GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Compost

27-10-2003, 11:12 AM

said:

This form of the disease is called 'kuru' and it used to be
endemic (among women and children) in New Guinea, in tribes
in which the women and children ate the brains of dead
enemies. I forget why the women and children did this more
than the men.

Dead relatives, not enemies -- once someone died of kuru (spontaneously
generated) the disease easily spread.

As to why more women women were affected than men -- it was the women
and children who prepared the bodies and took part in the ceremonies.
Separate men's and women's houses (and lives) was a feature in many
of New Guinea's indigenous cultures.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)