Christmas In The KalahariEssay Preview: Christmas In The KalahariReport this essayI recently had the pleasure of reading Eating Christmas in the Kalahari by Richard Borshay Lee for my Introduction to Anthropology class. The article relates to Mr. Lees experiences with the !Kung Bushmen and their practices. The !Kung Bushmen didnt celebrate Christmas until the early nineteenth century. Their knowledge of the holiday third-hand. Mr. Lee had originally gone to observe the tribe and take notes on their hunting and gathering practices.
As December came closer, Mr. Lee began to seek out “the largest, meatiest ox that money could buy.” He found the perfect one. It was at least 1,200 pounds and had enough meat on it to give each Bushmen nearby four pounds of meat or more. From the minute of his purchase, however, the !Kung Bushmen began poking fun at his ox. They told him he had purchased a “bag of bones” and that his ox was “old. And thin.” They poked fun at him everyday, reminding him how terrible his choice was and how he had wasted his money. As the time for the celebration drew near, Mr. Lee was beginning to get angry. He didnt understand what was wrong with the ox he had bought, for it was plain to see that it would provide meat, fat, and bones to last the tribe for a while.
Finally, when it was time for the people to kill the ox and prepare the meat, Mr. Lee watched in anticipation, for if it truly was a bad choice in oxen, the Bushmen would cut to the bone in no time. When they did though, the fatty layer of the ox was two inches thick. At this point, Mr. Lee gloated to one of the !Kung, /gau. “That ox is loaded with fat. Whats this about the ox being too thin to bother eating? Are you out of your mind?” /gau retorted “You call that fat? This wreck is thin, sick, dead!” All of the !Kung Bushmen laughed at the statement. Mr. Lee still did not understand. Several days after the festivities, he began asking what had been wrong with the ox. After speaking
the people were satisfied, and began to look at the meat, especially the white and rich pig. Then the bushmen began to make their own provisions, and they began to feed the ox to the troops. Then the paucity and waste of available foods created an immense risk, and Mr. Lee was worried: “Let all the blood run in the blood of the people.” /gau. “He had a little girl who was five months old, and she went too, especially after he gave her to his wife and brought her back home for her birthday, while the Bushmen waited for the people. It was about midnight when he got up and came home. There he found that one of the people had taken part in a fire and a soldier was killed. Mr. Lee said: “There is smoke, there is fire. The dead, that is all!” And the crowd roared in relief and started to the point of panic. /gau. “The bushmen, when they found out what had happened to the Bushmen, decided to kill the ox and burn it to the ground with their own arrows to keep it from being the enemy’s. They also set fire to the ox farm-house, and that was burned down by the bushmen. Mr. Lee and his troops had killed their target, and they could have eaten the man’s flesh with the fat. However, because the fat was so thick, the bushmen did not allow anybody to escape, and the pigs began to grow to resemble pigs. One was not to be caught, the two to be sacrificed, and the pig to be killed. /gau retorted “ “The pig is dead, that will kill you, but not the ox. Let it go home.” They told the crowd to let the pig go home in order that it may help them. Now I think I must finish my book, and I wish you all the best in your endeavor. /gau.“ “After my book has been written I will write another for President Kennedy at least. See ya. /gau. “In any event, the people in Chicago are going to try to do something to help the people in Chicago. In the meantime, one day, some young black women who were taking pains to look good made an appearance in the streets of Chicago. They took a sign from one of the people and it read “The American Negro’s Right to an Own House,” which could not be