The Himba: the supermodels of Kunene

8/3/2016

By Roxanne Reid
Skin of reddish hue, elaborate hair extensions, handmade skirts, and metal, shell and leather accessories, these are part of what makes Himba women so beautiful. There’s a grace and ease of movement too, making the Himba the supermodels of Kunene district in northwestern Namibia.

We were about to meet some of them in the Anabeb Conservancy near Sesfontein, on Open Africa's Arid Eden Route. Our Himba guide Ueera Kasaona was on hand as a translator and source of insider info about their culture and traditions.

He explained that the word Himba means ‘left behind’ because when the Herero – the larger group the Himba are part of – started migrating south from the middle of the 18th century, the Himba stayed behind in the north of Namibia. (It’s a translation I much prefer to the alternative ‘beggar’ that I’ve seen elsewhere.) There they still live in what used to be called Kaokoland, now renamed Kunene.

The Himba are pastoral semi-nomadic people, moving from place to place in search of grazing. The men build the fence around the homestead, the framework of the huts and the cattle enclosure. They also walk great distances to find water and grazing for their cows, which they see as their wealth.

Women do just about everything else – carry water, collect firewood, cook, look after the children, milk the cows and goats. After each rainy season they spread a covering of mud and cow dung on the huts, which are made of saplings bound together with palm leaves. They start having babies when they reach puberty and may have a dozen in their lifetime.

The children have their own work too – to watch the goats and make sure they don’t stray or become lunch for a leopard. This is one reason why few Himba children go to school – they’re needed at home to guard what is seen as a source of wealth. (Another is difficulty of access from their remote villages.) Amazingly, despite the lack of education or ability to count, the Himba know each cow or goat by its colour and markings.

The traditional dress
Perhaps the most recognisable element of Himba women’s attire is the otjize of red ochre and fat they spread on their skin. Nowadays, we noticed, they often use Vaseline instead of butterfat from cows. They keep the ochre and perfume herbs and resins in small boxes made of cow horn and closed with cow-skin lids.

The women’s headdress, or erembe, is made of goat’s skin. When a girl reaches puberty a three-leaf-shaped crown called an ekori is placed on her head and she’ll only change this for the grown-up erembe when she marries or has a baby. A woman’s front skirt is made from sheepskin and the beautiful, fluted back skirt of calf skin. I held a spare one for a few moments and it was really heavy, a bit like carting around a fully loaded backpack all day.

Their beaded wire anklets protect them from snake bites but also show whether they’ve had a single baby, or two or more. A thick brown necklace made of palm leaves shows the wearer hasn’t had babies yet, but ostrich eggshell necklaces and leather and metal bracelets are purely for adornment. Their elegant hair extensions traditionally used to be made from animals’ tails but nowadays they buy them readymade from the market in Opuwo.

Young girls usually have two braids hanging forward over their face. Once they reach puberty, they’re allowed to have more. Traditional Himba men have only one braid going backward from the crown of the head if they’re single, and wear a fabric scarf to cover the hair once they marry. That said, however, the men are far more likely to wear Western clothes than the women.

Death and the ancestral fire
In a place of honour in every homestead is the family’s ancestral fire, which is used to communicate with their god Mukuru and their ancestors. It’s built between the first wife’s hut and the cattle kraal and a pregnant or menstruating woman isn’t allowed to walk between the fire and the kraal.

‘When a Himba person dies the body is taken to Opuwo to be put in cold storage until all the family can gather – usually three or four weeks,’ said Ueera. They slaughter 10 to 20 cows by strangling them to keep the blood in the meat. Once the family has gathered, the deceased’s body will spend the night in the village. It will be taken to the ancestral fire to tell the ancestors someone is coming to join them before going to the cemetery for burial.

The body is buried lying down, then the horns of the cattle slaughtered for the funeral are packed on top of the grave to symbolise the cattle the person owned during his life. The Himba believe there’s bad-luck dust in the cemetery so they visit only for a burial and then must cleanse their hands in the ancestral fire afterwards.

‘When a headman dies, his brother can come to take over all his wealth and be boss of the village,’ Ueera said. ‘He can send the wives back to their own homes but the children must stay behind because they are blood family.’

I admit I’m conflicted about the value of visiting a Himba settlement. I know I learnt a lot and I enjoyed the interaction, but what about the value for them? Is our fascination with these people and their traditional way of life bringing unwanted change? Read my post about this and share your thoughts.

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