alcohol

is, for the Barundi c. 1800, always a social affair. Drunkenness is not regarded as a shortcoming or a vice but as evidence of the prosperity or generosity of the host.

Male and female Barundi of all tribal, status, and age groups are even more passionately addicted to alcohol in the form of beer (insoga). 'If in general the Barundi are a sober [Page 89A] [Page 90] people, it is not out of virtue but simply because they do not have enough to eat and drink to satisfy their appetites. They could eat an ox at one sitting, and if they were given as much beer as they wanted, they would keep drinking from morning till night' (No. 19, p. 317). Drunkenness is not regarded as a shortcoming or a vice but as evidence of the prosperity or generosity of the host. After the millet and banana harvest, from July to September, is the time for brewing beer (kwenga insoga, kutoba), the period of gluttony and general drunkeness all over Urundi, and this continues until the provisions are exhausted. Often the last drop disappears down the gullet after not more than four weeks, and the thirsty souls have to remain abstinent until the next harvest period. During the period of carousal, singing and shouting can be heard issuing from most homesteads deep into the night, for there are no quiet and solitary drinkers. Drinking beer is always a social affair. One person after another invites friends and relatives to communal drinking bouts, and in this manner they make the rounds among all the families of friends, guzzling until nothing is left. In addition to this, pots filled with beer are given as presents or any suitable occasion, and then they are shared by receiver and donor together. Of course, beer is part of any kind of festive occasion which usually also includes dancing (see pp. 65, 125). Since the banana beer, which is the most popular, is quite potent and since, in addition, the Barundi are by nature easily excited, the more advanced stages of such communal drinking bouts usually take a rather wild form. Quite regularly violent arguments ensue, and often fights result in which even lances are used, sometimes ending in manslaughter. In the latter case, the consequences for the families concerned are quite disastrous (see pp. 97, 105).

Hans Meyer

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Hans Meyer