Benna Tribe
Just like most of the indigenous tribes in the lower Omo Valley, the Benna practice ritual dancing and singing. The men often have their hair dressed up with a colorful clay cap that is decorated with feathers.
A Benna man comes of age by leaping over a line of cattle. It’s the ceremony which qualifies him to marry, own cattle and have children.
The timing of the ceremony is up to the man’s parents and happens after harvest. As an invitation, the guests receive a strip of bark with a number of knots – one to cut off for each day that passes in the run up to the ceremony. They have several days of feasting and drinking sorghum beer in prospect.
On the afternoon of the leap, the man’s female relatives demand to be whipped as part of the ceremony. The girls go out to meet the Maza, the ones who will whip them – a group of men who have already leapt across the cattle, and live apart from the rest of the tribe, moving from ceremony to ceremony. The whipping appears to be consensual; the girls gather round and beg to be whipped on their backs. They don’t show the pain they must feel and they say they’re proud of the scars. They would look down on a woman who refuses to join in, but young girls are discouraged from getting whipped.
One effect of this ritual whipping is to create a strong debt between the young man and his sisters. If they face hard times in the future, he’ll remember them because of the pain they went through at his initiation. Her scars are a mark of how she suffered for her brother.
As for the young man leaping over the cattle, before the ceremony his head is partially shaved, he is rubbed with sand to wash away his sins, and smeared with dung to give him strength. Finally, strips of tree bark are strapped round his body in a cross, as a form of spiritual protection.
Meanwhile, the Maza and elders line up about 15 cows and castrated male cattle, which represent the women and children of the tribe. The cattle in turn are smeared with dung to make them slippery. To come of age, the man must leap across the line four times. If he falls it is a shame, but he can try again. If he is blind or lame he will be helped across the cattle by others. Only when he has been through this initiation rite can he marry the wife chosen for him by his parents, and start to build up his own herd. Once his marriage has been agreed upon he and his family are indebted to his wife’s family for marriage payments amounting to 30 goats and 20 cattle.
At the end of the leap, he is blessed and sent off with the Maza who shave his head and make him one of their number. His kinsmen and neighbours decamp for a huge dance. It’s also a chance for large-scale flirting. The girls get to choose who they want to dance with and indicate their chosen partner by kicking him on the leg.
Related Attractions
Suri Tribe
Each household in the Suri village is managed by a married woman. The women prepare the food, take care of the children, and cultivate their own fields and gardens, and are allowed to use their profits however they wish. There are also age grades. Young men (Tegay)...
Nyangatom Tribe
Also known as Bume, the Nyangatom belong to the Nilo-Saharan linguistic group. They live throughout the eastern part of the Lower Omo Valley and the Kibish Basin, even into Sudan. Closely related to the Topossa people of Sudan, they shun conflict with these...
Mursi Tribe
Pertaining to the Nilo-Saharan linguistic group (subgroup East-Sudanic), the Mursi are pastoralists and cultivators. The large Surma group consists of the Mursi (about 11,000 individuals), the Chai (about 11,000 individuals) and the Tirma (about 9,000 individuals),...
Konso Tribe
VillagesPerched on a narrow range of highland mountains ranging from 5,000 to 6,000 feet, live a group of people called Konso. Their homeland, located south of the town of Arba Minch, is surrounded by the lands of the Borana, Burji and Gaudwada peoples. While they...
Kara Tribe
Like in most of Omo tribes, scarification is widely used in the Kara tribe. Men braid hair in tight braids close to the skull. Sometimes men love to decorate their hair with various feathers and flowers. Women’s favorite hairstyle is a shaved skull or very short hair...
Hamar Tribe
ETHIOPIAN MASTERS OF BODY DECORATION But scarification is only one aspect of Hamar adornment. After all, the Hamar people are considered to be “masters” of body decoration and it would be an understatement to say that most Hamar men and women share a fundamental...
Gamo Tribe
Types of Gamo Vernacular house There are three main types of Gamo vernacular houses. These are Waje, Yara and Kaara. According to the society, houses are differing in their shape, sizes, functions, way of construction and materials. #Waje/ Zuufa "Waje" is type of Gamo...
Dorze Tribe
Weaving There are numerous regional variations of the treadle loom. The “pit looms” is the one Dorze use. The weaver is sitting on the edge of the pit above which the loom is mounted and in which he operates the treadles with his feet. Alternatively, the weaver may...
Dasenetch Tribe
The Dassanetch are known under more than one name, like Glebe, Murielle and Reshiat. These names all concern the same people, in total 35,000 souls. The Dassanetch can however be divided in eight clans. These are the Elele, Inkabelo, Inkoria, Koro, Naritch, Oro,...
Arbore Tribe
The Arbore, also known as Erbore or Ulde, are an ethnic group living in Southern Ethiopia, near Lake Chew Bahir, in the South-Western region of the Omo Valley. The Arbore are divided into only four villages: Gandareb, Kulaama, Murale and Eegude, the total number of...
The A’ari People
The A'ari is a people of the South, living in the Jinka highlands. In this region they are the culturally and economically dominant group. Their language is Omotic. They live in tribes with a clan structure - these tribes used to live independently from one another...