SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA PART V - HAMAR

The Hamar occupy a mountainous, dry region in the eastern part of the Lower Omo Valley. They have an agro-livestock connection and bring their surplus agricultural products and livestock to surrounding markets. Hamar women are some of the most elaborately dressed women of the region. Their goatskin skirts are almost always decorated with coloured glass beads. The front of the skirt is edged with beads or pieces of metal whose weight increases at the top of the triangle and causes the skirt to always fall between their legs, thus protecting their decency. The back of the skirt is longer and strongly resembles the tail of a gazelle. They wear distinctive metal necklaces, called esente, which are never taken off. The statuus of a married woman is indicated by a third necklace of leather and metal that also has a distinctive detail protruding from the front. They also wear a profusion of metal bracelets on their arms and legs. Their hair is thoroughly covered with grease and red ochre. The hairstyle worn denotes age and statue. Elaborate plaits denote a married woman. While flattened hair with little tufts is worn by young girls. In comparison male decoration is much simpler with the exception of complicated hairstyles denoting their status within the age system.

The Hamar are best known globally for the male passage rite of "leaping over the bulls" which determines his readiness to make the social jump from youth to adulthood and for the responsibilities of marriage and raising a family. Leading up to this ceremony is the controversial whipping of the young man's female relatives. Perceived by most Hamar women as a badge of honor, the young women taunt the "maz" who use long whips to inflict scars on their backs and arms. John and I felt strongly that we couldn't condone that brutality by paying to see it take place and declined to see the ceremony. But, we did see a video of it. The government of Ethiopia has been trying unsuccessfully to ban the practice,

In a wonderful book,"Touching Ethiopia", the author writes:"The Hamar are a suprising people, not only for their original external appearance but also because they are reserved but polite, quiet but happy, simple but proud, austere but sympathetic, peaceful but arrogant." My impression echoes the writer's. They possess a very interesting combination of traits. Unlike the unpredictable, savageness of the Mursi people, the Hamar live peaceably and synergistically with their neighbors.

Pictures: Beautiful married Hamar woman; Elder Hamar man carrying his combination stool/headrest; Married Hamar woman sewing cowrie shells onto a girdle belt; Hamar woman with scars inflicted by the whips of the "maz" during her brother's coming of age bull leaping ceremony; Hamar woman selling cocks at the Hamar market; Hamar women vendors selling ochre at the Hamar market; Hamar women and children in a small Hamar village.

SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA PART IV - MURSI

Ethiopian Peoples of the Lower Omo Valley have very unique cultures. As we traveled further south toward the Kenyan/Sudan border, the weather became warmer and the people wore fewer articles of clothing. Our first encounter with these peoples, was with the Mursi, a very proud and, sometimes hostile people. Because of their possible aggression (due to abuse of alcohol early in the day and the fact that almost everyone, carries an automatic assault rifle (Kalashnikov), we had to bring along an armed guard to visit the village. The strange thing is that the armed guard only had a single shot rifle to protect us.

John enjoyed our visit; but, I felt uncomfortable the whole time we were there. I didn't feel threatened. But, the villagers were definitely only in this village, all dressed up for us to see and for us to pay them money to take their pictures. And, some became beligerent if you did not take their picture or pay them enough money. I only took a few pictures and was ready to leave.

The Mursi are dedicated to raising livestock on their very dry lands. Although they have had to supplement their food sources by cultivating sorghum and corn and keeping bees. Hunting was once an important resource as the Mursi were the supplier of wild animal skins for other groups. This ceased when the region around the Mago River, the Mursi homeland, was declared a national park and wildlife reserve.

The distinctive trait of the Mursi, shared by other Surmic groups, is the discs worn in the lower lips and earlobes of their women. The plates are made from mud or wood. There are different sizes and shapes (circular and trapezoidal) and they may be decorated with cuts or incisions. Sometimes the centre is hollow, forming a large labial ring. Not all of the women have the discs. We were told that when a woman is widowed, she removes her labial disk and throws it away.

Pictures: 2 older Mursi women; 2 younger Mursi women; Ann and 4 Mursi women; Sammy, our guide and 5 Mursi men with their rifles and sticks

SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA PART III - ARI PEOPLE

The Ari people live in villages around the town of Jinka in Southern Ethiopia. They wear mostly western style clothing. The women plait their hair and the men wear a short shaved haircut. Our guide took us to one of their largest villages where we spent most of the morning watching as the villagers went about their daily lives.

The Ari are mainly maize farmers; but, like all Southern Ethiopians, they keep a small herd of cattle and goats. They are friendly, open and industrious. From the maize they distill corn liquor. They gave John and I samples of this clear liquid when we visited their small still. It was pretty smooth, with a somewhat eathy smoke flavor due to the dung they used for fuel.

They are also known for their wonderful pottery. We watched a young woman take red clay that was gathered nearby and fashion a flat plate used for roasting coffee (buna) beans. There are several social classes among the Ari. Only women are potters and only pottery families can intermarry. The same marriage restriction holds for the blacksmith who hand forges knives and uses his animal hide bellows to bring oxygen to the fire. The blacksmith that we watched, told us that he has been training his daughter, the first woman Ari blacksmith, to carry on his trade.

An Ari woman taught Ann how to pour injera batter onto the hot injera pan and let us taste fresh corn injera. Injera can be made from several plants - tef and corn are the main ones. Injera is the traditional Ethiopian flat large round "bread" that provides the plate for eating all of the special Ethiopian dishes like "Tibs" - small chunks of meat fried with fat, garlic, onion and tomato. Injera is traditionally served and eaten communally. The main dish is placed in the centre of the injera with small portions of other foods surrounding it - a bit of each in front of every person. Cutlery is not used. Thus, the first step before eating, is to wash one's hands. The hostess brings a pitcher of water and a small wash basin. She pours water over the hands of each person at the table. After everyone has washed, the injera is uncovered and everyone can start eating. With only the right hand one breaks off small pieces of injera and uses them to pick up the food. Ethiopians love hot, spicy food and always have a variety of chile pastes or powders at every meal.

Like many other parts of Ethiopia, the Ari also make another form of "bread", kocho, a highly nutritious soft cake made from the pulp of the false banana or enset. In one of the pictures above, John and Sammy, our guide, stand before an enset plant. Later in our journeys we watched the making of kocho.

Pictures: Ari girl clutching a 1 Birr note(the cost of taking her picture); John and Sammy with the enset plant; Ari woman making pottery;Making injera;
Ari blacksmith; Ari women plaiting hair and nursing