In his paper “Eating Christmas in the Kalahari,” Richard Lee recounts his close acquaintance with traditions of one African tribe, namely, the Kung Bushman. The story is built on the Kung Bushmen’s annual custom of haunting and slaughtering an ox for the commune during Christmas, in which the author had to take part. As a result, Lee elaborates on the lessons gained from local beliefs, values, and customs and compares them with those that are common in the American society.
The first valuable lesson Richard Lee obtain is the high importance of humility or modesty for individuals and the overall society. When Lee hunted an enormous ox and presented it as a gift for the community, they did not begin to gratitude or praise him, as the American citizens typically do. On the contrary, they started degrading and ridiculing the gift, thereby embarrassing and perplexing the scholar. Lee’s ethnocentrism manifested in this case because he expected at least hearing “thank you,” not mockeries and jokes towards him. However, aborigines followed this practice to keep their fellows humble and protect them from arrogance. One tribesman explains, “When a young man kills much meat, he comes to think of himself as a chief or a big man, and he thinks of the rest of us as his servants” (Lee, 1969, p. 225) Additionally, Kung Bushmen strived to preserve the sense of brotherhood and generosity by giving each member a chance to haunt during the Christmas season and sharing the obtained prey among all people.
Reference
Lee, R. B. (1969). Eating Christmas in the Kalahari. American Museum of Natural History. Web.