The Himba people of Namibia.

Another Frankenblog entry for my scrapbook.

The Himba adult women colour their skin twice a day with a mixture of ground red ochre, sap and butter, and rub this all over their skin and hair. This is called ‘otjize’. They also grind up herbs and use them as perfume. If you do an internet search you will find a hundred good images of Himba women, but only a couple of the men. This is probably because the HImba women are so stunning to look at no photographer is going to waste film on the men.

They wear a lot of leather jewellery, and very often you’ll see a large conch shell as a pendant between their breasts

 

As you can see, the women do really stand out in a crowd. Two thick braids are worn in front of the face up to puberty. These braids are replaced by a multitude of thinner braids hanging in all directions from the head after puberty. Moving into adolescence these braids are lengthened and tied back away from her face, signalling her readiness to marry. When they get married, the women start wearing goat leather headdresses, called ‘erembe ‘. Marriage is pre-arranged by the girl’s parents at the time of her birth. After her puberty celebration she is given to her husband-to-be who has to pay her parents about twenty cows. Girls usually marry between ages 15 and 17.

A young Himba girl wearing the pre-puberty hair style of two braids in front of the face. Also, a good look at one of the pendants. The jewellery is usually made of iron or shell, strung on leather.

The man make the women thick anklets to wear, the theory is that they protect the ankles from snake bites. The women also practise intensive breastfeeding with older babies and toddlers, presumably as a form of contraception, as well as a safe way of giving their child fluids.

Both Himba boys and girls are circumcised. During the circumcision, the boys are expected to be silent, whereas the girls are encouraged to scream. It’s reported that the female circumcision in the Himba is actually female genital mutilation, hacking out the clitoris to ensure chastity. I’m not sure if this works , as Red Cross workers report that Himba wives often have a couple of lovers as well as a husband.

The Himba are a cattle based pastoralist culture, although they also have sheep and goats, measuring wealth in cattle, and paying for their wives with them. In the past half a century they’ve suffered pretty seriously from wars and droughts, and were nearly flooded out when a dam was proposed that would have flooded their territory. However, the construction of the dam was fortunately blocked. Their existence is now threatened by HIV, like so many people in Africa. 

The standard Himba home. The open hut constructed behind it is a kitchen, with food and utensils hung away from insects and rodents.

HImba man and boy. Single men wear their hair in one single braid sweeping backwards from the crown of the head while married men tie their hair in a turban-like fashion with wood shavings mixed into it.

As yet I’ve been unable to find any DNA studies on them.

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