The Himba People of Namibia

The Himba are an indigenous tribe of around 50,000 people, living in Northern Namibia. Namibia is located in Southern Africa. It borders Angola, Botswana, and Zambia. The country is relatively politically stable, and is for the most part, economically sound. A large portion of the population is indigenous, including the Himba. The Himba are a mostly semi-nomadic people. They are closely related to the Herero, an ethnic group located in the Bantu region of Africa. They speak Otijihimba, which is very comparable to the language of the Herero. The Himba, similar to the Afar people of Ethiopia and many other African tribes, are mostly revolved around their cattle. They breed cows and goats for food and milk. The responsibility of milking the cattle rely solely on the women. The men spend most of their time helping to protect the cattle, and making sure none of the cattle run away. Women take care of the children, and also tend to perform more labor-intensive work than the men do. Such as carrying water and building homes. The men tend to handle more of the political issues of the tribe, care for the cattle, and slaughter the cattle for special occasions. One thing the Himba are well known for is their unique hair styles, and the women of the Himba’s red-like skin, which is why the Himba women are nicknamed “Red-skinned women”. The women cover themselves in otjize, a mixture of butter fat and ochre, as a way of protecting them from the sun, and a repellent for bugs. But they use it also as a symbol of beauty. This is what gives their skin a reddish-tinge. This symbolizes the Earth’s rich red color and blood, which to the Himba represents life. Women also braid each other’s hair and cover all of it in otjize, except for the ends. The hairstyles of the Himba are used to represent age and social status. Children usually will have two plaits of braided hair. After a girl enters puberty, the girl’s plaits are moved closer to their face, and they are allowed to have more than two. Married women wear headdresses with many streams of braided hair, colored and put into shape by the otjize. Single men wear one plait backwards to their necks, while married men cover their hair with a turban. Due to of the harsh conditions of the desert and their lack of outside influences, the Himba have managed to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle. The Himba people live under a tribal structure based off of ‘bilateral descent.’ Bilateral descent is a system of family lineage in which relatives on the mother’s side and father’s side are equally important in emotional ties or for the transferring of property and wealth. It is a family arrangement where descent and inheritance are passed down equally through both parents. Under bilateral descent, every tribe member belongs to two clans. One through the father and one through the mother. Himba clans are led by the eldest man in the clan. Sons will live with their father’s clan, and when daughters marry, they go to live with the clan of their husband. Bilateral descent is found among only a few groups in West Africa, India, Australia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Anthropologists consider the system advantageous for groups that live in extreme environments because it allows individuals to rely on two sets of families dispersed over a wide area. The Himba’s history is full with disasters. Including several severe droughts and guerilla warfare. Especially during Namibia’s struggle for independence, and during the civil war between Namibia and Angola. In 1904, The Himba suffered a genocide by the German colonial power under Lothar von Trotha. The genocide not only diminished a large portion of the Himba, but also many other groups and tribes, the most severely effected being the Herero and the Nama, an ethnic group of Botswana and Namibia. In the 1980’s it appeared as if the way of the Himba was coming to an end. A severe drought had killed 90% of their cattle, and many had given up their herds and became refugees, living in the slums of various towns and cities. Still, many of the Himba still live the traditional way of Himba life, but it is growing more and more difficult to do so. As for the Himba’s religious views, The Himba follow their own monotheistic religion who worship the god Mukuru, as well as their tribe’s ancestors. Mukuru only blesses, while ancestors can bless and curse. Each Himba family has it’s own ancestral fire, which is kept by the fire-keeper. The fire-keeper approaches the ancestral fire every seven to eight days in order to communicate with Mukuru and the ancestors of his/hers family. Often, because Mukuru is busy, the ancestors will act as representatives for Mukuru. The Himba traditionally believe in ‘omiti’ which translates into witchcraft. Some Himba people believe that death is caused by omiti, or by someone using omiti for evil purposes. Some Himba people also believe that evil people who use omiti have the power to place bad thoughts into another person’s mind, or cause strange events to happen. Some Himba will consult a diviner to reveal the reason behind a strange event, or to find the source of the omiti. A diviner is someone who uses divination, which is a method to attempt to tell the future, or to give insight into problems someone is having. You may ask yourself, Why should we care? About the Himba, their struggles, and other African tribes. Why should we learn about them? for the reason that these tribes will not last forever, and seem now to not last for much longer. We should be able to learn, appreciate, and know about these tribes and their history. And though the Himba have had shrinking numbers of their population, and a decrease in the amount of Himba that live the traditional way of life, for various reasons like severe drought, genocide, civil war, and of course living in the growing modern world. But despite all of this, they have still been able to successfully sustain and uphold their culture and tribal life, keep their cattle safe, and be to many people, one of the most interesting Bantu tribes of Africa. Furthermore, when Africa does eventually lose its thousands of tribal people living the custom way of life, they will lose a large part of their remarkable culture, but these tribes will still go down in history, and will still be remembered, as long as we take the time to study and understand them.

References
Beforethey.com, “Explore tribes: Namibia” Nationalgeographic.com, “Himba people, consulting the past, divining the future.” African-tribes.com “The Himba people” GoAfrica.com “Tribes of Africa: The Himba” Crandall, David P. “The place of the Stunted Iron Wood Trees: A Year in the Lives of the Cattle-Herding Himba of Namibia.” Olfami, Kuni. “Indigenous Tribes of Africa: The Himba”