Vedda; Wedda

Japanese: ベッダ族 - ベッダぞく（英語表記）Vedda; Wedda

A minority tribe that lives in the forests of eastern Sri Lanka and has attracted ethno-logical attention. They are short (the average height of an adult male is around 155 cm) and have a slender build. Their skin is dark brown, and their hair is wavy, but they have little beard or body hair. They have a long head, a receding forehead, and a well-developed brow ridge. They are similar to Australoids, but their low faces give them a childlike impression. They are ethno-logically unique, and there are theories that they are a primitive form of Caucasoids, or that they are an ancient hybrid of Caucasoids and Australoids, but it is unclear. The population is said to be only a few hundred or a few thousand, and it is not clear. Their main occupation is hunting and gathering, and they once lived in caves and rock shelters, and engaged in silent trade, obtaining axes and arrowheads from the neighboring Sinhalese in exchange for animals and honey. Their social organization is based on monogamous families. When someone dies, the family abandons the house and the body, returning when only bones remain, in what is known as an abandoned burial. The center of religious life is the appeasement of the souls of the dead, and shamans called Kaplare, who are possessed by the spirits of the dead, play an important role. Anthropologists once took an interest in the Kapla as an analogy of Paleolithic culture, but today it has been absorbed by the Sinhalese and is rapidly declining, and its unique language is also being lost.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

スリランカ東部の森林地帯に居住し，人種学上注目されている少数部族。身長は低く (成人男子の平均身長は 155cm前後) ，体格はきゃしゃである。皮膚は濃褐色であり，頭髪は波状毛であるが，ひげや体毛は少い。長頭で，額は後退し，眉稜は発達している。オーストラロイドと似るが，その顔が低いため子供のような印象を与える。人種学的に特異な存在であり，コーカソイドの原始型という説，また，コーカソイドとオーストラロイドの古代混血種という説などがあり，定かではない。人口は数百ないし数千にすぎないといわれ明確ではない。主たる生業は採集狩猟で，かつては洞穴や岩陰に住み，隣接するシンハラ族から獣や蜂蜜などと引換えに斧や鏃を得る沈黙交易を行なった。社会組織は一夫一妻の単婚家族が基本となる。死者が出ると遺族は死体とともに住居を放棄し，骨だけになった頃に帰ってくるいわゆる遺棄葬を行う。宗教生活の中心は死者の霊魂の慰撫にあり，死者の霊が乗移るカプラーレと呼ぶシャーマンが重要な役割を果す。かつては旧石器文化を類推させるものとして人類学者の興味が集中したが，今日ではシンハラ族に吸収されて急速に衰退しつつあり，固有の言語も失われつつある。

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