Indigenous Lifestyle

Today I was watching a marathon of documentaries of the indigenous people of the world. All I can say is 'WOW'. I saw one from a tribe in Africa where the girls of the tribe are set to marry men at a very young age. They interviewed one girl and she spoke of how she hates men, all they do is beat you, yell at you and hurt you. She hated all men and spoke of how most married men drive their women back to their father's home because of how badly they were treated by their husbands. How sad is that? From that similar tribe you heard men speaking amongst themselves about how they pay men for their daughters hand in marriage (like they were property and not humans) and how others steal wives while the men are away trying to find food for families. WOW WOW WOW! They had a funeral for one of the women that died because of the lack of health care. The nearest hospital being days away by foot there was no way she'd make it. When she passed away the entire tribe was mourning. Women and children cramped up into the small hut where she died all of them crying while the men outside dug her grave and sat around the hut taking turns blowing a horn that signified a loss in their tribe. It was just a completely different culture, I doubt I'd survive such conditions, the women were really put to work hard in the tribe; little girls were walking miles on end to reach a spring to fetch huge tubs of water and walked back to their home with the tubs on their heads, FULL!! Crazy!

There was another tribe in Brazil that really caught my attention. They didn't focus so much on their hardships but more on their traditions. This tribe had traditions during eclipses. They believed that during an eclipse bad spirits come out and bring bad omens to tribes, so they keep it from entering their tribe by having a long festivity involving the entire tribe young and old alike. I guess what shocked me the most was that these people weren't aware of their nudity. They lived without worries such a carefree life. I was telling my husband how cool it would be if we could live a life of no financial burdens, no worries of needing an education or a job, no outside influence from the bigger world out there. This tribe, everyone seemed so happy, as if they didn't have a care in the world. It made me wonder how that would be, to live like them, how different, how fun and interesting. I don't know, viewing these documentaries really made me think about things, I just thought I'd share this little bit of info with you.