According to Burundi folk tales and traditional songs, a woman's role is to
cultivate and be faithful to her husband. Otherwise, she'll get her teeth
pulled out. The lyrics of one song run "I came home and asked here where
she had cultivated. Her response was a smile. I jumped and kicked her in
the teeth, I pulled her teeth out, I pulled them with the roots."
In March, when the Burundi army wanted a slogan to illustrate the strife
between Tutsi and Hutu, it picked out the story of a wife who creates
discord between the husband and his mother.
Marie Louise Sibaruzi is a Burundian play writer who dramatizes
mythological tales. She says, "Traditional mythology is the worst. It's
mortifying because it's always so negative towards women. One hundred
percent it blames women. It portrays them as capricious, scheming, lazy. I
sometimes don't even want to put it down on paper because it's so bad.
But then people accuse me of interfering with history."
There are epic poems built around the story of a man who kills his enemy
and rapes his slain foe's wife so he can impregnate her. "It's part of the
traditional acceptance of violence against women," said Marie Louise.
"When a woman complains about being beaten by her husband other
women scorn her, saying they have to put up with it too. If a son beats up
his sister, she will be blamed for defending herself because the family will
say that when she gets married she will resist her husband, and that would
be totally unacceptable."
Credits for this Article: Find Artcle.com
cultivate and be faithful to her husband. Otherwise, she'll get her teeth
pulled out. The lyrics of one song run "I came home and asked here where
she had cultivated. Her response was a smile. I jumped and kicked her in
the teeth, I pulled her teeth out, I pulled them with the roots."
In March, when the Burundi army wanted a slogan to illustrate the strife
between Tutsi and Hutu, it picked out the story of a wife who creates
discord between the husband and his mother.
Marie Louise Sibaruzi is a Burundian play writer who dramatizes
mythological tales. She says, "Traditional mythology is the worst. It's
mortifying because it's always so negative towards women. One hundred
percent it blames women. It portrays them as capricious, scheming, lazy. I
sometimes don't even want to put it down on paper because it's so bad.
But then people accuse me of interfering with history."
There are epic poems built around the story of a man who kills his enemy
and rapes his slain foe's wife so he can impregnate her. "It's part of the
traditional acceptance of violence against women," said Marie Louise.
"When a woman complains about being beaten by her husband other
women scorn her, saying they have to put up with it too. If a son beats up
his sister, she will be blamed for defending herself because the family will
say that when she gets married she will resist her husband, and that would
be totally unacceptable."
Credits for this Article: Find Artcle.com
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| Burundi Folk Lore "Ubumwe, Ibikorwa, Iterambere" (Kirundi) "Unité, Travail, Progrès" (French) "Unity, Work, Progress" |
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Games
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Maths
Menus4Moms
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Pre-K
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South Africa
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