Mitä voimme oppia hazdoilta?

Loistavassa Performance over aesthetics -blogissa oli jo postaus National Geographicin Hazda-artikkelista, mutta koska aihe on niin kiinnostava niin aion kirjoittaa hazdoista omankin postauksen. Koska luonnollisuus, alkukantaisuus ja metsästäjä-keräilijöiden elintavat ovat itselle todella kiinnostavia aiheita, niin aion poimia asioita joita voimme oppia hazdoilta.

Itse en asu savimajassa enkä haluaisi ajaa alas yhteiskuntaa. Olen kuitenkin vankasti sitä mieltä, että monista alkukantaisista kulttuureista sekä omasta historiastamme voimme ottaa todella paljon opiksi. Se on tavallaan tämän bloginkin ajatus, eli miten voimme elää hieman yksinkertaisemmin, luonnollisemmin ja terveellisemmin ilman, että tarvitsee eristäytyä yhteiskunnasta tai luopua modernin elämäntavan tarjoamista mahdollisuuksista. Tässäkin kuten kaikessa muussakin haluan painottaa tasapainoa.

Hazdat ovat pieni noin tuhannen ihmisen etninen ryhmä Tansaniassa. Heistä noin 300-400 elää edelleen metsästäjä-keräilijöinä kuten heidän esi-isänsä jo tuhansia vuosia sitten. Toimittaja Michael Finkel vietti aikaa hazdojen seurassa ja kirjoitti kokemuksistaan National Geographiciin. Suosittelen hienon artikkelin lukemista kokonaan, mutta tässä muutamia poimintoja, joista voimme oppia tai olla oppimatta:

"Years aren't the only unit of time the Hadza do not keep close track of—they also ignore hours and days and weeks and months. The Hadza language doesn't have words for numbers past three or four."

"Sure enough, three weeks later, when my interpreter and I arrived by Land Rover in the bush, there was Onwas's son Ngaola waiting for us. Apparently, Onwas had noted the stages of the moon, and when he felt enough time had passed, he sent his son to the tree. I asked Ngaola if he'd waited a long time for me. "No," he said. "Only a few days."


"They have no crops, no livestock, no permanent shelters. They live just south of the same section of the valley in which some of the oldest fossil evidence of early humans has been found. Gene­tic testing indicates that they may represent one of the primary roots of the human family tree—perhaps more than 100,000 years old."

"What the Hadza appear to offer—and why they are of great interest to anthropologists—is a glimpse of what life may have been like before the birth of agriculture 10,000 years ago."

"Jared Diamond, the UCLA professor and writer, has called the adoption of agriculture nothing less than "the worst mistake in human history"—a mistake, he suggests, from which we have never recovered."

"The Hadza diet remains even today more stable and varied than that of most of the world's citizens. They enjoy an extraordinary amount of leisure time. Anthropologists have estimated that they "work"—actively pursue food—four to six hours a day. And over all these thousands of years, they've left hardly more than a footprint on the land."

"Traditional Hadza, like Onwas and his camp mates, live almost entirely free of possessions."

"Individual autonomy is the hallmark of the Hadza. No Hadza adult has authority over any other. None has more wealth; or, rather, they all have no wealth. There are few social obligations—no birthdays, no religious holidays, no anniversaries. People sleep whenever they want."

"This may be one reason farming has never appealed to the Hadza—growing crops requires planning; seeds are sown now for plants that won't be edible for months. Domestic animals must be fed and protected long before they're ready to butcher. To a Hadza, this makes no sense. Why grow food or rear animals when it's being done for you, naturally, in the bush? When they want berries, they walk to a berry shrub. When they desire baobab fruit, they visit a baobab tree. Honey waits for them in wild hives. And they keep their meat in the biggest storehouse in the world—their land."

"There are things I envy about the Hadza—mostly, how free they appear to be. Free from possessions. Free of most social duties. Free from religious strictures. Free of many family responsibilities. Free from schedules, jobs, bosses, bills, traffic, taxes, laws, news, and money. Free from worry."

"The days I spent with the Hadza altered my perception of the world. They instilled in me something I call the "Hadza effect"—they made me feel calmer, more attuned to the moment, more self-sufficient, a little braver, and in less of a constant rush. I don't care if this sounds maudlin: My time with the Hadza made me happier."

Hazdatkin siis tuntuvat olevan hyvä esimerkki siitä, että vähemmän on enemmän. Mitä enemmän pystyy irrottautumaan ajan käsitteestä ja kiintymyksestä tavaraan niin sitä enemmän sitä tuntee itsensä vapaaksi. Vapautta ei voi ostaa, sen voi saavuttaa irrottautumalla egon haluista ja elämällä hetkessä.