In the meantime, the Pygmies may have pleased the « heart of the God  » in Egypt, but certainly not that of their neighbors. For indeed, the Pygmies are a long-oppressed people. All observers have noted the conflictual relations they maintain with the villagers around them—taller, darker-skinned populations—while they themselves are smaller and generally lighter-skinned. The Efe Pygmies, for example, were persecuted by the Tutsi and Hutu in the Rwanda and Burundi region—with practices of kidnapping and even cannibalism, described in horrifying detail by Jean-Pierre Hallet and Alex Pelle (P21).

In a similar vein, in South Africa, another small people have long endured the same oppression—the Bushmen of South Africa. They too were considered « vermin » by the Bantu, as reported by Bleek and Lloyd in Specimens of Bushman Folklore published in 1911 (Intro, P29). And although young girls were generally spared and absorbed into the tribes of their captors—only to lead lives of drudgery and shame—all others who could be trapped or hunted down were killed with as little mercy as if they had been hyenas. This passage evokes the beginning of the Book of Exodus:

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: « Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live ». Exodus 1.22

« On the border between the Hottentot and Bantu settlements, there were constant conflicts with the ancient race—the Bushmen—but far from this border, the Bushmen continued to hunt and drink the waters their ancestors had drunk since time immemorial, without even knowing that there were people different from them in the world ». Intro (P30), continues Bleek Lloyd, who also concludes with a quote from the Bible, describing the gradual reduction of the Bushmen's territory under pressure from Bantu colonization :

 Every man’s hand was against them – Genesis (16:12) –, and so they passed out of sight, but perished fighting stubbornly, disdaining compromise or quarter to the very last.

With this terrible sentence, already in 1911: « There is no longer room on the globe for paleolithic man ».

DFrom this point of view, Colin Turnbull's description in The Forest People is much « softer », with relations between Pygmies and villagers marked by a certain ambivalence combining domination, but also independence and even fascination (P172). Because they live in the forest, the Pygmies are recognized as having access to its mysteries and secrets (P228). Colin Turnbull also describes the circumcision ritual (P218/226) organized by the villagers to seal the alliance between young villagers and young Pygmies in each generation. This ritual – Nkumbi – clearly evokes the circumcision that Jacob's sons imposed on the inhabitants of ShKheM before putting them to the sword, in the story of the abduction and rape of Dinah in Genesis 34.

Colin Turnbull gives a clear account of how the Pygmies submit to this ritual without paying too much attention to it – and how, above all, the one being exploited isn’t always the one you think. Thus, we see the Pygmies repeatedly obtaining rewards or prizes from the villagers in exchange for services they will never see. This is somewhat reminiscent of our relationship with the gypsies in Europe — they too sing, dance, are a proud people, often smaller in stature, and exploit the credulity of us sedentary folk. These ambivalent relationships also help us to better understand that strange passage in Exodus, when the children of Israel are preparing to flee Egypt — the text recounts how the Lord :

…will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians. Exodus 3.21

These parallels between the Bible and Pygmy culture, marked by persecution and oppression but also by a certain cunning, finally evoke the memory of Egypt as a land of slavery and oppression.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Exodus 20.2

C’est un véritable leitmotiv qui revient à de très nombreuses reprises. Le nom même de l’Égypte, MiTsRayim, évoque la souffrance et l’oppression TsaRa.

Again and again, this leitmotif resounds throughout the text. The very name of Egypt, MiTsRayim, evokes suffering and oppression, TsaRa.

In my view, all these elements point to a very ancient memory of oppression in Africa—the crossing of the Red Sea being lived as liberation. And this memory reaches back to the Paleolithic era, tens of thousands of years ago. We also have a much more recent example of a myth of a promised land freed from oppression. No, I am not speaking of Zionism—God forbid. I am speaking of the European colonization of North America. The so-called « Founding Fathers » imagined themselves as creating a new humanity, free from the oppressive regimes of Europe—only to end up oppressing and committing genocide against their Native Red brothers. You see, there is nothing new under the sun—especially when it comes to genocide. Humanity has always dressed the old, the very very old in the guise of the new.

5) Monotheism(s) ?

But let us now return to our study of Pygmy Kitabu. Jean-Pierre Hallet and Alex Pelle tell us that the Efe Pygmies also believe in a single Supreme God (P14), whom they call « Our Father » (P18) — which was what had first aroused my curiosity about Pygmy culture. This idea of Pygmy monotheism had already been noted by Schebesta in his book published in 1952.

Of course, those Pharisians will tell you that these similarities are merely traces of « loans from Western civilization » or « Judeo-Christian culture », which alone has a monopoly on monotheism. But I would remind you that until they were (re)discovered in 1870 by the German explorer Georg Schweinfurth, the Pygmies had been cut off from all contact with « civilization » since their famous « discovery » by Herkhuf, the explorer of Ancient Egypt — that is, for nearly 4,000 years. To be fair, it was Jean-Pierre Hallet and Alex Pelle who pointed this out (P13). In any case, it is important to bear in mind that all the striking similarities we are about to (re)discover together predate « Western civilization » as we know it.

With that little preamble out of the way, let's return to God the Father. The Efe Pygmies say that he ascended to Heaven after men stole from him (P52) or because they no longer listened to him (P121). God's departure marked the end of the Golden Age, when men were immortal, women gave birth without pain (P54), and all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds (P53). Jean-Pierre Hallet quotes « L'Âme du Pygmée d'Afrique » (The Soul of the African Pygmy), a book by Henri Trilles published in 1945, which collected these words:

God is far away. He has abandoned us, and that is why we have become poor and miserable. Many days have passed. We are a wandering nation.

Schebesta recounts that God left mankind and ascended to Heaven because his daughter, who was human and therefore curious, once transgressed his commandment not to try to see him (P158). This evokes the story of Ham, Noah's son, who surprised his father sleeping naked and was cursed for it (Genesis 9.22). But this story above all recalls the recurring idea that « no one has ever seen God », both in the Gospel of John and especially in the Old Testament — for example, when God tells Moses to turn away because

you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. Exodus 33:20

or as in Quran :

When Moses came at the appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he asked, ‘My Lord! Reveal Yourself to me so I may see You’ Allah answered, ‘You cannot see Me! But look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place, only then will you see Me’ When his Lord appeared to the mountain, He levelled it to dust and Moses collapsed unconscious Surah Al Araf 7:143

Yes, as in the Pygmy myth, to see God is to die.