Food Foragers and Institutionalized Religion

!Kung bushmen of the Kalahari

Today's lecture in cultural anthropology covered the characteristics of the food forager way of life.  Our ancestors carried on this way of life for at least 2 million  years before we began, a mere 10,000 years ago, producing food.  Midway through the lecture I was struck by something out of the blue. 

Before the momentous switch in subsistence, food foragers lived as those who still exist live now.  Today's food foragers live in small groups, cooperate with each other, share all their food, are egalitarian, have little to no personal possessions, are nomadic, and pursue for most of everyday what we would call leisure activities, including story telling, dancing, and singing. 

Sometime after the beginning of food production, when our populations became more sedentary and started to rise dramatically, we began to 'institutionalize' all sorts of things like politics and religion and markets. The thought bubbling under the surface today was that there are many many similarities between the food foraging way of life and the kind of life prescribed by many institutionalized religions today.

For example, it seems that institutionalized religions are intent on bringing adherents together into communities, many of which are at a small scale (a parish, for example), and the people of these communities are encouraged to cooperate with each other, and help each other out when and where possible.  Such religions also preach an equality of people under a god/s, or goddess/es, and some of them profess the importance of not getting too attached to material objects.  Such religions also have rituals that include story-telling, dancing, and singing. 

It seems that, at least in some ways, institutionalized religions attempt to bring us back as much as possible to the lives we spent as food foragers for over two million years.

And taking this a step further, I wonder about Judeo-Christianity's Creation Myth set in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve are happy gatherers until the fruit is eaten, at which point they are banished to a life of tilling the soil and raising livestock, or in other words, food producing.  Perhaps within these pages we see the 'paradise' of food foraging, and the punishment of food production, and perhaps a religion's goal to bring people somehow back to a not completely forgotten paradise of the food foraging way of life. 

The Real 'New Year'

I can understand why January 1st was chosen to mark the beginning of a new year... it must have had something to do with the tilt of the earth, and days becoming noticeably longer by January 1st after the nadir of the winter solstice.  It could be that on this December 31st, as I sit with friends and family and we reminisce and make resolutions for the coming year, I may feel differently than I do now.

However, at this point, the beginning of September seems a far more realistic 'New Year' than a cold, dark, rainy January day.

Most of my life has been spent gearing up for a new session in September, either as a kindergartener, high schooler, university student, or professor.  The rhythm of the year naturally tends towards relaxing as far as can be done in August so that one can be as fresh as possible for the all important first few weeks in a term.

The day after Labour Day is a time of rejuvenation: people at work are inspired, full of energy, and hopeful for the future: there is nothing quite like the feeling of the first few weeks at a college.

Also, the kids have begun school and their various after school activities. A new season of soccer for Aidan is in full swing, and Kira's karate begins next week. 

Last, but certainly not least, my favourite TV shows begin their new seasons soon, including NFL on Sundays, House, 30 Rock, and Glee.