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The Himbas of Namibia in Southern Africa
The date of birth of a child is set, not at the time of his coming to the world, nor to the one of his design, but much earlier: from the day when the child Is thought in the spirit of his mother.
When a woman decides she's going to have a child, she sets up and rests under a tree, and she listens until she can hear the song of the child who wants to be born. And after she heard the song of this child, she comes back to the man who will be the father of the child to teach him this singing. And then, when they make love to physically design the child, they sing the singing of the child, in order to invite him.
When the mother is pregnant, she teaches the song of this child to the midwives and the elder women of the village. So well that when the child is born, the old women and the people around him sing his song to welcome him.
As the child grows, the other villagers learn his song. So well that if the child falls, or gets hurt, he always finds himself someone to raise him and sing his song. Also, if the child is doing something wonderful, or successfully crosses the rites of passage, the people of the village sing his song to honor him.
In the tribe, there is another opportunity where the villagers sing for the child. If, at any time during his life, the person commits a crime or an aberrant social act, the individual is called in the center of the village and the people of the community form a circle around him. Then they sing his song.
The tribe recognizes that the correction of an antisocial behavior does not pass through punishment, it is by the love and reminder of identity. When you recognize your own song, you don't want to or need to do anything that would harm the other.
And in the same way through their lives. In the wedding, the songs are sung, together. And when, became old, this child is lying in his bed, ready to die, all the villagers know his song, and they sing, for the last time, his song. "
«Благодаря общению в ходе выполнения коллективного ритуала члены ритуального собрания образуют небольшие, неформальные, первичные группы разных видов, которые характеризуются сильными чувствами лояльности, взаимной привязанности, кооперации и взаимопомощи». А. Коэн.
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