GET TO KNOW SOME PEOPLE AND TRIBES
Hammer People
The Hammer people are living in the lower Omo valley system bordered by Er-bore and Tsemay tribes in the north, Dassanch in Southeast, Karo in the south and Bena as well as Ari tribes in the east. They are agro-pastoralists using seasonal rainfall agriculture, which comes from the most part of March-July. They are grouped under the Omotic language family with a total population of not exceeding 30,000 people. Cattle are the core economy of the society. In addition, they produce cereals like, Maize, Sorghum Millet and on as their steeple food. The Hammer societies are known by a ritual practice called the “Bull Jumping or the Leaping the bull ceremony”, which is the most spectacular rite of passage in southern Ethiopia. This ritual makes the young men to pass in to the adult men or a rite of passage form a boyhood to manhood. Before they are ready for marriage, the initiate boys are under coerced to jump over 4 or more times with out falling on the backs of 15-30 lines of Bulls stand side by side. During the ceremony, if a boy successfully finishes the jumping the Bulls, he walks proudly out through a special gate in which he receives a judge to have passed form a childhood to manhood. In this case, young girls, who are close relatives of him, are asking/begging for the “Mazes” to be whipped with a special wooden stick as to rival their affection towards him and show the ability to endure pain on behalf of the boy they love. Finally, after the ceremony ends, young girls are gathered together in their village, adored with beads, skin clothes, Jewelers, clarified their hair with mud and butter then evening court ship dance known as “Evangadi” is continuing for the following days and nights.
Note: Mazes are those boys who already have under gone this rite and successfully jumped the bulls over.
Mursi People
The Mursis’ are living with in the same region of the Omo valley, which is south west of Ethiopia bordering Kenya in the South, Omo River in the East and Mago in the west. They are cattle herders and land cultivators with a number of 7000-8000 people. They are grouped under the Nilo-Saharan language family. The Mursi shares some cultures of ritual ceremonies form the neighboring Surma tribes living west of the Omo valley. The stick fighting ceremony known, as “Dueling” is an important social practice between both the Mursi and Surma tribes before they engaged under in a marriage. This is a form of ritualized male fierceness battle in which men from different local groups are joined together and fight one from the other using a 2 meters long wooden stick called “Donga”. According to their tradition, the entrants are not coming form the same clan, this is because of that a man can only duel with men whose sisters he is going to marry.
Lip-mutilation/ lip-plate insertion– is another important cultural value of the Mursi and Surma tribes applied by women who are ready for a marriage. When a girl comes to her puberty, the mother began to control for the beauty of her daughter. In this case, the lower lip of the young girl is pierced with sharp staffs like blade or knifes then a small clay or wooden discs is inserted in to the newly pierced-lip. When the diameter of the lip is get enlarging, the size of the disc is also changed from time after time to fit with the lip. This is because of that the bigger the lip a girl has considered to be as she is the most beautiful in the society, So that at the time of marriage, her family earns a large numbers of cattle as a dowry. No one is sure about Why, How and When this custom has had been started, but hypothetically, it was to escape from slavery attack by disfiguring their physical appearance or as it is a sign of one’s beauty among the society.
Mursi People
The Mursis’ are living with in the same region of the Omo valley, which is south west of Ethiopia bordering Kenya in the South, Omo River in the East and Mago in the west. They are cattle herders and land cultivators with a number of 7000-8000 people. They are grouped under the Nilo-Saharan language family. The Mursi shares some cultures of ritual ceremonies form the neighboring Surma tribes living west of the Omo valley. The stick fighting ceremony known, as “Dueling” is an important social practice between both the Mursi and Surma tribes before they engaged under in a marriage. This is a form of ritualized male fierceness battle in which men from different local groups are joined together and fight one from the other using a 2 meters long wooden stick called “Donga”. According to their tradition, the entrants are not coming form the same clan, this is because of that a man can only duel with men whose sisters he is going to marry.
Lip-mutilation/ lip-plate insertion– is another important cultural value of the Mursi and Surma tribes applied by women who are ready for a marriage. When a girl comes to her puberty, the mother began to control for the beauty of her daughter. In this case, the lower lip of the young girl is pierced with sharp staffs like blade or knifes then a small clay or wooden discs is inserted in to the newly pierced-lip. When the diameter of the lip is get enlarging, the size of the disc is also changed from time after time to fit with the lip. This is because of that the bigger the lip a girl has considered to be as she is the most beautiful in the society, So that at the time of marriage, her family earns a large numbers of cattle as a dowry. No one is sure about Why, How and When this custom has had been started, but hypothetically, it was to escape from slavery attack by disfiguring their physical appearance or as it is a sign of one’s beauty among the society.
Benna Tribe
They are semi-nomadic pastoral communities of around 10,000 heads living upper Omo River next to Tsemay in the east, Ari in the west and Hammer in the South. Their history is linked to that of the Hammer tribe as well, leading to a similar language and culture. Their livelihoods are centered on breeding cattle, sheep, and goats, then during the dry season they also collect and sell wild honey at local tribal markets. Banna villages are set up with family huts built in a circle around the cattle in a central area. The huts are built with flexible poles folded inwards and drawn together to form a dome shape, covered in straw and cloth mats. Like the Hammer and Kara/Karo people, the ritual ceremony of bull jumping to mark a boy becoming a man and grant him the right to marry a girl. They worship in nature like on trees; rocks, mountains and rivers so that they perform rituals to their gods/sprits when there is lack of rain, protect them from epidemic disease, to keep their villages safe and peaceful and so on. Like most Omo Valley tribes clothing, hair styling, body painting and some time scarifications are an important part of their culture. Banna men color and fix their hair with clay, which is then adorned with feathers, flowers, and beads. Girls have short, uncolored hair until they marry, after which their hair is longer, braided and colored with red clay.
Konso People
The Konso people are living in central Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo and north of Woito valley within the Rift Valley system and are about 500,000 people. They are farmers known for terrace farmlands growing sunflowers, fruits, grains, cotton, sorghum, and corn. They live in defensive villages surrounded by rock and wooden fences with labyrinth narrow and curvy alleys to protect the homestead from outside enemies. Their social structure is clan-based system consists of nine clans (gada) incorporating an average size of 6500-7,000 members. The clans’ organization is established under exogamy and patrilineality structure. They are famous for wooden anthropomorphic statues erected on the graves of important people to honor the diseased. These statuettes are called Waqa/ god and are always placed in groups with the main figure in the center surrounded by people and animals that were important to him during his lifetime.
Konso People
The Konso people are living in central Ethiopia south of Lake Chamo and north of Woito valley within the Rift Valley system and are about 500,000 people. They are farmers known for terrace farmlands growing sunflowers, fruits, grains, cotton, sorghum, and corn. They live in defensive villages surrounded by rock and wooden fences with labyrinth narrow and curvy alleys to protect the homestead from outside enemies. Their social structure is clan-based system consists of nine clans (gada) incorporating an average size of 6500-7,000 members. The clans’ organization is established under exogamy and patrilineality structure. They are famous for wooden anthropomorphic statues erected on the graves of important people to honor the diseased. These statuettes are called Waqa/ god and are always placed in groups with the main figure in the center surrounded by people and animals that were important to him during his lifetime.
Daasanach Tribe
The Daasanach tribes are living in the most southernly part of Omo Valley region just in the Kenyan border following the banks of Omo river delta and have a population of around 20,000 people. They live at the point where the Omo River delta enters to Lake Turkana, in fact their name means ‘People of the Delta’. They are primarily pastoral society, growing maize, beans, corn and pumpkins following the river delta. During the dry seasons they rely on their cattle and goats for milk, meat, and hides. Their homes are dome-shaped, made from branches of trees covered with hides and mats on the floor. The lower class of the tribe are called Dies, and are the people who have lost their cattle and hence their livelihoods. Instead of living with the rest of the tribe, they live nearby Lake Turkana to find food by fishing or hunting crocodiles. The Daasanach have developed their own unique language and are experts of making jewelries from items such as SIM cards, old digital watches, bottle caps and etc. Women wear skirts made form cow skin and adore themselves with many bracelets and necklaces, whilst men wear fabric clothes around their waist.
Bume/ Nyangatom Tribes
There are two distinct groups within the Nyangatom tribe; the eastern group nears the banks of the Omo River who have developed agricultural systems and permanent way of life, while the western group near the Kibish river basin are focusing mainly on cattle herding and some crop cultivation to support their family and their population number is not exceeding roughly 7,000 heads. Both groups of the Nyangatom are related to the Topossa people in south Sudan.
Their proximity to the Sudanese border has made them to have an easy access to acquire firearms, which are used as a symbol of status and protect their homestead during conflicts with neighboring tribes. They celebrate the success of warriors with a ceremonial sacrifice of goats and the deliberate scarring of skin. Like most Omo Valley tribes clothing, hair styling and ornamentation holds important cultural value. For women, social status is displayed in the number and color of bead necklaces they wear, with girls being given their first necklace by their fathers and then adding new ones every year, which are never taken off. Unmarried women wear goatskin skirts with bright beads, whilst married women’s skirts are less bright and not embroidered. For men, sharp metal rings and bracelets with filed edges are worn for use as defensive weapons, and scarring signifies their achievements as warriors.
Bume/ Nyangatom Tribes
There are two distinct groups within the Nyangatom tribe; the eastern group nears the banks of the Omo River who have developed agricultural systems and permanent way of life, while the western group near the Kibish river basin are focusing mainly on cattle herding and some crop cultivation to support their family and their population number is not exceeding roughly 7,000 heads. Both groups of the Nyangatom are related to the Topossa people in south Sudan.
Their proximity to the Sudanese border has made them to have an easy access to acquire firearms, which are used as a symbol of status and protect their homestead during conflicts with neighboring tribes. They celebrate the success of warriors with a ceremonial sacrifice of goats and the deliberate scarring of skin. Like most Omo Valley tribes clothing, hair styling and ornamentation holds important cultural value. For women, social status is displayed in the number and color of bead necklaces they wear, with girls being given their first necklace by their fathers and then adding new ones every year, which are never taken off. Unmarried women wear goatskin skirts with bright beads, whilst married women’s skirts are less bright and not embroidered. For men, sharp metal rings and bracelets with filed edges are worn for use as defensive weapons, and scarring signifies their achievements as warriors.
Karo/ Kara People
The Karo are a small group of Omotic tribes living in 3 divided villages between the banks of Omo River, which is adjacent to the Hammer land. Their number is not go beyond 1000-1300 people. They are mainly depending on the Omo River, which is a source of their fish and crop production from flood retreat agriculture. Cattle are also another living of this group. Like the Hamer people, The Karo are also passing through a ritual of “Bull Jumping” ceremony escorted by an evening dance called “Evangadi”. They are noted by a unique physical adornment of body painting and scarification, which is the core culture of beauty and heroism in that society.
Bodi Tribes
They are living next to the Mursi tribe with two villages. They are agro-pastoralist cultivating mainly maize and corn only for family consumption. They are nomadic people moving place-to-place looking for new grazing areas to their cattle. In all parts of Omo valley tribes’ cattle are an important source of food on which they get milk and meat. Like the Mursi people, the Bodi also drink mixture of cow/ox blood to fatten their body and get energy in their daily activities.
There is a unique ritual practice carried out by the Bodi people known as the Ka’el ceremony recalling an annual event of wrestling between fat men. Meaning men are nominated by their families to take part in a competition after they spend six months with out any physical activities including refrain from sexual relation but only eating and drinking fatty meals especially milk with blood.
On the day of the ceremony every contestants smear their faces with ash and clay soil before walking around a sacred tree, then all the members of their communities watch them. Once the fattest man among the competitors has been chosen a cow is slaughtered and the man is honored to have a status of heroism on which he would have a potential to be a husband to a woman. Men are wearing fabric skirts, while women have clothes made from goatskin. Both take part in the ritual of body painting and scarification to show personal beauty.
Bodi Tribes
They are living next to the Mursi tribe with two villages. They are agro-pastoralist cultivating mainly maize and corn only for family consumption. They are nomadic people moving place-to-place looking for new grazing areas to their cattle. In all parts of Omo valley tribes’ cattle are an important source of food on which they get milk and meat. Like the Mursi people, the Bodi also drink mixture of cow/ox blood to fatten their body and get energy in their daily activities.
There is a unique ritual practice carried out by the Bodi people known as the Ka’el ceremony recalling an annual event of wrestling between fat men. Meaning men are nominated by their families to take part in a competition after they spend six months with out any physical activities including refrain from sexual relation but only eating and drinking fatty meals especially milk with blood.
On the day of the ceremony every contestants smear their faces with ash and clay soil before walking around a sacred tree, then all the members of their communities watch them. Once the fattest man among the competitors has been chosen a cow is slaughtered and the man is honored to have a status of heroism on which he would have a potential to be a husband to a woman. Men are wearing fabric skirts, while women have clothes made from goatskin. Both take part in the ritual of body painting and scarification to show personal beauty.
Surma People
Are living in southwestern Ethiopia stretching from the lower Omo valley up to the border of South Sudan. They are grouped under the Nilo-Saharan language family with a number of not more than 10,000 people. The Surma are mainly have some cultural shares with their neighboring Mursi people. When they reached to their puberty, women got pierced their lower lip and insert a wooden or clay made plates/discs. Young Men also pass through a ritual stick fighting ceremony known as the Dueling, which is similar to the Mursi. This ritual makes the man to pass form young hood to the adult one. They are agro-pastoralists who practice small agriculture to produce maize, sorghum and other cereals. Cattle are also the main economic source of the society besides expressing social status among the group. They get meat, milk and blood for their daily diet and skin for their clothing.
Agnnuak People
Approximately, they are about 100,000 people living in the western Ethiopia bordering with the Sudan following the banks of the Baro River. Geographically, they share both from the Ethiopian and Sudan regions but the maximum are living in the Ethiopian territory of Gambella region. They speak the Nilo-Saharan language family group, which is similar to the surrounding societies. They are permanent farmers who settle in certain area and practice subsistence agriculture. Crops like, sorghum, maize and corn are the main production of the people. During the dry season, fishing is also practiced in the Baro River, which is rich in Tilapia fish, catfish, golden fish and more. Cattle are very important in the society for dowry and other basic needs. The Agnnuak’s are polygamous society in which men can have up to 3 wives based on the number of cattle he has for dowry. Both the Men and Women are known with doted scars on their faces for adornment purposes, Tobacco smoking is very common among the groups using different pipes made from bamboo trees.
Agnnuak People
Approximately, they are about 100,000 people living in the western Ethiopia bordering with the Sudan following the banks of the Baro River. Geographically, they share both from the Ethiopian and Sudan regions but the maximum are living in the Ethiopian territory of Gambella region. They speak the Nilo-Saharan language family group, which is similar to the surrounding societies. They are permanent farmers who settle in certain area and practice subsistence agriculture. Crops like, sorghum, maize and corn are the main production of the people. During the dry season, fishing is also practiced in the Baro River, which is rich in Tilapia fish, catfish, golden fish and more. Cattle are very important in the society for dowry and other basic needs. The Agnnuak’s are polygamous society in which men can have up to 3 wives based on the number of cattle he has for dowry. Both the Men and Women are known with doted scars on their faces for adornment purposes, Tobacco smoking is very common among the groups using different pipes made from bamboo trees.
Nuer People
Like the Agnnuak people, the Nuer is occupying the territory of Ethiopia and South Sudan. The Ethiopian Nuers are living on the western plains of Gambella region following the Baro River and its tributaries. They are approximately 60,000 people grouped under the Nilo-Saharan language family. They are cattle breeders but as an addition they also have small farmlands for their sorghum, maize and other productions. Fishing and hunting are also the other activities of this group. The Nuers are sharing some cultural elements with the Agnnuak tribes like, circumcision during puberty and extraction of the 4 lower incisors. The main distinctive features of the Nuer men are the 6 linear scars on their forehead to mark the passage form adolescent to adult hood social age system. This practice started around the age of 14 with big ritual celebrations. Women also have doted scars on their faces to beautify themselves and to be selected among the girls for a marriage.
