Sri Lankan
Indigenous
people (Veddah)
The terms veddah and Wanniyala-
Aetto are the two terms most commonly used to refer the indigenous people of Sri lanka .
Those who are not of the indigenous descent use the term Veddah when referring
to the group, but the people themselves use the term Wanniyala – Aetto, meaning
forestdwellers. The veddah immigrated to Sri Lanka from India at a time
that is unknown. They claim to be the first inhabitants of the country,
although there is a little proof and much argument on who the first inhabitants
actually were. The original veddas lived in rock caves and survived off the
land and the animals that they hunted. The original weapon of the Veddah was a
bow and arrow, that constructed them, but today the shotgun has replaced that.
The Veddas do not kill young or pregnant animals; they kill only what they need
to survive. The food is then shared with their family and others. In addition
to the animals that they hunt the Veddas also eat the fruit and honey that they
gather from the land. Many of the Vedda people also practice a type of
agriculture called chena cultivation. It is a slash and burn method which the
new government sanctions. Mass ceremonies were held to legally wed those who
were alredy wed according to Veddas belief. It was also ruled that the woman
had to take the mans name in marriage. With the new laws it has become very
difficult to trace the descent of many of the Vadda people. Death like marriage
is aso made to be very simplistic. The Veddas do not hold any large ceremonies
and their loved ones are quickly placed in the ground. The bodies in a
traditional burial were covered with juices from the leaves of jungle trees or
a lime tree.
In the past, people farmed small areas of land in the forest,
cultivating them for a couple of years, and then letting rest. The men both
hunted and gathered while the women were just gatherers. Often, the woman
supplied more food for the family because the men was not always successful in
his hunt. The original diet of the Veddas developed over many years to be a
very balanced and nutritious one. However, the government made it illegal to
kill wild animals and the most veddas to be a very vegetarians. With this turn
illness and obesity were seen for the first time among the people. The group
had also never used or abused alcohol until the new government regulations were
set in to place; the alcoholism and mental illness were also seen for the first
time. The government restrictions also brought other big changes. Their culture
and language slowly started to vanish, and today there is not an original vedda
language remaining, and there is at the most, only a few hundred vedda people
left that have not inter-married with other races and still practice the old
ways of living. Many traditions and religious rituals began to disappear. The
original vedda religion was actually a type of cult, based on the worship of
ancestral spirits, known as ne yaku. They asked for the blessings of the ne
yaku and other spirits in order to keep the spirits of their dead happy. They
feared that the spirits would bring them tragedy. The veddas believed that
their deceased were always with them and they weren’t actually dead until
everybody that knew them was also dead. The veddas marriage ceremony was one of
simplicity. It involved the woman tying a bark rope, that she had woven, around
her husband to be’s waist to show that she accepted him as her mate. Vedda
woman are in several ways considered the equals of man. In many cultures a
person’s decent is traced through the man but in the vedda culture it is
traditionally traced through the woman. When a man and a woman married they
took her name.
The clothing of the vddas has
also changed. The traditional dress consisted of the men wearing a lion cloth
and the woman wearing a piece of material that covered the area between their
knees. The men now wear a sarong and the woman wears a piece of clothing that
covers from the breast line to the knees. Almost all activities of the veddas
follow the changing of the seasons. The veddas year is determined by two main
monsoons. The first, last from June to August and covers the southern and
western coastal areas and the central hill country. The second lasts from
November to the end of January and covers the northern and eastern parts of the
island, which is the area where the veddas live. The time spaces between the
two major monsoons bring thunderstorms. If theses rains do not come the veddas
experience drought and food becomes hard to come by. The vedda culture has been
deeply affected by the government of Sri Lanka and may one day case to
exist. The few original vedda that are still out there have changed
dramatically. They no longer speak their native tongue and many other aspects
of their lives have changed due to the always they were forced to live under.
The vedda culture is one of uniqueness but may one day no longer be here for us
to study. It has already lost many of its original features and many soon lose
them all.
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