Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
![]()
These are pictures of members of the Hamer (Hamar) Tribe. They’re from the Omo Valley in southwestern Ethiopia. They take very good care of their hair. Hair grooming is essential to their concept of beauty. Women, in particular, may often roll their hair in red ochre clay and butter, twisting them into locs, or what they call
goscha.
The richer the woman is, the more butter she uses. They may sometimes decorate them with beads and feathers. Their men tend to find this style very attractive.
If you look at the last picture in this post, you may notice scars on many of the women. The scars were most likely put there on purpose, from a bull-jumping ceremony. (Scars in general are seen as beauty marks.) Partaking in this ceremony is the only way that the men can be allowed to marry a woman and have children. In the ceremony, the sisters of the bull-jumper has an option to get whipped. If the woman wants to get whipped, she will harass the maza (men who passed the same test), provoking them to whip her with a thin stick. This is to prove their loyalty, obligation, and strength to the bull-jumper, in hopes that if they are to face in hardships in the future, the bull-jumper will remember what she went through for him at his initiation. You can read more about it here.
Tags: Africa, dreadlocks, dreads, dredlocks, dreds, Ethiopia, hamar, hamer, Locs, Omo Valley, red ochre, southwestern, tribe
Posted in Africa, Locs, Tribes | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
Eritrea is a country located in Northeast Africa. It’s bordered by Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Aren’t these photos something? If you look at the arrows that I put on some of the pictures, you will see that they’re pointing at hair sticks. These are typically carved out of bone, ivory, or wood. Throughout history, they have either been used to part and pick out the hair, or as a hair accessory. In Egypt, the more flashy hair pins (sometimes carved out of gold) adorned with jewels showed a status of wealth. The theory that Africans didn’t have tools to groom their hair is a myth, as hair picks and combs have been around in Africa since around 5500 B.C. (I’ll be making a post on that soon.)
Tags: 1930, 1930's, 5500BC, Add new tag, Africa, afro, comb, combing, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, gold, hair, hair accessory, hair stick, myth, Sudan, Vintage, wealth
Posted in 1900's, 1930's, Africa, Loose Hair, Vintage | 7 Comments »
