Mbuti boys in the Congo under initiation are prohibited from eating most birds, except some common birds as greenbuls and weavers. These prohibited birds are also regarded as kuweri. By imposing such food restrictions on the initiates, the Mbuti conceptualize circumcision as a social birth of an adult. The birds play another special role in […]
Tag: Africa
Bird stories, Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres)
To African people the vulture was the symbol of fertility. It was the grandmother who laid many eggs according to one story. Eggs out of which emerge not little vultures, but any kind of animal that there is on earth. Some tribes believe that the vulture was the original great earth mother. And our people […]
Bird stories, Brown-chested Alethe (Alethe poliocephala)
There is a food taboo for this totemic animal of a particular clan of the Mbuti hunter-gatherers of the Congo. The clan members cannot eat this animal called ngini-so (things prohibited), or ngini-so-su (things prohibited to us), which symbolize their membership of a particular clan. Should one eat such a prohibited animal, his teeth would […]
Bird stories, Black-breasted Snake-eagle (Circaetus pectoralis)
The Black-breasted Snake Eagle, like the secretary bird, is by the Zulus of South Africa considered a symbol of victory. A symbol of victory over a vicious and pitiless world. Again and again in caves and in other places of gathering, our people used to portray this bird. It is also a symbol of God’s […]
Bird stories, Blue-headed Coucal (Centropus monachus)
The Tembo tribe of the Congo use parts of the Blue-headed Coucal as medicine. Its well-dried head serves as medicine for a women who has just given birth so that she can give much milk. For this, its head is suspended over the woman’s chest with a rope called Lubiku. Also, when it sings, people […]
Bird stories, Black-casqued Hornbill (Ceratogymna atrata)
During the Tembo initiatory rites in the forest, its head is used as a mask. It is also used in the dance called Britnga among the Betende clan during the initiation ceremonies. It is thought that it flies singing Fuo, fuo, fuoo (Who lives there?). Its head is used in the treatment of headaches. One […]
Bird stories, the Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
The Betsimisaraka tribe of Madagascar tell a fable explaining why fowls scratch the earth, and why kites scream as they fly: A fowl borrowed a needle from a kite, but the needle being lost, the kite said, I am not contented with your losing my needle, so that is why the fowl scratches the ground, […]
Bird stories, Black Guineafowl (Agelastes niger)
By the Mbuti tribe of the DR Congo, the Black Guineafowl is considered to have such power to cause an illness. Several animals are thought to be sources of evil. The type of disease and its graveness vary, depending on the animals eaten. The most powerful and dangerous ones are avoided for most of the […]
Bird stories, Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus
The Mbuti tribe believes that if a pregnant woman or her husband eat this bird, a baby with an extraordinary large head may be born to them. The Tembo tribe of the Congo consider the species as a cure. Its feathers and claws are used to cure benign epilepsy. For the medical treatment, feathers and […]
Bird stories, African Pied Wagtail
It is so called because of its thin legs. It is said that someone who eats it must die. Its nest it used to heal asthma after tattoos are made on the ailer’s chest. In the Tembo tales, this bird was good at singing and the dog was good at dancing. Then one day it […]