Nhaneca-Humbe
Nhaneca-Humbe , also Nyaneka- (N) Khumbi, Nyaneka-Humbi, is a collective name for a number of Bantu ethnicities in southwest Angola . A distinction is made between these two subgroups, the Nhaneca ( Nyaneka , Haneka ) and the Humbe ( Nkhumbi , Ngumbi ). Their share of the total Angolan population is around 7%. In 1996 there were about 150,000 Humbe and 300,000 Nhaneca.
The Nhaneca-Humbe speak the closely related languages Nhaneca and Humbe , which belong to the South Mbundu languages within the R-Bantu languages . However, these are very different in the individual ethnic groups, which contributes to the fact that these groups (such as the Mwila, the Handa, etc.) do not see each other as belonging together.
Like the neighboring Ovambo and Herero , the Nhaneca-Humbe make a living from raising cattle. In contrast to the Herero, however, they are not pure shepherds, but shepherd farmers, i.e. they produce their basic vegetable food themselves.
In traditional beliefs, nature spirits are unknown, but spirits of the dead are at the center of worship. Several groups are distinguished among the spirits of the dead according to the social class of the living persons belonging to them. There are spirits of kings and nobles, spirits of normal people, spirits of blacksmiths, hunters and healers, and spirits adopted from other ethnic groups. The ghosts can cause obsession . According to descriptions from the first half of the 20th century, sacrifices and ceremonies in the context of cults of possession and initiations represent an essential element of cultic acts.
literature
- Carlos Estermann: Etnografia do Sudoeste de Angola . Volume 2: Grupo étnico Nhaneca-Humbe. Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, Memórias, Série antropólogica e etnológica, Famalicão 1957
Individual evidence
- ^ Ethnologue.com: Nkhumbi
- ^ Ethnologue.com: Nyaneka
- ↑ Countrystudies.us: Angola - Ovambo, Nyaneka-Humbe, Herero, and Others
- ↑ Beatrix Heintze : Obsession phenomena in the middle Bantu area. ( Studies on cultural studies , Volume 25, edited by Eike Haberland ) Franz Steiner, Wiesbaden 1970, pp. 14-20