The Himba People

Tjike ("Hello" in Otjihimba): Introduction to the Himba People of Northern Namibia

 Environment

    The Himba people live in the northern regions of Namibia, mainly in the Kunene region (highlighted region in map to the right --> ). This region of Namibia typically receives sunlight around 300 days of the year. The Kunene region, where the Himba mainly live, is just above the tropic of Capricorn, which runs through the middle of Namibia. Due to its location on Earth, their seasons are on opposite times of the year as compared to our seasons. For instance, the winter runs through the months of June and August, these months tend to be dry. The summer is from November through February. Most of the rainfall seen in this region is between the months of September-November and February-April. The Kunene region tends to be low in humidity and the amount of rainfall varies from season to season. This region is also plagued by frequent droughts. As a result of inconsistent rain patterns, there isnt much diversity in vegetation. The region that the Himba live in are usually dry and mountainous. In this region, the most common animals found are sheeps, goats, cattle, among others. Due to the scarcity in resources, the Himba are a nomadic people. They are always on the move and settling into new areas.

Language

   Being descendants of the Herero people, the Himba speak a dialect of the Herero language called Otjihimba. The Herero language comes from a larger family of language called Bantu, which originates from the Niger-Congo region of Central Africa. The Herero language is spoken by roughly 250,000 people in Namibia and Botswana. The region where Herero language is spoken is called "Hereroland". The Herero language is written using the Latin Alphabet. This language is taught throughout many schools and universities in Namibia.

Gender Roles

    Like most other tribal societies, the himba people show strong separation in the roles of the men and women. Typically, the men are the warriors, the ones who bring food to the table, and the ones to are the authority in the tribe. The women on the other hand must maintain the household, raise the children, and provide for their husbands. In this culture, it is common for a man to have more than one wife, due to the importance of reproduction to the Himba people. In the Himba culture, a person's, whether man or woman, marital status can be determined by their clothing. Each man and women must wear a type of clothing that shows their marital status. The Himba women would wear her hair in a different fashion than the single women. The men, on the other hand, would wear a turban to demonstrate that they are married. In this society, social status is also determined by the clothing. The Himba women are usually topless and wear skirts made of goat skins that are decorated with shells and jewels. The Himba women are known for being the "red-women" of Africa since they cover their skin in a red paste, called otjize. The specific reason for this is not exactly known, but some believe that it is protection from the sun.  Some say that it is simply a cosmetic tradition much like make-up used in the western world.

Subsistence 

The Himba people are often described as "pastoral", or a people that live in rural/remote areas. Due to low vegetation and availability of water, the Himba have become a nomadic/semi-nomadic people. They are dependent of their livestock (goats, sheeps, cattle). They mainly depend on their cattle for their diets and for power. Since the Himba are nomadic people, they constantly have to travel with large herds of livestock.

Marriage

The Himba people are always wanting to reproduce. The Himba tribes want more offspring so that there can be more people to help with the livestock and to run the tribe. Because of this, it is common for the Himba men to have multiple wives/lovers as well as women having multiple spouses. When their husbands are away with the livestock, the women stay behind and have "affairs" with other men. As mentioned earlier, in the Himba tribes, men and women who are married wear different clothing than the single men and women. Due to the high number of sexual partners per person, the spread of aids has been an issue facing the Himba people.

Kinship

Since many men and women have offspring with partners outside of their marriage, kinship ties might be closer than what we would consider "normal". However, the definition of kinship is very specific to the Himba as the men only pass down the cattle to the offspring of his sister. This way, incest is monitored so that cattle can successfully be pass down from generation to generation. 

Religion

The Himba are a very spiritual people. The Himba show their worship by lighting a fire every morning called Okuruwo, or holy fire. To the Himba people, this fire represents their ancestors. By worshiping the fire of their ancestors, the Himba believe their ancestors will send messages to their god, Mukuru, as intermediates. Due to the importance of this fire, only the chief's home can have its entrance facing it. The rest of the homes must face away. At night, the Himba chief would light a torch from the fire and store it in his home to relight the fire in the morning. The main things the Himba people ask their God for is for rain and for their cattle to reproduce.

Artwork

The Himba people are constantly decorating their bodies with shells and jewelry made by the Himba women. As mentioned before, every morning, the Himba women apply red paste to their bodies as a type of cosmetic product, which is also used for protection from the sun. In this society, the men and women wear very minimal amounts of clothing due to the high temperatures. Generally, the clothes are made from goat skins which are decorated by shells and jewels.

Conclusion

The Himba are a people that live very distant from the "modern-western" world. Although they have contact with the western society, the Himba people have managed to maintain their traditional lifestyles. People are constantly visiting the Himba people as they represent a living "time-capsule" for this particular region in Africa. Unfortunately, some of the Himba traditions would be criticized because they go against the norms of western-lifestyle. However, the Himba people seem to be unaffected by the world outside their society and are also very welcoming to visitors, as read throughout many blogs and articles. Although Himba population is low in numbers, their traditions remain alive and show no sign of endangerment. Due to its remote location and disassociation with the western world, there is no direct influence from one side to another.

                         
                                                           BIBLIOGRAPHY 
http://goafrica.about.com/library/bl.himba.htm
http://www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/population/himba.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/11/world/africa/himba-namibia-inside-africa/index.html
http://www.southern-africa.arroukatchee.fr/namibia/people/himba.htm#life
http://traditionscustoms.com/people/himba-people
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3119766.stm