I a precedent intervention in the ‘origin of violence in Africa’ thread I had mentioned the negrito’s ‘mystery’. I don’t know if it is a kind of synchronicity… but the same day I receive a version of Passeport to Magonia which I started immediately to read. What a great book !( and surely not only because of this link to the Negritos).
But first I advise you to at least have a look at these selected links about the negritoes in many location in Asia and the beautiful picture of an Andamanese woman with steatopygia and her child :
http://olimu.com/Notes/Steatopygia.jpg
http://www.bohol.ph/books/nz/nz.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21852/21852-h/21852-h.htm
http://peoplesofthailand.wordpress.com/2008/04/
http://www.andaman.org/
http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2005/V19n2/WanderingsInThePhilippines3.htm
http://agta.4t.com/literatureandlegends.html
http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/Synopsis%206.htm
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter1/text1.htm
http://www.andamanese.net/jarawa.htm
It happens that on page 71-72 of the Secret of the Commonwealth chapter, references are made to negritos in the British Islands !
Quotes :
In spite of their Small size, they are understood to have been of considérable strength. They were not undersized in the same way that children are, but full grown individuals…
These dwarfs or pygmies are calles Na Amhuisgean or, more correctly, Na h-Amhuisgean….
« Were there or were there no trace of dwarfs living among the West and Middle European of antiquity ? Were the legends about the fayries and the Elves based on the fact that the ancient inhabitants of the northern part of the British Isles were such a race ? Historical and archeological researchers definitely say no, and we must agree with them. Yet several writers such as David Mac Ritchie, claim that there are indications in this direction, and of course such indications would be crucial to any theory concerning the nature of the humanoïds . »
In a book published in London in 1894, Tyson’s Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the ancient, Professor Windle of Birmingham, remarks that a race of dwrfs supplied the « best warriors » and body guard of several Kings. Tyson made an extensive study of the dwarfs races and quote the Greek historian Ctesias :
Middle India has black men, who are calles pygmies, using the same language as other Indians…of these Pygmies, the king of India has three thousand in his train ; for they are skillful archers. And he adds :
There seems to have been near lake Zerrah, in Persia, Negrito (pygmy black) tribes who are probably aboriginal, and may have formed the historic black guard of the ancient king of Susania. Tyson’s work, to which Windle provided the Preface, was written in the seventeenth century. After calling attention to the remark by Ctesias, it goes on :
Talentonius and Barthilinbe think that Ctesias relates of the pygmies, as their being very good archers, very well illustrate this text of Ezékiel.
…
Whitout going into further détails, it is clear that the Gaelic story of guard or dwarfs warriors is not an isolated case.
If we return to David MacRitchie’s quotation from the Flemish folklore jornal Ons Volksleven, we can learn more :
…The Fenlanders (a race dwelling in our country prior to the Kelts) were little, but strong, dexterous and good swimmers, they lived by hunting annd fishing. Adam of Bremen inthe eleventh century thus pictures their descendant of race : « they had large heads, flat faces, flat noses, large mouths. They lived in caves of the rocks, which they quitted at night-time for the purpose of commiting sanguinary outrage » The Keltic people, and later those of German race, sot all and strong, could hardlylook upon such little folks as human beings. They must have regarded them as strange, mysterious créatures. And when these negroes (emphases mine) or Fenlander had lived for a long enaugh time hidden, for fear of the new people, in their grottoes, especially when they at length fell into decay through poverty, or died out, they became changed in the imagination of the dreamy Germans into mysterious beings, a kind of ghost od gods.
Later on about the pygmy theory he adds :
« I believe we have at least established that there were open questions in the mind of the scolars of all epochs concerning such beings, and on the point Hartland docs not disagree with MacRitchie : « Nothing is more likely than the transfer to the mythical beings of the Celtic superstition of some features derived from alien races. »
There is more but I just can’t quote all :(.
And to end up for this time I think that we should ponder this amazing article in the Taipei Times :D
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/11/27/2003212815
In honor of the Little Black People
The Saisiyat tribe of Hsinchu and Miaoli will perform a solemn rite this weekend to commemorate a race of people that they exterminated
By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 27, 2004, Page 16
Xiangtian Lake is one of two places to see the ritual.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Drinking, singing and dancing are expected to take place deep in the mountains of Miaoli and Hsinchu when the "Ritual of the Little Black People" (矮靈祭) is performed by the Saisiyat tribe once again this weekend.
For the past 100 years or so, the Saisiyat tribe (賽夏族) has performed the songs and rites of the festival to bring good harvests, ward off bad luck and keep alive the spirit of a race of people who are said to have preceded all others in Taiwan.
In fact, the short, black men the festival celebrates are one of the most ancient types of modern humans on this planet and their kin still survive in Asia today. They are said to be diminutive Africoids and are variously called Pygmies, Negritos and Aeta. They are found in the Philippines, northern Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra in Indonesia and other places.
Chinese historians called them "black dwarfs" in the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220 to AD 280) and they were still to be found in China during the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911). In Taiwan they were called the "Little Black People" and, apart from being diminutive, they were also said to be broad-nosed and dark-skinned with curly hair.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
After the Little Black People -- and well before waves of Han migrations after 1600 -- came the Aboriginal tribes, who are part of the Austronesian race. They are thought to have come from the Malay Archipelago 6,000 years ago at the earliest and around 1,000 years ago at the latest, though theories on Aborigine migration to Taiwan are still hotly debated. Gradually the Little Black People became scarcer, until a point about 100 years ago, when there was just a small group living near the Saisiyat tribe.
Saisiyat tribe members perform the Ritual of the Little Black People in Wufeng
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The story goes that the Little Black People taught the Saisiyat to farm by providing seeds and they used to party together. But one day, the Little Black People sexually harassed some Aboriginal women. So, the Saisiyat took revenge and killed them off by cutting a bridge over which they were all crossing. Just two Little Black People survived. Before departing eastward, they taught the Saisiyat about their culture and passed down some of their songs, saying if they did not remember their people they would be cursed and their crops would fail.
The Saisiyat kept their promise and have held the Ritual of the Little Black People every year, though they scaled down the ceremonies during the Japanese colonial period (1895 to 1945). Now the ritual is held every two years on the 10th full moon of the lunar calendar, with a big festival once every 10 years. At this time, the Saisiyat are not supposed to fight and they congregate in their ancestral areas of Miaoli and Hsinchu, in the mountains.
"I've seen it written of as a celebration, but to me it seemed quite a mournful affair, especially in the way the music came across, which was trancelike, a haunting kind of chant with a series of 10 to 15 songs," said long-term Taiwan resident Lynn Miles, who has been to the ritual three times and will be going again this year.
"There's nothing else quite like it in its tone and in its mood. I've been to other festivals but this is non-stop."
Miles said the dances were not set pieces but usually involved holding hands and moving around in a circle, chanting, with those who know the songs doing most of the singing and a shaman figure keeping order.
A spokeswoman at the Council of Indigenous Peoples (under the Executive Yuan) said that those who have "unclean thoughts" have their souls snatched by the spirits of the Little Black People and will pass out until the shaman revives them.
Miles said the shaman seemed to serve a public-order function by chasing off those who were too drunk or out of order.
The ceremonies are held in two places. The ritual began yesterday in Nanchuang Township, Miaoli County, and will carry on there until Monday. Rituals start today in Wufeng Township, Hsinchu County, and will last through tomorrow.
Getting there:
To Wufeng:
Route 122 to Wufeng can be accessed off No. 1 Highway near Toufen.
To Nanchuang:
Take western No. 1 Highway. Near Toufen, take Route 124 toward Sanwan to Nanchuang. Shuttle buses will take visitors to the ritual site at Xiangtian La
But first I advise you to at least have a look at these selected links about the negritoes in many location in Asia and the beautiful picture of an Andamanese woman with steatopygia and her child :
http://olimu.com/Notes/Steatopygia.jpg
http://www.bohol.ph/books/nz/nz.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21852/21852-h/21852-h.htm
http://peoplesofthailand.wordpress.com/2008/04/
http://www.andaman.org/
http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2005/V19n2/WanderingsInThePhilippines3.htm
http://agta.4t.com/literatureandlegends.html
http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/Synopsis%206.htm
http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter1/text1.htm
http://www.andamanese.net/jarawa.htm
It happens that on page 71-72 of the Secret of the Commonwealth chapter, references are made to negritos in the British Islands !
Quotes :
In spite of their Small size, they are understood to have been of considérable strength. They were not undersized in the same way that children are, but full grown individuals…
These dwarfs or pygmies are calles Na Amhuisgean or, more correctly, Na h-Amhuisgean….
« Were there or were there no trace of dwarfs living among the West and Middle European of antiquity ? Were the legends about the fayries and the Elves based on the fact that the ancient inhabitants of the northern part of the British Isles were such a race ? Historical and archeological researchers definitely say no, and we must agree with them. Yet several writers such as David Mac Ritchie, claim that there are indications in this direction, and of course such indications would be crucial to any theory concerning the nature of the humanoïds . »
In a book published in London in 1894, Tyson’s Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the ancient, Professor Windle of Birmingham, remarks that a race of dwrfs supplied the « best warriors » and body guard of several Kings. Tyson made an extensive study of the dwarfs races and quote the Greek historian Ctesias :
Middle India has black men, who are calles pygmies, using the same language as other Indians…of these Pygmies, the king of India has three thousand in his train ; for they are skillful archers. And he adds :
There seems to have been near lake Zerrah, in Persia, Negrito (pygmy black) tribes who are probably aboriginal, and may have formed the historic black guard of the ancient king of Susania. Tyson’s work, to which Windle provided the Preface, was written in the seventeenth century. After calling attention to the remark by Ctesias, it goes on :
Talentonius and Barthilinbe think that Ctesias relates of the pygmies, as their being very good archers, very well illustrate this text of Ezékiel.
…
Whitout going into further détails, it is clear that the Gaelic story of guard or dwarfs warriors is not an isolated case.
If we return to David MacRitchie’s quotation from the Flemish folklore jornal Ons Volksleven, we can learn more :
…The Fenlanders (a race dwelling in our country prior to the Kelts) were little, but strong, dexterous and good swimmers, they lived by hunting annd fishing. Adam of Bremen inthe eleventh century thus pictures their descendant of race : « they had large heads, flat faces, flat noses, large mouths. They lived in caves of the rocks, which they quitted at night-time for the purpose of commiting sanguinary outrage » The Keltic people, and later those of German race, sot all and strong, could hardlylook upon such little folks as human beings. They must have regarded them as strange, mysterious créatures. And when these negroes (emphases mine) or Fenlander had lived for a long enaugh time hidden, for fear of the new people, in their grottoes, especially when they at length fell into decay through poverty, or died out, they became changed in the imagination of the dreamy Germans into mysterious beings, a kind of ghost od gods.
Later on about the pygmy theory he adds :
« I believe we have at least established that there were open questions in the mind of the scolars of all epochs concerning such beings, and on the point Hartland docs not disagree with MacRitchie : « Nothing is more likely than the transfer to the mythical beings of the Celtic superstition of some features derived from alien races. »
There is more but I just can’t quote all :(.
And to end up for this time I think that we should ponder this amazing article in the Taipei Times :D
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/11/27/2003212815
In honor of the Little Black People
The Saisiyat tribe of Hsinchu and Miaoli will perform a solemn rite this weekend to commemorate a race of people that they exterminated
By Jules Quartly
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Nov 27, 2004, Page 16
Xiangtian Lake is one of two places to see the ritual.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Drinking, singing and dancing are expected to take place deep in the mountains of Miaoli and Hsinchu when the "Ritual of the Little Black People" (矮靈祭) is performed by the Saisiyat tribe once again this weekend.
For the past 100 years or so, the Saisiyat tribe (賽夏族) has performed the songs and rites of the festival to bring good harvests, ward off bad luck and keep alive the spirit of a race of people who are said to have preceded all others in Taiwan.
In fact, the short, black men the festival celebrates are one of the most ancient types of modern humans on this planet and their kin still survive in Asia today. They are said to be diminutive Africoids and are variously called Pygmies, Negritos and Aeta. They are found in the Philippines, northern Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra in Indonesia and other places.
Chinese historians called them "black dwarfs" in the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220 to AD 280) and they were still to be found in China during the Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911). In Taiwan they were called the "Little Black People" and, apart from being diminutive, they were also said to be broad-nosed and dark-skinned with curly hair.
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
After the Little Black People -- and well before waves of Han migrations after 1600 -- came the Aboriginal tribes, who are part of the Austronesian race. They are thought to have come from the Malay Archipelago 6,000 years ago at the earliest and around 1,000 years ago at the latest, though theories on Aborigine migration to Taiwan are still hotly debated. Gradually the Little Black People became scarcer, until a point about 100 years ago, when there was just a small group living near the Saisiyat tribe.
Saisiyat tribe members perform the Ritual of the Little Black People in Wufeng
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The story goes that the Little Black People taught the Saisiyat to farm by providing seeds and they used to party together. But one day, the Little Black People sexually harassed some Aboriginal women. So, the Saisiyat took revenge and killed them off by cutting a bridge over which they were all crossing. Just two Little Black People survived. Before departing eastward, they taught the Saisiyat about their culture and passed down some of their songs, saying if they did not remember their people they would be cursed and their crops would fail.
The Saisiyat kept their promise and have held the Ritual of the Little Black People every year, though they scaled down the ceremonies during the Japanese colonial period (1895 to 1945). Now the ritual is held every two years on the 10th full moon of the lunar calendar, with a big festival once every 10 years. At this time, the Saisiyat are not supposed to fight and they congregate in their ancestral areas of Miaoli and Hsinchu, in the mountains.
"I've seen it written of as a celebration, but to me it seemed quite a mournful affair, especially in the way the music came across, which was trancelike, a haunting kind of chant with a series of 10 to 15 songs," said long-term Taiwan resident Lynn Miles, who has been to the ritual three times and will be going again this year.
"There's nothing else quite like it in its tone and in its mood. I've been to other festivals but this is non-stop."
Miles said the dances were not set pieces but usually involved holding hands and moving around in a circle, chanting, with those who know the songs doing most of the singing and a shaman figure keeping order.
A spokeswoman at the Council of Indigenous Peoples (under the Executive Yuan) said that those who have "unclean thoughts" have their souls snatched by the spirits of the Little Black People and will pass out until the shaman revives them.
Miles said the shaman seemed to serve a public-order function by chasing off those who were too drunk or out of order.
The ceremonies are held in two places. The ritual began yesterday in Nanchuang Township, Miaoli County, and will carry on there until Monday. Rituals start today in Wufeng Township, Hsinchu County, and will last through tomorrow.
Getting there:
To Wufeng:
Route 122 to Wufeng can be accessed off No. 1 Highway near Toufen.
To Nanchuang:
Take western No. 1 Highway. Near Toufen, take Route 124 toward Sanwan to Nanchuang. Shuttle buses will take visitors to the ritual site at Xiangtian La
. The Bantus have invaded Africa and I guess the way they dealt with the San was less than tender, but still there are no datas as to how it happened. All I can do is witness the fact that nowadays in West Africa, San physical traits resurface sometimes amazingly in the local actual ethnies (rather reddish complexion, pepper hair, smallness).