BaYaka adults rarely make children toys. Instead, children make toys themselves, and these toys reflect what they see around them. In the top video, you can see a forest spirit, named Ejengi, dancing. Ejengi is a men’s spirit that usually dances at funerals or special events. In the bottom video, children have made Ejengi spinning toys out of palm fronds. When younger children don’t have the dexterity to shred the leaves, older children make these toys for them. You can hear Sarah, in the second video, asking in Lingala: “what is this?” The children answer: “Ejengi“.
A post shared by Dr. Sarah Pope (@sezdoesscience) on Oct 2, 2018 at 2:46pm PDT
A post shared by Dr. Sarah Pope (@sezdoesscience) on Oct 5, 2018 at 6:19am PDT
Comments