Kalahari Kung

The Kalahan !Kung's method of healing may seem strange to most people livingin North america because itg is not what we would typically think as a way of healing, but to the Kung, this is the only way. From the time a Kung is born, it is taught about the importance of this healing ritual. The many aspects of this healing dance is what makes the method so effective and important. This is their way of life.
The hunting and gathering lifestyle of the 50,000 Kung of the southern Africa's Desert is very important in how they choose to live their lives. Although not all of the Kung still continue to follow this, 5,000 of them still follow the traditional ways of their ancestors. The Kung's religion and tradition are amongst the oldest of time and because their economic patterns are so representively of early living, their spiritual patterns are a way of seeing what their ancestors practiced too. Although the Kung are very devoted to saving the sick, the dead Kung are often the cause of the illness. Known as the Gauwasi, the ancestors are thought to be the ones who send the sickness. It usually is not out of anger but becuase they are feeling lonely and miss them. The ancestors send the sickness so that maybe the person would be able to j

When a healer proceeds to pull the sickness out, he struggles with the gods because it is sometimes them who have placed the sickness upon him/her. It is up to the healer to pull the sickness out and send it back to Kauhg who then keeps it until is it send out to hurt someone else. The only time a healer can confront these types of healers and battle with them is to save their people from the sickness. In their everyday lives, the gods are well respeceted. A certain tone of voice is even used when talking about the gods because they would not dare disrespect them. BUT, during a dance, some Kung people may even fo as far as insulting the gods, to try and keep their loved ones with them. There are three main parts to the process of healing, The Kung must be able to see properly, be able to pull out the sickness and battle with the gods if necessary. Without being able to accomplish these tasks, a healing would not take place.

When a healing dance begins, the women usually sit around and attent to the fire while singing and clapping. The dancing is uaually dont by the men, although women may sometimes join them. More people begin to join in the dance as the night progresses. The motivation of a healing dance is to pull the sickness out of the ill. But, a healer may not just heal theone who is sick, but heal everyone who attends the dance. After a short interval of singing and dancing, the ritual becomes intense and the num, which is the spiritual energy that the Kung experience bvefore they go into a state of kia. The num is sometimes referred to as the boiling energy inside their bodies. The num is so strong that is overwhelms the healer. It causes them to scream in pain, run around and shake. The num is at its strongest at the healing dance. As is becomes stronger, it becomes hotter. "The num resides in the pit of the stomach and the base of the spine" (41). The kia comes from the intensity of the num. In order to heal, the healer must experience kia. Kia is the state of consciousness that a Kung transforms into after receiving the num. Everyone is born with this power. It is a substance in the stomach and the training of how to use it involves having it boil. When it begins to boil they are able to pull sickness out of the ill. When they go into a state of kia, it is extremely painful. Even though the experience of num is painful, the men of Kung will usually refuse to stop trying to obtain it. They feel that they are m