Maenge gardens : a study of Maenge relationship to domesticates

Abstract

That plants play a large part in the life of primitive peoples does not need any further demonstration. The point was underlined in early anthropoligical research (Fewkes 1896, Hough 1897, Barrow 1900, Robbins, Harrington and Freire 1916) and the bulk of information available since then has but confirmed the fact (cf. for instance Gilmore 1932, Elmore 1943, Whiting 1950, Vestal 1952). With respect to the Maenge there is almost no situation where they can do without plants whether in ritual or secular life. Plants not only offer food, the raw material for technology and medicine, they are also the necessary intermediaries between this world and the other. Whether it be for cooking , courting or praying the Maenge resort to wild or cultivated species. This overwhelming Presence of plants in daily and ceremonial life testifies both to the dependence of the Maenge on their environment and to their ability to use it in the most various ways, an ability which rests primarily on their observation and knowledge of natural phenomena. Show more