Bushmen Essay

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Online Ethnography I chose to select the “Bushmen” or San as many people know them because I have seen many documentaries and information regarding these indigenous people and became interested in their culture. They were given this name “San” after a long war against the colonists and its interpreted by the krugarpark website as, “Freedom from domination and colonization.” Now most people are known them for their name as the Bushmen. The geographic location of the Bushmen, according to survival international, “There are 100,000 Bushmen in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola.” Their language is very unique and widely popular because of their clicks and writing symbols. Religion is a huge part of the Bushmen’s culture and they believe in one god with lesser gods. Spirits are another factor of their religion and the spirit kaggen is recognized the most in their culture, the spirit was created to help or be foolish. Rituals vary from healing dances to rain dances. The rain dance is known around the world and the men would first dance around the women, becoming so intense that they will begin to be in a trance. A rite of passage in the Bushmen ritual requires using an animal called the eland and this is used during a boys’ first kill, girls’ puberty, marriage and even during those dances. The Bushmen will eat mostly anything for example here is a list of food: antelope, zebra, porcupine, wild hare, lion, giraffe, fish, insects, tortoise, flying ants, snakes, hyena, eggs and wild honey. Every part of the animal is used; they rarely waste their food because there are so many ways to use them. They could use animals to make blankets and the bones are even used for marrow. The hardest thing to find among the Bushmen is water because they are always migrating. Mostly to get water they will dig holes in the sand hoping to find some water. Because of the lack of

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