hunt’.
“During a 1905 African expedition, he met a hunting tribe of
Pygmies that had been driven from the plateau and had taken refuge in the
jungle of the Congo. The men and a woman from this tribe were recruited to
guide the expedition and soon developed a friendly relationship with Frobenius
and other members of the group. One day, when food supplies were depleted,
Frobenius asked one of them to shoot an antelope. He and his comrades seemed
astounded, and he then replied that it could not be done that day because no
preparation had been made. After much discussion among themselves, the Pygmies
conveyed their intention to make preparations at sunrise the next morning. They
then went off, as though searching for an appropriate site, and eventually agreed
on a high place on a nearby hill. Frobenius described the subsequent events.
As I was eager to learn what their preparations consisted
of, I left camp before dawn and crept through the bush to the open place which
they had sought out the night before. The Pygmies appeared in the twilight, the
woman with them. The men crouched on the ground, plucked a small square free of
weeds and smoothed it over with their hands. One of them drew something in the
cleared spaces with his forefinger, while his companions murmured some kind of
formula or incantation, then a waiting silence. The sun rose on the horizon.
One of the men, an arrow on his bowstring, took his place beside the square. A
few minutes later the rays of the sun fell on the drawing at his feet. In the
same second the woman stretched out her arms to the sun, shouting words I did
not understand, the man shot his arrow and the woman cried again. Then the
three men bounded off through the bush while the woman stood for a few minutes
and then went slowly towards our camp. As she disappeared I came forward and
looking down at the smoothed square of sand, saw the drawing of an antelope
four hands long. From the antelope’s neck protruded the Pygmies arrow.
" (Grey 1993-9)
As I was reading this excerpt from Gary Gray’s book
entitled, Wildlife and People: The Human Dimensions of Wildlife Ecology,
I wanted to inspect my thoughts on the passages as read. Here were Pygmy men
performing some kind of hunting ritual where the Pygmy woman was the center
point over a drawing of the intended antelope target. I could only imagine what the
cosmology was here. I have also tried looking for information on Pygmy Hunting
rituals where they concern women but the updated version fast forwarded to the
20th century has most of them gathering fish or browse. For the Pygmy men to hunt this antelope (or
were they hunting something else?) it was important for them to do the ritual
at a certain time of day, certain location, with graphics, incantations, the
act of shooting an arrow into the antelope drawing and the woman. All those things compromised the ritual and
how this documentation from Frobenius indicated the shedding away of previous
rituals that involved women as primary participants. Even though the Pygmy
woman did not hunt but instead went back to camp, her role in the mental strategy
of the men bolstered their ability to hope for a good expedition. I assume the
antelope was the target. Whether this was some
form of hunting ritual or witchcraft remains to be seen. Either way it could
have been a way not to offend the animal itself. Or the animal could have come back for its
revenge? Again the Pygmies could have been calling on the spirits of the
antelope to make them swift in the chase………
Shamanic ritual aside the hunting ritual could have been one
of social behavior. I would wonder if women’s role in society began to slowly
be phased out or become obsolete as roles began to change or take a new shape
based on social or even ecological changes. A reoccurring theme I see in
mentalities and writings is the exclusion of women from the hunting activity much like
Hatshepsut being erased from walls in Egypt.
It’s the idea that women were once important in the hunt but
maybe after a couple of bad hunts the Pygmy men felt the Gods or whomever were
frowning down on them or women had just lost their mojo.
In conclusion this was a little gem to find but made me
think on other things particularly my role in hunting, what I contribute and
how other huntresses are perceived or challenged in the face of the changing
world of hunting which has been a male activity. If it weren’t why would it be
a big deal now to advertise women or encourage them in the sport?
Written by: W Harley Bloodworth
~Courtesy of the AOFH~
