Kung Bushmen Call Christmas Analysis

1. What do the !Kung Bushmen call Christmas? Why do they call it this? The !Kung Bushmen idea of Christmas is " praise the birth of the white man's god-chief". They are calling it this way, because it was and still seem to be a holiday that is foreign to their belief system and their culture. It was brought to them in the early nineteen century by The London Missionary Society. The name "the birth of the white man's god-chief", they gave the holiday, clearly sets it apart from themselves. They accept it and celebrat it because it is the one day a year when everybody gets enough food, as an ox is slaughtered to fulfill the traditional requirement of a "proper Christmas celebration."

2. What does the anthropologist bring to the Christmas

They complained that there will not be enough meat to go around, men will fight over the food, and the celebration will be a disaster. Together, they planted enough fear in the mind of the anthropologist, that even though once he was convinced and proud of his pick, he started to worry that the ox was not good enough, and the celebration will be ruined. In the end, after the ox was slaughtered, it proved to be indeed a very meaty animal, with plenty of white layers of fat. The anthropologist discovered that Bushmen collectively played a joke on him. They all knew what a beautiful animal they were receiving, yet they all complained about it, calling it a "bag of bones". Only later did the anthropologist learned that it was the Bushmen's tradition to criticize, and they routinely did it to themselves. They did it to keep their arrogance in check, and their humility

Tomazo told Richard, that it is their tradition to put down anyone and his accomplishment, no matter how great it is, as not to fuel his ego. Richard learned that it was his status in the community as the only tobacco provider in the area and the " medicine men", and now the fattest ox donor, that had the Bushmen worry about his "expanding" ego. He learned that humility was what the Bushmen valued the most. Buying the biggest ox made Richard believe it was an act of generosity, and it was viewed as such by the community he gifted it to. However, Richard came from a culture where gifts are received with gratefulness, not put downs, and so he was perplexed by the reception of his gift. The criticism he received for his gift was a return gift to Richard, although he did not know it yet. It meant to prevent Richard from becoming arrogant. The Bushmen worried that Richard's generosity, would make him proud, something they did not appreciate in their culture. Richard has learned that it is easy to misinterpret, or misunderstand the intentions of other people when you " filter" them through your own system of values and beliefs. The joke played by the Bushmen made Richard realize that there are " no totally generous