Hamar (people)

Young Hamar

The Hamar (or Hamer, Amar, Amer ) are a group of people who live in the Omo region in southwestern Ethiopia . The language of the Hamar is Hamer-Banna and belongs to the South Motic languages. It is also spoken by the Banna , although these two groups are ethnically different.

Immediate neighbors are the Bashada and Banna , whose culture is closely linked to the Hamar, as well as the Nyangatom , Dassanetch , Tsamay and Arbore .

Society and culture

In a Hamar village

Like most pastoral groups in the region, the Hamar live mainly from their herds (milk, meat, blood) as well as millet and other agricultural products grown in the rainy season . Cattle and goats are the basis of life and at the same time a status symbol for people. To obtain blood for food , the cattle are shot into the carotid artery with a bow and arrow and the blood is collected in a bucket.

The land is owned by the entire tribe, whose resources such as building materials or firewood can be freely used for individual purposes. While the women are mainly responsible for agricultural activities, the men usually work as shepherds. The men also keep bees . The honey obtained is mainly used on special occasions such as jumping over the cattle.

Instead of coffee, the Hamar drink a tea-like infusion from the pod of the coffee bean , which is first spat over those present at a morning meeting in order to maintain health and happiness for the day. Brewing beer , especially for festivities, is also common among the Hamar.

As warriors and guards, the men usually wield a Kalashnikov .

In terms of religion, the Hamar cannot be classified in any world religion. They have a belief in the driving force barjo (also called bairo ). Group chants and conversations attempt to call out the barjo. Missions are being used to try to teach the Hamar the Christian faith in the larger settlements. However, this has little success, as this belief does not fit into the social and cultural constellation.

The jump over the cattle

Scars on the back of a hamar

One of the most important rituals of the Hamar is the initiation ritual called “The jump over the cattle”, which is now also being initiated for tourists. The festivities are initiated by dances by the female relatives of the man to be initiated. The ritual is also accompanied by painted men who are said to have magical powers. At the climax of this ritual, a young, uninitiated man ( ukuli ) jumps naked over a row of cattle four times in order to become marriageable and adult. However, the man's wife is usually determined by his family. In the ritual, the man jumps on a cow with a running run and runs over the backs of other cattle standing in a row. If he falls down, this is considered a great defeat and denies him acceptance as a tribal warrior. A successful jump, on the other hand, is a prerequisite for marriage and having children. The relatives of the man stand with their backs to the west in order to avert evil.

Part of the custom is the whipping of the girls by the bachelors who have already successfully jumped over the cattle. During the ceremony, as a token of their solidarity and affection, the women repeatedly urge the men over several hours to continue whipping and blow a brass horn after the blow . The ritual is considered extremely controversial by European observers because of its brutality and subjectively perceived inhumanity. Many outsiders demand its abolition, but the Hamar reject it on all sides, as it is inevitably connected with jumping over the cattle and is an important tradition for the people. The resulting scars are considered trophies. Whipping is possible for men as a punishment if they fall to the ground while jumping over the cattle or if they lose a goat or cattle while herding.

Jewelry and scarifications

Hamar woman 2015

Hamar with traditional hairstyle and decorative scars

Their traditional hairstyle is significant in Hamar society. For this purpose, the men's hair is rubbed with clay or clay and the dried mass is partially decorated with ostrich feathers or the like inserted into it. Women wear thinly braided half-length braids.

The Hamar traditionally wear ornamental scars arranged in a geometrical fashion . The scars are cut in several sessions by a special master. To do this, the blade is first sharpened on a stone. Depending on the part of the body, the skin is held into a horizontal bulge with the help of an assistant and this is incised vertically. After four to five cuts in a row, these are lifted with the help of a mandrel and cut laterally again. The individual cuts are about 0.5 to just over one centimeter in length. The ritual often leads to high blood loss and requires a corresponding regeneration phase.

The scars are considered an ideal of beauty and are mainly on the back and arms. For men, they symbolize success in hunting and defending the tribe. Nevertheless, there is some kind of competition among them to obtain new scars. Scars on the chest are reserved for men who have already killed people from hostile tribes. However, cutting such killing symbol scars is now legally prohibited under imprisonment in Ethiopia.

Married women always wear special marriage neck rings that are only removed when the first child is born. In addition, the Hamar traditionally adorn themselves with earrings that are worn in pierced ear holes.

Problems

The livelihood of the Hamar and other indigenous peoples of the Lower Omo Valley is threatened by the construction of the Gibe III dam. The Gilgel Gibe III dam is intended to dam the southwestern part of the Omo River and thus end the natural flood cycle of the river, which the indigenous peoples use to grow food. The project has been criticized not only by human and environmentalists, but also by UNESCO , as the dam is destroying the World Heritage Site of the Lower Omo Valley.

In addition, the Ethiopian government is now leasing large parts of the fertile land of the Omo peoples to foreign companies and its own state-owned companies. Around 245,000 hectares of land are to be leased and people relocated. Over 90,000 indigenous people are threatened by these measures, because they lose important farmland and can no longer look after their cattle. The government is reportedly taking massive action against criticism of the land grabbing by indigenous peoples .

See also

• List of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia

literature

• Lars Krutak : Spiritual Skin: Magical Tattoos and Scarification , Edition Reuss, Glattbach 2010, ISBN 978-3-943105-11-7
• Ivo Strecker , Jean Lydall: The Hamar of Southern Ethiopia. Vol. 1: Work Journal. Vol. 2: Baldambe Explains. B. 3: Conversations in Dambaiti. Klaus Renner Verlag, Hohenschäftslarn 1979.
• Adolf Ellegard Jensen (Ed.): Altvölker Süd-Ethiopiens. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1959 ( Peoples of South Ethiopia 1).

Movies

• Jean Lydall and Joanna Head: BBC Trilogy: The Women Who Smile. 1990. Ethnographic Film Aesthetics and Narrative Traditions, Aarhus 1992, pp. 141–158 (PDF file; 130 kB) / Two girls go Hunting. 1991 (PDF file; 114 kB) / Our way of loving. 1994
• Rudolf Kuzner: Africa's Forgotten Peoples. The Mursi and Hamar in southern Ethiopia. DVD, October 2005
• Konrad Licht: 2 Hamar women in one online clip

Discography

• Nyabole: Hamar - Southern Ethiopia. Recordings 1970 to 1976. Production: Artur Simon , accompanying text: Ivo Strecker. Museum Collection Berlin. Wergo, Mainz. Released on CD in 2003

Web links

Commons : Hamar  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Links to PDF texts about the Hamar by Jean Lydall and Ivo Strecker. South Omo Research Center
• Ivo Strecker: sound, film and polyphonic ethnography. Experience from Hamar. In: E. Ballhaus, B. Engelbrecht (Ed.): The Ethnographic Film: Introduction to Methods and Practice. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1995, pp. 81–104 (PDF file; 177 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Lars Krutak: Tattoo Hunter: Ethiopia , 2009 (English)
2. ↑ Living with the Hamar - tasting honey  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   BBC (English)
3. ^ Ivo Strecker: Some Notes on the Uses of "Barjo" in Hamar.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 131 kB)  
4. ^ Christian Weber: Visit of the picture eater. Cultural change in the bush: researchers observe how modernity reaches southern Ethiopia Focus, January 6, 2003
5. ↑ Dietmar Pritzlaff: Traveling !: 120 authors discover the world ... , 2011, ISBN 9783842382411 , page 144
6. ^ At the Hamar and the "Bull Jumping Ceremony" , geo.de
7. ↑ The Hamar, In the Valley of the Omo - Part 2 , orf.at
8. ^ Robert Gardner: Rivers of sand , GRIN Verlag, 2006, page 11
9. ↑ Dam threatens livelihoods of 200,000 indigenous peoples [1]
10. ↑ UNESCO criticizes Gibe III in its annual report [2]
11. ↑ Ethiopia: Government arrests 100 indigenous people for opposition to the dam [3]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.