Himba woman
Image details
Contributor:
Pim Smit / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
B6T1NXFile size:
49.2 MB (2.1 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
3386 x 5079 px | 28.7 x 43 cm | 11.3 x 16.9 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
2008Location:
NamibiaMore information:
The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20, 000 to 50, 000 people, living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene region (formerly Kaokoland). They are a nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak the same language. The Himba breed cattle and goats. The responsibility of milking the cows lies with the women. Women take care of the children, and one woman will take care of another woman’s children. Women tend to perform more labor-intensive work than men do, such as carrying water to the village and building homes. The Himba wear little clothing, but the women are famous for covering themselves with a mixture of butter fat, ochre, and herbs to protect themselves from the sun. The mixture gives their skins a reddish tinge. The mixture symbolizes earth’s rich red color and the blood that symbolizes life. Women braid each others hair and cover it in their ochre mixture. Because of the harsh desert climate in the region where they live and their seclusion from outside influences the Himba have managed to maintain much of their traditional lifestyle. Members live under a tribal structure based on bilateral descent that helps them live in one of the most extreme environments on earth. Under bilateral descent, every tribe member belongs to two clans, one through the father (a patriclan) and another through the mother (a matriclan). Himba clans are led by the eldest male in the clan. Sons live with their father’s clan and when daughters marry they go to live with the clan of their husband. However inheritance of wealth does not follow the patrician but is determined by the matrician i.e. a son does not inherit his father’s cattle but his maternal uncle’s instead.