The Forest People

Turnbull returns to the elima and explains the practice in detail. The elima is a celebration that takes place when girls bleed for the first time. The Pygmies see this as a time of joy and thanksgiving. Everyone in the village is told the news, and festivities take place to mark the occasion. Turnbull contrasts this view sharply with that of the village. In the village, girls are shunned during this period. Blood is evil and troublesome, and the villagers believe that bad things will happen to people if the girls are around the rest of the village during this time. The girls are ostracized and separated from others.

The Pygmy girls like the elima because it gives them a ceremony similar to the boys’ nkumbi. The villagers think this practice of ‘being like the boys’ is appalling, yet they allow the Pygmies to have their ceremony. During the elima, the girls are placed inside a house and their friends accompany them. The older women visit as well, and the girls are taught the songs they will sing now that they are women. They also learn how to do domestic things.