Namibia

World Wide Customs: Namibia

NAMIBIA:

(1)

The actual traditional way of dressing in Namibia is the one of the girl in the middle in the photo (1): they didn't really dress much!

They belonged to a group called "Himba" (2): precisely they're part of a semi-nomadic, pastoral tribe.

The tall and slender Himba women show off unique hairstyles (3) that are complicated and require hours of preparation. It involves braiding her hair and covering it in an unusual mixture of butter and ochre.

(2)

(3)

To get protection from the sun, women use butter, ochre, and mud to prepare a paste "otjize" (4) that on being applied to the skin, gives them a reddish hue, symbolizing the significant unification of the earth’s red color and blood.

(4)

Women, on the other hand, wear skirt like dresses (5) that are made from calf skin and remain bare-breasted throughout their lives.

(6)

The social status and importance 

of an individual also rests upon the

 jewelry they flaunt. Significantly, 

cone shell (6) of the main necklace

 of a married woman stands for 

marriage. They also put on an 

elaborate headpiece known as an 

Erembe (7), made from sheepskin, 

and cover their ankles with 

iron bracelets.

(7)

 From the 19th century things changed:  

Namibia became a German colony and

the Himba started working for them: 

German way of seeing things

at that time didn't allow women 

to walk around barely dressed, so the 

Himba created a new style (8), 

inspired from what ladies

wore in Europe. 

(8)

Here you can learn something

more about this reality: 

       

Curiosity corner: 

The Tribe Today: Surviving Through All Odds

In recent times, the Namibian Government’s 

plans to construct the hydroelectric Epupa 

dam on the Cunene River has been opposed

 by the Himba community, on the grounds 

that after the construction, their ancestral 

lands would get flooded, thereby destroying 

their pastoral way of life. The Himba leaders 

are also discontented about the permanent schools set up by the Namibian government, since they contend that the culturally inappropriate educational system is a potential threat to their identity. Nonetheless, their independent lifestyle is being threatened by another serious factor – the tribe’s unscrupulous exchanging of its livestock for alcohol from traders coming from both Namibia and Angola.