We were home all day. I only walked outside to get the mail. I now have my bank debit card. The PIN came separately, but it was in the same mail box, so I’m not sure how secure it really is coming “separately.”
I finished Once Intrepid Warriors by anthropologist Dorothy Hodgson. There were finally some glimmers of hope: 1) education in general, but especially for the women due to limited gender roles in a traditional society, narrowed even further by “development,” and 2) the opportunities for women to have community through the Christian church. These are over simplifications, but my brain is too tired to do more with them.
Then I read a paper by Fr. Gene Hillman on Maasai Religion, broadening my sources and some details. He had some more Kimaasai names for the Maasai creator, Engai, and specifics on blessings and curses. The examples written were in the blessings category, which is probably good that I’m not learning Maasai curse words!
I did a bit more writing, broadening my sources, and then started on Naomi Kipury’s Oral Literature of the Maasai. These are the stories that relay myths related to cosmogony and cultural roles of men and women, i.e., why women no longer have cows, relaying that they were too focused on their children and the cows wandered away. That’s why men own the cows. Hmm.
Anya was able to Skype with her friends, Annaliese and JaLynn, tonight. It is wonderful to have the ability to easily keep in touch and have a highlight to a long day of not much else exciting. She did finish her essay on a poem that she had to analyse for her online English class, and she is doing a bit of typing up quotes for me. She gets a bit of income, and I save time typing up quotes from books.
Anya’a classmate, with whom she went to the movie last night, is off in Bergen to discuss her upcoming confirmation with her grandparents. Confirmation is a rite of passage here, where youth get their bunad (traditional dress). They are quite expensive, often reaching $4,000! Here’s an example.
However, the traditional colors and designs are geographic specific. Here’s the bunad for our area, Rogaland.
And the young men get male versions:
Curiously, because confirmation is a rite of passage, even the atheists have a confirmation. I wonder what they confirm? (Atheists are called humanists here, which is an incongruity with too narrow parameters of this word.)