In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

COMMENTARIES TIME PASSES, THE BABY GROWS Performance Note Time: 2 August 1967, in the morning. Place: In the home of Mrs. Zenani, in Nkanga, Gatyana District, the Transkei. Audience: Members of Mrs. Zenani's family-her husband, her daughter, a granddaughter. (NS-I0.) Time passes, the baby grows and grows, until it becomes an older child. When she is a child, a little child, she begins to go to gatherings of children. She visits other homes; occasionally she is scolded. When she is remiss, she is called a vagabond. So it goes on, the children getting together , making cattle of clay, spending time along riverbanks, playing. While they play, they sometimes involve themselves in rather dubious activities, the games of childhood. They sometimes playa game called undize [literally, "Shall I come?"; a form of hide-and-seek], during which the girls are mounted by the boys, and there are further scoldings: "These children are naughty!" THE GAMES OF CHILDHOOD Performance Note Time: 18 September 1967, in the afternoon. Place: In a home in Gatyana District, the Transkei. Audience: Thirty men, women, and children. (Perf. 68Z) A boy and a girl were always quarreling in the presence of their mother and father. Once, when this girl had contradicted her parents over some matter, her aunt reacted: "My child, why are you always quarreling with your brother about everything? Why do you do it? People will begin to wonder who it is you take after!" She continued her admonition: "You don't listen to what we say here. You refuse to change your behavior; you do whatever you want to do! I shouldn't be the one to speak to you about this, Child of my brother. I should call other people. You're a burden to me, you refuse to follow custom." The younger child, the girl, said, "No, he's the one who crosses me! I simply said that I wasn't going to the purification ceremony. I won't go to the ceremony while it's raining!" 88 Copyrighted Material Commentaries 89 "You won't go to the ceremony while it's raining?"} "That's right." "If that's your reason, then you ought to tell it to the boys with some respect. If you're not going to the ceremony; just tell the boys. But tell them with respect. What is the right thing for you to do now? Let's go and discuss this matter with Grandfather over there in his house." "Do you really think we should?" "Yes, we must go to Grandfather because you promised to go to the ceremony and now you're refusing to keep the appointment." "My brother talks to me like that because he is older than I am. And things won't change unless I forget that I'm younger than he is because a younger person is supposed to respect someone who is older. The younger must defer to the elder person. When we're with others, he puts on airs, he acts in a haughty way toward me. All right, I'll go to the ceremony. Let's get this over with." "I was just suggesting that we go to the ceremony;" said her brother. 'All right, let's go." They went, and when they arrived there, someone said, "Let's play undize. " "How is undize played?" a girl asked. The boy said, "Undize-mats are put into the rooms. Chests and boxes are used as hiding places." "Then what happens?" "Well, say I'm the one who hides first. When I have hidden, the one who is to come and look for me says, 'Shall I come? Shall I come?' And I shall say, 'Yes!' and when I've said that, the other one will come and look for me. He responds to the words, 'Shall I come?'" 'And the one who is discovered-what happens then?" the girl asked. The boy said, "The one who's discovered? Well, the one who's discovered -the one who found him can do whatever he likes to the person he has found." "Oh, well, I can't playa game like that." "The game of undize is not to be played with a brother and sister. It must be played with other children from the village." A boy from another village said, "Well, this girl should play the game with me if she doesn't want to play it with her brother." 'All right, play with her then." They played...

Share