Basic HTML Version
AT 8/RTH, a Pygmy baby, far left is
rather Jarge . Proportionally. the Pyg–
mies have the largest babies in the
world, sometimes reaching eight
pounds. Traditionally Pygmies dis–
posed of their dead with a crema–
tion ritual. Today it is against the
law and they are forced to practice
conventional burial (center photo).
Above, Yobu, a six-year-old boy, is cry–
ing over his mother's death. His father
died two months earlier. They both
succumbed to new diseases resulting
from the impact of "civilization."
JEAN-PIERRE HALLET
shown here among a typica l Pygmy
extended family, was born in
Louvain, Belgium. in 1927. Hi s
father. Andre Hallet, w as a painter
of African l andscapes and portraits.
After spend ing his childhood in
the Congo. Jean-Pierre Hallet
returned in 1948 to live and work
among seventeen different African
tribes. He has managed to revisit
his adopted people every year,
bringing back a wealth of new
facts on the Pygmies ' culture,
philosophy and religion . He has also
compiled the f irst di ct ionary and
grammatical study of the Efé
Pygmy language and has
photographed and filmed each
aspect of their daily life.
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1975
a film that nobody can 'rela te' to?' ' 1
was told. 1 was disgus ted, since 1
believe that many people are eager
for q uality and meaning in a motion
pictu re. However. I was determined
to convey the plight of the Pygmies,
and 1 selected San Francisco, Cali–
fornia as the ideal ci ty for the in–
troduction of my film. The San
Francisco Zoologica l Society and
the Ca lifornia Academy of Sciences
sponsored forme three large benefit
program . Another success. On the
s trength of tha t.
T
fina lly persuaded
a local theater circuit to run "Pyg–
mies" in a regular theater. The re–
views were excell ent and viewers
seemed to be impressed. touched
and. above al
l.
aware of how unique
the Pygmies a re and why it is so
importan! to give them possibly
their last chance lo stay alive.
Few. it seems. know tha t th e Pyg–
mies. long before th e coming o f the
European to Africa. possessed an
enlightened philosophy and laws
regulating their relationship to one
another. to their forest environmen t.
and to a creator-deity. They even
prayed a loud ro that h eavenly deity.
usua lly addressed by the familiar–
soundi ng title ' 'our Father.' ' They
claim to have personally received
from this deity a lofty moral code
which forbids ki lling. adult ery.
lying, theft, blasphemy. devil wor–
ship and sorcery, disrespect toward
elders a nd other forms of mis–
behavior. Pygmies do not indulge in
cannibalism. human sacrifice. muti–
lation. sorcery, ritual murder. ínter–
tribal war, in itiation ordea ls or any
of the o ther cruel customs associ–
ated with equatoria l Africa.
In Pygmy life. hunters - no mal–
ter how hungry - bring game back
to camp where it is divided up
among members of the band. (This
is one of the laws their deity gave ro
his lturi Forest congregation.) Tra–
ditionally, cooked game is not eaten
until a brief prayer is intoned while
a little tidbit of meat is either tossed
into the a ir (the direction of the tra–
ditional home of "o ur Father") or
wrapped in a large leaf and placed
in the fork of a nearby tree (an act
which raises it from the earth as an
offering). These acts, now nearly totally
neglected in their struggle to survi ve.
let the deity know that his Pygmies do
not take food for granted .
The Pygmy concept of God. in
contrast to their tall black neighbors
before the com ing o f the Europeans,
is enlightening. " In the beginning."
said a Pygmy e lder, "God lived with
men and gave them his command-
13