Hamer people

ethnic group
group=Hamer


poptime= 42,838
popplace=Ethiopia
rels=Predomatinely Sunni Islam
langs=Hamer
related=The Hammere (also spelled Hamar) are a tribal people in southwestern Ethiopia. They live in Hamer Bena woreda (or district), a fertile part of the Omo River valley, in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region. They are largely pastoralists, so their culture places a high value on cattle. According to the CSA census of 1994, there were 42,838 Hammer language speakers, and 42,448 self-identified Hammer people of a total population of about 53 million, representing approximately 0.1% of the population. [Hudson, Grover. "75 Ethiopian Languages: 19 Cushitic, 20 Nilosaharan, 23 Omotic, 12 Semitic, and 1 Unclassified", 2005.] The Assistant Administrator of Hammer Bena Ato Imnet Gashab has commented that only six tribal members have ever completed secondary education.

Hamer language

See Hamer language

Religion

The Hamer-Banna are 90% Sunni Muslim.cite web|url=http://www.africanholocaust.net/peopleofafrica.htm#hamer|publisher="African Holocaust Society"|title="People of Africa"|] They observe the five basic teachings of Islam, which include acknowledging that Allah is the only god, praying, fasting, giving alms to the poor, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. However, many elements of their traditional religion are still practiced. For instance, they believe that natural objects (rocks, trees, etc.) have spirits. They also believe in jinnis, or spirits that are capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people, although this belief is is not inapposite to the Islamic teachings of jinns.

Traditions

On an episode of the BBC Wales television series "Tribe", first broadcast in 2006 and also aired on the Discovery Channel, explorer Bruce Parry visited the Hamar tribe. He participated in the key tradition of the pastoral culture, cow jumping. This rite of passage for men coming of age must be done before a man is permitted to marry. The man-to-be must "jump the cattle" four times to be successful and only castrated male cattle and cows may be used to jump over. This test is performed while naked (except for a few cords bound across the chest) as a symbol of the childhood he is about to leave behind him. On completion of this test, the young man joins the ranks of the "maza" - other men who have recently passed the same test and who spend the next few months of their lives supervising these events in villages throughout the Hamar territory. Unlike the Minoan bull-leaping, the cattle is held still by maza, so the physical risk is limited.

The maza are also responsible for a ritual which precedes the main cattle jump. The village's women (and in particular, the would-be jumper's sisters) purposefully provoke the maza into lashing their bare backs with sticks which inflict raw, open wounds and scar them for life. However, these wounds are seen as the mark of a true Hamar woman, and all the village's women spoken to by Bruce Parry were not only consenting, but eager to participate. Because the sister or relative was whipped at the man's ceremony and endured the pain for him she can later in life look to him for help if she falls on hard times because she has the scars from the whipping she received for him to prove his debt to her. Women commonly end up as the heads of families because they marry men who are much older than themselves while they are young. When her husband dies she is left in control of the family's affairs and livestock. She is also in control of his younger brother's and their livestock if their parents are dead. Widows may not re-marry. One Hamar woman who had long since left the village and begun life in a larger town spoke out against the (whipping) practice as unfit for an educated person.

The ceremonies end with several days of feasting, including the typical jumping dances, accompanied by as much sorghum beer as the cow-jumper's family can provide to the visitor.

References

Further reading

*Lydall, Jean, and Ivo Strecker (1979). "The Hamar of Southern Ethiopia". In three volumes: v. 1.: Work journal; v. 2: Baldambe explains; v. 3: Conversations in Dambaiti. Arbeiten aus dem Institut fur Volkerkunde der Universitat zu Gottingen, Bd. 12-14. Hohenschaftlarn: Klaus Renner Verlag. ISBN 3876730635 (v. 1); ISBN 3876730643 (v. 2); ISBN 3876730651 (v. 3).
*Giansanti, Gianni (2004). "Vanishing Africa". Text and photographs by Gianni Giansanti; ethnographic introductions by Paolo Novaresio. Translated from Italian. With audio CD. Vercelli, Italy: White Star. ISBN 8854400068.
*Strecker, Ivo A. (1988). "The Social Practice of Symbolization: An Anthropological Analysis". Monographs on Social Anthropology, no. 60. London; Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Athlone Press. ISBN 0485195577.

Films

*1973 - "Rivers of Sand" by Robert Gardner color, 83 min
*1994 - "Sweet Sorghum: An Ethnographer's Daughter Remembers Life in Hamar, Southern Ethiopia": a film by Ivo Strecker and Jean Lydall and their daughter Kaira Strecker. A production of IWF. Watertown, Massachusetts: Documentary Educational Resources, [released c. 1997] . VHS. Presenter/narrator, Kaira Strecker; producer, Rolf Husmann.
*1996 release - "The Hamar Trilogy." A series of three films by Jean Lydell; distributed by Filmakers Library, NYC. Titles in the series are: "The Women Who Smile, Two Girls Go Hunting" and "Our Way of Loving".
*2001 - "Duka's Dilemma: A Visit to Hamar, Southern Ethiopia". A film by Jean Lydall and Kaira Strecker. Watertown, Massachusetts: Documentary Educational Resources, released in 2004. DVD. Camera, sound, and editing, Kaira Strecker; anthropology and production, Jean Lydall.
*2001 - "The Last Warriors: The Hamar and Karo Tribes: Searching for Mingi". A Trans Media production; Southern Star. Princeton, New Jersey: Films for the Humanities & Sciences. VHS. From The Last Warriors: Seven Tribes on the Verge of Extinction. Series producer/executive producer, Michael Willesee, Jr.; writer/director, Ben Ulm. ISBN 073653606X.

Discography

*2003 - "Nyabole: Hamar – Southern Ethiopia". CD. Museum collection Berlin series. Recorded between 1970 and 1976 and originally published on LP 1978. Mainz, Germany: Wergo.

ources and external link

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/hamar/index.shtml Hamer page] from BBC
* [http://www.africanholocaust.net/peopleofafrica.htm People of Africa]
* [http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/goingtribal/episodes/episodes.html?clik=fanmain_leftnav Discovery channel]
* [http://home.planet.nl/~romei017/ethiopianet-peoples-section-hamar.htm Hamar page]