The exact number of African peoples is unknown, and ranges from five hundred to seven thousand. This is due to the fuzziness of the separation criteria, under which the inhabitants of the two neighboring villages can refer themselves to different nationalities, without having any special differences. Scientists tend to figure 1-2 thousand to determine ethnic communities.
The main part of the peoples of Africa includes groups consisting of several thousand, and sometimes hundreds of people, but at the same time - does not exceed 10% of the total population of this continent. As a rule, such small ethnic groups are the wildest tribes. It is to this group that, for example, the Mursi tribe belongs.
Tribal Journeys Ep 05 The Mursi:
Living in southwestern Ethiopia, on the border with Kenya and Sudan, settled in the Mago Park, the Mursi tribe is distinguished by unusually tough customs. They, by right, can be nominated for the title: the most aggressive ethnic group.
They are prone to frequent alcohol consumption and uncontrolled use of weapons (everyone constantly carries Kalashnikov assault rifles, or combat sticks). In fights, they can often beat each other almost to death, trying to prove their dominance in the tribe.
Scientists attribute this tribe to the mutated negroid race, With distinctive features in the form of short stature, wide bones and crooked legs, low and strongly compressed foreheads, flattened noses and pumped up short necks.
The more public, civilized Mursi do not always show all these characteristic attributes, but the exotic look of their lower lip is business card tribe.
The lower lip is cut in childhood, pieces of wood are inserted there, gradually increasing their diameter, and on the wedding day a “plate” of baked clay is inserted into it - debi, (up to 30 centimeters !!). If a Mursi girl does not make such a hole in her lip, then a very small ransom will be given for her.
When the plate is pulled out, the lip droops like a long round cord. Almost all Mursi have no front teeth, the tongue is cracked to the point of blood.
The second strange and frightening adornment of Mursi women is the monista, which are recruited from human finger phalanges (nek). One person has only 28 of these bones in their hands. Each necklace costs its victims five or six tassels, some lovers of “jewelry” monist wrap their necks in several rows, shining greasy and emitting a sweetish rotting smell of melted human fat, which every bone is rubbed daily. The source for the beads never runs out: the priestess of the tribe is ready to deprive the hands of a man who has violated the laws for almost every offense.
It is customary for this tribe to do scarification (scarring). Men can afford to be scarred only after the first murder of one of their enemies or ill-wishers.
Their religion, animism, deserves a longer and more shocking story.
In short: women are Death Priestesses, so they daily give their husbands drugs and poisons. Antidotes are distributed by the High Priestess, but sometimes salvation does not come to everyone. In such cases, a white cross is drawn on the widow's plate, and she becomes a very respected member of the tribe, who is not eaten after death, but buried in the trunks of special ritual trees. Honor is given to such priestesses due to the fulfillment of the main mission - the will of the God of Death Yamda, which they were able to fulfill by destroying physical body, and freeing the highest spiritual Essence from his man.
The rest of the dead are waiting for the collective eating of the whole tribe. Soft fabrics are boiled in a cauldron, bones are used for jewelry-amulets and thrown on swamps to mark dangerous places.
What seems very wild for a European, for Mursi is commonplace and tradition.
Film: Shocking Africa. 18++ Accurate name film - Naked Magic / Magia Nuda (Mondo Magic) 1975.
Movie: In Search of Tribes of Hunters E02 Hunting in the Kalahari. San tribe.
Photographer Jimmy Nelson travels the world capturing wild and semi-savage tribes who manage to keep the traditional lifestyle V modern world. Every year it becomes more and more difficult for these peoples, but they do not give up and do not leave the territories of their ancestors, continuing to live the same way as they lived.
Asaro tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Taken in 2010. Asaro mudmen ("People from the river Asaro, covered in mud") first met with Western world in the middle of the 20th century. Since time immemorial, these people have smeared themselves with mud and put on masks to instill fear in other villages.
“Individually, they are all very sweet, but with their culture under threat, they are forced to stand up for themselves.” - Jimmy Nelson.
Tribe of Chinese fishermen
Location: Guangxi, China. Taken in 2010. Cormorant fishing is one of the oldest methods of fishing with the help of waterfowl. To prevent them from swallowing their catch, the fishermen tie their necks. Cormorants easily swallow small fish, and bring large ones to their owners.
Masai
Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Taken in 2010. This is one of the most famous African tribes. Young Maasai go through a series of rituals to develop responsibility, become men and warriors, learn how to protect livestock from predators, and keep their families safe. Thanks to the rituals, ceremonies and instructions of the elders, they grow up to be real brave men.
Livestock is central to Maasai culture.
Nenets
Location: Siberia - Yamal. Taken in 2011. traditional occupation Nenets - reindeer breeding. They lead a nomadic life, crossing the Yamal Peninsula. For more than a millennium, they survive at temperatures down to minus 50°C. The 1000 km long annual migration route lies across the frozen river Ob.
“If you don’t drink warm blood and don’t eat fresh meat, then you are doomed to die in the tundra.”
Korowai
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Taken in 2010. The Korowai are one of the few Papuan tribes that do not wear koteki, a kind of penis sheath. The men of the tribe hide their penises by tightly tying them with leaves along with the scrotum. Korowai are hunter-gatherers who live in tree houses. This nation has strictly distributed rights and duties between men and women. Their number is estimated at about 3,000 people. Until the 1970s, the Korowai were convinced that there were no other peoples in the world.
Yali tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Taken in 2010. Yali live in the virgin forests of the highlands and are officially recognized as pygmies, since the height of men is only 150 centimeters. Koteka (penis gourd case) serves as part of traditional clothes. It can be used to determine the belonging of a person to a tribe. Yalis prefer long thin kotekas.
Karo tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Taken in 2011. The Omo Valley, located in Africa's Great Rift Valley, is said to be home to some 200,000 indigenous peoples who have inhabited it for millennia.
Here the tribes from ancient times traded among themselves, offering each other beads, food, cattle and fabrics. Not so long ago, guns and ammunition came into circulation.
Dasanech tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Taken in 2011. This tribe is characterized by the absence of a strictly defined ethnic background. A person of almost any origin can be admitted to dasanech.
Guarani
Location: Argentina and Ecuador. Taken in 2011. For thousands of years, the Amazonian rainforests of Ecuador have been home to the Guarani people. They consider themselves the bravest indigenous group in the Amazon.
Vanuatu tribe
Location: Ra Lava Island (Banks Island Group), Torba Province. Taken in 2011. Many Vanuatu people believe that wealth can be achieved through ceremonies. Dancing is an important part of their culture, which is why many villages have dance floors called nasara.
Ladakhi tribe
Location: India. Taken in 2012. The Ladakhs share the beliefs of their Tibetan neighbours. Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with images of ferocious demons from the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, has been at the heart of Ladakhi beliefs for over a thousand years. The people live in the Indus Valley, are mainly engaged in agriculture, and practice polyandry.
Mursi tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Taken in 2011. "Better to die than to live without killing." Mursi are pastoralists-farmers and successful warriors. Men are distinguished by horseshoe-shaped scars on the body. Women also practice scarification, and also insert a plate into their lower lip.
Rabari tribe
Location: India. Taken in 2012. 1000 years ago, the Rabari tribe was already roaming the deserts and plains that today belong to Western India. The women of this nation devote long hours to embroidery. They also manage the farms and deal with all financial matters, while the men look after the flocks.
Samburu tribe
Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Taken in 2010. The Samburu are a semi-nomadic people who move from place to place every 5-6 weeks to provide pasture for their livestock. They are independent and much more traditional than the Maasai. Equality reigns in samburu society.
mustang tribe
Location: Nepal. Taken in 2011. Most Mustang people still believe that the world is flat. They are very religious. Prayers and holidays are an integral part of their lives. The tribe stands apart as one of the last strongholds of the Tibetan culture that has survived to this day. Until 1991, they did not let any outsiders into their environment.
Maori tribe
Location: New Zealand. Taken in 2011. Maori - adherents of polytheism, worship many gods, goddesses and spirits. They believe that the spirits of ancestors and supernatural beings ubiquitous and help the tribe in hard times. In originated in distant times Myths and legends of the Maori reflected their ideas about the creation of the universe, the origin of gods and people.
"My tongue is my awakening, my tongue is the window of my soul."
Goroka tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Taken in 2011. Life in the highland villages is simple. The residents have plenty of food, friendly families, people honor the wonders of nature. They live by hunting, gathering and growing crops. Internecine clashes are not uncommon here. To intimidate the enemy, the warriors of the Goroka tribe use war paint and decorations.
"Knowledge is just hearsay as long as it's in the muscles."
Huli tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Taken in 2010. This indigenous people fight for land, pigs and women. They also put a lot of effort into impressing the enemy. Huli paint their faces with yellow, red and white paint, and are also famous for the tradition of making elegant wigs from their own hair.
Himba tribe
Location: Namibia. Taken in 2011. Each member of the tribe belongs to two clans, one by one's father and one by one's mother. Marriages are arranged for the purpose of expanding wealth. Here is vital appearance. He talks about the place of a person within the group and about his phase of life. The leader is responsible for the rules of the group.
Kazakh tribe
Location: Mongolia. Taken in 2011. Kazakh nomads are the descendants of the Turkic, Mongolian, Indo-Iranian groups and the Huns, who inhabited the territory of Eurasia from Siberia to the Black Sea.
The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of the traditions that the Kazakhs have managed to preserve to this day. They trust their clan, count on their flocks, believe in the pre-Islamic cult of the sky, ancestors, fire, and supernatural powers good and evil spirits.
When it comes to the birth of a child, first of all, an ordinary clinic comes to mind, then a maternity hospital, and so on. But in remote corners of the planet, where life still differs little from what it was a hundred or two hundred years ago, rituals have been preserved that accompany childbirth in natural conditions. The founder of the scientific and creative project Wild Born travels the world and captures the beauty of this purely feminine thing - the sacraments of bearing and giving birth to a child.
(Total 11 photos + 1 video)
“Native American women have a wide traditional knowledge of nature, which contributes to healthy pregnancy and childbirth. The women of the Kosua tribe prepare a hollow with boiled water heated by stones and throw in a collection of cinchona, roots and herbs. Then they sit on top of this recess, allowing the steam to wrap around their body and relieve pain, help them relax and recover from childbirth.
The project participants set themselves the goal of studying the socio-cultural, ecological and economic aspects of the traditions and rituals of natural childbearing among women from various aboriginal tribes that were on the verge of extinction due to the influence of civilization.
The project was founded by photographer Alegra Elli in 2011. She wanted to study and capture traditional ways and sacred rites related to pregnancy and childbirth, and how they change over time. The photographs taken during the expeditions study the role of ancient knowledge in childbearing, midwives, ecology, local flora and fauna for rituals, pain relief and nutrition.
A girl from the Taut Batu tribe, Palawan (Philippines).
Every seven years, this tribe performs a ritual to purify the world and restore cosmic balance.
In 2011 and 2012 the expedition went to Papua - New Guinea to find out what it's like to give birth in the jungle. The following year, the activists traveled to Palawan, Philippines. In 2014, they went from pregnancy to childbirth with the Himba tribe in Namibia, and this year they will observe how women in Yamal cope with the birth of children.
These vivid pictures remind us to take care of customs and traditions, try to preserve the richness and diversity of cultures, and that the birth of children is perhaps the most natural and at the same time the most mysterious process that can be observe.
In this video, an experienced midwife from the Himba tribe in Namibia massages the belly of a pregnant woman a few hours before giving birth.
Before the birth of a child.
Himba newborn.
“On the path to becoming a woman. I witnessed several social rites while living among the Himba tribe, including the initiation of a girl. Having reached puberty, the girl leaves the village until, during the ceremony, she is brought to a new social status. With the support of women from the community, the girl is brought to a special room where she is spiritually protected during her first menstruation. At this time, she receives many gifts, and as soon as she is introduced to the spirit, the change of status becomes official and a traditional leather crown is put on her head as a sign that she can be married. In the photo, the girls are gathered in a small temporary tent, which was built for an initiation ceremony to give them the status of women with the onset of their menstrual cycle. As part of the ceremony and on a regular basis, women burn various roots to obtain a fragrant smoke that is used as a body perfume.
Ethnic diversity on Earth is striking in its abundance. People living in different parts of the world are at the same time similar to each other, but at the same time they differ greatly in their way of life, customs, language. In this article, we will talk about some unusual tribes about which you will be interested to know.
Piraha Indians - a wild tribe inhabiting the Amazon jungle
The Pirahã Indian tribe lives in the Amazonian rainforest, mostly on the banks of the Maici River, in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.
This nationality South America known for its language, pirahan. In fact, Pirahão is one of the rarest languages among the 6000 spoken languages worldwide. The number of native speakers ranges from 250 to 380 people. The language is amazing because:
- does not have numbers, for them there are only two concepts "several" (from 1 to 4 pieces) and "many" (more than 5 pieces),
- verbs do not change either in numbers or in persons,
- it does not have names for colors,
- consists of 8 consonants and 3 vowels! Isn't it amazing?
According to linguists, Piraha men understand basic Portuguese and even speak very limited topics. True, not all males can express their thoughts. Women, on the other hand, have little understanding of the Portuguese language and do not use it at all for communication. However, the Pirahão language has several loanwords from other languages, predominantly from Portuguese, such as "cup" and "business".
Speaking of business, the Piraha Indians sell brazil nuts and provide services. sexual in nature, to buy Consumables and tools, such as machetes, milk powder, sugar, whiskey. Chastity is not a cultural value for them.
There are several more interesting moments associated with this nation:
- Piraha have no coercion. They don't tell other people what to do. It seems that there is no social hierarchy at all, no formal leader.
- this one Indian tribe there is no idea of deities and god. However, they believe in spirits that sometimes take the form of jaguars, trees, people.
- it seems that the Piraha tribe are people who do not sleep. They can take a nap for 15 minutes or at most two hours throughout the day and night. They rarely sleep through the night.
The Wadoma tribe is an African tribe of people with two toes.
The Wadoma tribe lives in the Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe. They are known for being ectrodactyly by some members of the tribe, missing the three middle toes and turning the outermost two inwards. As a result, members of the tribe are called "two-toed" and "ostrich-footed." Their huge two-toed feet are the result of a single mutation on chromosome number seven. However, in the tribe, such people are not considered inferior. The reason for the frequent occurrence of ectrodactyly in the Wadoma tribe is isolation and a ban on marriage outside the tribe.
Life and life of the Korowai tribe in Indonesia
The Korowai tribe, also called the Kolufo, lives in the southeast of the autonomous Indonesian province of Papua and consists of about 3,000 people. Perhaps until 1970 they were unaware of the existence of other people besides themselves.
Most clans of the Korowai tribe live in their isolated territory in tree houses, which are located at a height of 35-40 meters. In this way, they protect themselves from floods, predators, and arson by rival clans who enslave people, especially women and children. In 1980, some of the Korowai moved to settlements in open areas.
Korowai have excellent hunting and fishing skills, gardening and gathering. They practice slash-and-burn agriculture, when the forest is first burned, and then cultivated plants are planted in this place.
As far as religion is concerned, the Korowai universe is filled with spirits. The most honorable place is given to the spirits of ancestors. In difficult times, they sacrifice domestic pigs to them.
We are used to living in a world of information. However, there are so many unopened pages in history and untrodden paths on the planet! The mystery of the Amazons - brave freedom-loving women living without men - is being tried by researchers, filmmakers, and exotic lovers.
Who are the Amazons?
For the first time, Homer mentions attractive but dangerous warriors of the weaker sex in the eighteenth century BC. Then their way of life is described by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus and the playwright Aeschylus, followed by the Roman chroniclers. According to myths, the Amazons formed states that consisted only of women. Presumably, these were territories from the shores of the Black Sea to the Caucasus and further - into the depths of Asia. From time to time they chose men from other nations to procreate. The fate of the born child depended on gender - if it was a girl, she was brought up in a tribe, while the boy was sent to his father or killed.
Since then, the legendary Amazon has been a woman who masterfully wields weapons and an excellent rider who is not inferior to men in battle. Her patroness - Artemis - a virgin, eternally young goddess of hunting, capable of punishing in anger with an arrow fired from a bow.
Etymology
Until now, there are disputes among researchers about the origin of the word "Amazon". Presumably, it was formed from the Iranian word ha-mazan - "warrior woman". Another option - from the word a masso - "inviolable" (for men).
The most common Greek etymology of the word. It is interpreted as "breastless", and according to legend, the warriors cauterized or cut off their mammary glands for the convenience of using the bow. This version, however, does not find confirmation in artistic images.
