In our age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a corner of the globe untouched by civilization. Of course, in some places the so-called national flavor still remains the main attraction for tourists. But all this is mostly feigned and artificial exoticism. Take, for example, the formidable Maasai - business card Kenya. Hearing the sound of an approaching bus engine, representatives of this tribe hide their TVs, phones and jeans away and urgently give themselves a primitive look. It's a completely different matter Himba- small tribe in northern Namibia. They have preserved the traditions of the Stone Age in their everyday life not for the sake of tourists, but because they do not want to live differently.
The climate of the Kunene province, where the Himbas roam, cannot be called mild. During the day, the thermometer inexorably tends to the +60° mark; at night, frost sometimes falls. The breath of the oldest desert on the planet - the Namib - takes its toll.
The Himba moved to northern Namibia about several hundred years ago from East Africa. Once it was a large tribe, but in mid-19th centuries it was divided. Most of it migrated south, to an area richer in water. The people who broke away from the Himba became known as the Herero. They came into contact with Europeans, which ultimately killed them.
A few decades ago, Namibia realized that there were few indigenous people left who had preserved the way of life and beliefs of their ancestors. In general, they decided to leave the Himba alone and let them live the way they want. Any laws of Namibia on their territory come into force only after the approval of the tribal leader, who is called the king.
Like hundreds of years ago, the tribe leads a semi-nomadic life. The main occupation is breeding cows, goats and sheep. The number of cows determines social status, while cows also serve as a means of payment. The Himba are practically not interested in money, because they do not use any industrial goods in everyday life. The exception is plastic canisters for storing and carrying water and various small items that accidentally fall into your hands.
The Himba live in kraals that have a circular layout. In the middle is a barnyard surrounded by a wicker fence. There are round or square huts around. They are built from poles dug into the ground and held together leather straps. The frame is coated with clay, and the roof is covered with straw or reeds. The huts have earthen floors and no furniture. The Himba sleep on mattresses stuffed with straw. At the entrance to the hut there is a fireplace, which is heated in black.
As the pastures become depleted, they dismantle the huts and migrate. The Himba used to extract water by digging deep holes in the sand, and found suitable places for this in one way they knew. They never place the kraal close to the source, so that outsiders cannot see where the water comes from. Not long ago, by order of the government, artesian wells were dug along nomadic routes. But the aborigines do not drink this water, except to feed their flocks with it.
In the old-fashioned way, life-giving moisture can only be obtained for one’s own use, and even then only in short supply. There is no question of washing. A magic ointment helps, to which the Himba owe their red skin tint. This is a mixture of butter whipped from cow's milk, various plant elixirs and bright red volcanic pumice crushed into the finest powder. It is mined in one and only place - on a mountain on the border of the plateau occupied by the Himba. The mountain, naturally, is considered sacred, and they do not reveal the recipe for the ointment to anyone.
Himba women apply this mixture to their entire body and hair several times a day. The ointment protects against sunburn and insect bites. In addition, when the ointment is scraped off in the evening, the dirt comes off with it, which is strange, but effective means personal hygiene. Surprisingly, Himba women have perfect skin. Using the same ointment, they make a traditional hairstyle: someone else's hair - usually a man's, most often from the father of the family - is woven into their own, creating “dreadlocks” on the head.
As a rule, one kraal is occupied by one family, but there are larger settlements. Almost all Himba can read, count, write their name and know a few phrases in English. This is thanks to the mobile schools that almost all the children of the tribe attend. But only a few graduate from more than two or three classes; to continue their studies, they need to go to the city.
Only women work in the kraals. They carry water, care for livestock, churn butter, sew and mend simple clothes. In addition, the weaker sex is engaged in gathering, so that the diet of the tribe consists not only of dairy products. Of course, women are also involved in raising children. By the way, children are not divided into friends and strangers.
Old people and teenagers graze the cattle. Himba men do not overwork themselves. Assembling and dismantling the kraal - that, by and large, is all they do. Hunting is not one of the regular activities of the tribe; it is rather a hobby of Himba men. The constant duty of the representatives of the stronger sex is the extraction of that very reddish rock that is used to prepare body paint. However, the composition is also made by women.
The weaker sex is also a kind of engine of progress. If tourists want to buy some souvenir from the tribe, they only have to bargain with women. IN recent years Bright plastic bags began to enjoy unprecedented popularity among the people of the tribe. The Himba are ready to give their last for them. After all, these bags are so convenient to store your modest belongings, jewelry and, of course, scallops. With the help of the latter it is very convenient to create fantastic hairstyles for which Himba women are famous. They, by the way, are considered the standard of beauty on the African continent.
By the age of 12-14, every Himba is missing four lower teeth. This is a consequence of the initiation rite. Teeth are knocked out with a stone. If you want to be an adult, be patient. By the age of 14, Himba are allowed to marry, but weddings do not happen often, since a large bride price must be paid for the bride.
The wedding ceremony is very original. The newlyweds spend the night in the bride's family's hut. In the morning, they, accompanied by friends of their future wife, leave their parents' house, going out onto the street without fail on all fours. Then everyone rises to their feet and, taking each other by the loincloths, head towards the “sacred fire”, where the leader is already waiting for the newlyweds to perform the ceremony. If someone from the procession stumbles, the ritual will have to be repeated, but not earlier than in a few weeks.
The ceremony participants sit around the fire, and the leader is presented with three vessels of milk - one each from the huts of the groom, the bride and the leader himself. He takes a sample, after which the rest of the tribe members take turns applying it to the vessels. After this, everyone present heads to the leader’s hut, where the newlyweds will spend three days. In order for the first wedding night to be successful, in front of the hut the bride and groom again get down on all fours and walk around the house counterclockwise.
Even if a Himba man and woman are married, they are not obliged to observe marital fidelity. Each Himba can have as many wives as he can support. You can change wives, and if a man goes to long journey, then arranges for his wife to live with someone he knows.
Such freedom of morals is disturbing local authorities. More than 20% of the Namibian population has AIDS, so the Himba are a kind of risk group. However, the tribe takes a philosophical approach to medical problems. The gods give life, but they can also take it away, the Himba say. In general, they are long-livers: almost all live up to 70 years, and some up to a hundred.
The Himba justice system is also interesting. If, for example, a husband kills his wife or one of her relatives, he must pay compensation of 45 cows. If a wife or one of her relatives kills her husband, then no ransom is provided. The Namibian authorities do not punish the Himba in any way, considering all this to be their internal matter.
The Himba believe that their tribe descended from the ancestor Mukuru, who, along with his wife, emerged from the sacred Omumborombongo tree. Mukuru created all things and endowed the souls of the deceased Himba ancestors with supernatural powers. But then the enemies drove the tribe from its ancestral lands and captured the tree. Someday the Himba will return there. By the way, without any idea of geography, any head of the clan will point with his hand in the direction where to look for Omumborombongo.
In the middle of the 19th century, the Himba almost disappeared from the face of the earth. They were attacked by the largest and most powerful tribe in Namibia - the Nama. As a result of brutal raids, the Himba lost all their herds and fled to the mountains. There they had to hunt, but they did not like such a life, and they went north to Angola.
For some time it was believed that the Himba had died out or mixed with other tribes, when they suddenly reappeared in their old place. This happened in 1903, when the Nama rebelled against the German colonialists. European troops quickly defeated the Nama and the Herero allies, after which they committed a real genocide. As a result, both tribes practically ceased to exist. The Germans and Himba did not ignore them. Almost all the Himba were killed or captured and sent to camps for blacks. Fortunately, after the First World War the colonies were taken away from Germany. And if the Herero and Nama never recovered from the blow, the Himba “rose up” like a phoenix from the ashes.
The third time they were considered extinct was in the mid-1980s. A terrible multi-year drought destroyed 90% of the livestock, and in 1988 the last outbreak in the last Himba kraal went out. The remaining people of the tribe were resettled in the city of Opuwo as refugees. But in the early 1990s, the Himbas returned. Now they number just under 50 thousand, and the population is growing. At the same time, they live exactly the same as their ancestors hundreds of years ago.
Photographer Jimmy Nelson travels the world capturing wild and semi-wild tribes who manage to maintain a traditional way of life in modern world. Every year it becomes more and more difficult for these peoples, but they do not give up and do not leave the territories of their ancestors, continuing to live the same way they lived.
Asaro tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Asaro Mudmen ("Mud-Covered People of the Asaro River") first encountered the Western world in the mid-20th century. Since time immemorial, these people have been smearing themselves with mud and wearing masks to instill fear in other villages.
“Individually they are all very nice, but because their culture is under threat, they are forced to fend for themselves.” - Jimmy Nelson.
Chinese fishermen tribe
Location: Guangxi, China. Filmed in 2010. Fishing with a cormorant is one of the oldest methods fishing with the help of waterfowl. To prevent them from swallowing their catch, fishermen tie their necks. Cormorants easily swallow small fish, and bring large ones to their owners.
Maasai
Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Filmed in 2010. This is one of the most famous African tribes. Young Maasai go through a series of rituals to develop responsibility, become men and warriors, learn to protect livestock from predators, and provide security for their families. Thanks to the rituals, ceremonies and instructions of the elders, they grow up to be real brave men.
Livestock are central to Maasai culture.
Nenets
Location: Siberia – Yamal. Filmed in 2011. The traditional occupation of the Nenets is reindeer herding. They lead a nomadic lifestyle, crossing the Yamal Peninsula. For more than a millennium, they have survived at temperatures as low as minus 50°C. The 1,000 km long annual migration route lies across the frozen Ob River.
“If you don’t drink warm blood and don’t eat fresh meat, then you’re doomed to die in the tundra.”
Korowai
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Korowai are one of the few Papuan tribes that do not wear kotekas, a type of sheath for the penis. The men of the tribe hide their penises by tightly tying them with leaves along with the scrotum. Korowai are hunter-gatherers who live in tree houses. This people strictly distributes rights and responsibilities between men and women. Their number is estimated at approximately 3,000 people. Until the 1970s, the Korowai were convinced that there were no other peoples in the world.
Yali tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. The Yali live in the virgin forests of the highlands and are officially recognized as pygmies, since the men are only 150 centimeters tall. The koteka (gourd sheath for the penis) serves as part of traditional clothes. It can be used to determine whether a person belongs to a tribe. Yali prefer long thin cats.
Karo tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. The Omo Valley, located in Africa's Great Rift Valley, is home to approximately 200,000 indigenous peoples who have inhabited it for thousands of years.
Here, tribes have traded among themselves since ancient times, offering each other beads, food, cattle and fabrics. Not long ago, guns and ammunition came into use.
Dasanech tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. This tribe is characterized by the absence of a strictly defined ethnicity. A person of almost any background can be admitted to Dasanech.
Guarani
Location: Argentina and Ecuador. Filmed in 2011. For thousands of years, the Amazonian rainforests of Ecuador were home to the Guaraní people. They consider themselves the bravest indigenous group in the Amazon.
Vanuatu tribe
Location: Ra Lava Island (Banks Islands Group), Torba Province. Filmed in 2011. Many Vanuatu people believe that wealth can be achieved through ceremonies. Dance is an important part of their culture, which is why many villages have dance floors called nasara.
Ladakhi tribe
Location: India. Filmed in 2012. Ladakhis share the beliefs of their Tibetan neighbors. Tibetan Buddhism, mixed with images of ferocious demons from the pre-Buddhist Bon religion, has underpinned Ladakhi beliefs for over a thousand years. The people live in the Indus Valley, engage mainly in agriculture, and practice polyandry.
Mursi tribe
Location: Ethiopia. Filmed in 2011. “It is better to die than to live without killing.” Mursi are pastoralists, farmers and successful warriors. Men are distinguished by horseshoe-shaped scars on their bodies. Women also practice scarring and also insert a plate into the lower lip.
Rabari tribe
Location: India. Filmed in 2012. 1000 years ago, representatives of the Rabari tribe were already roaming the deserts and plains that today belong to Western India. Women of this people devote long hours to embroidery. They also manage the farms and decide all financial issues, while the men tend the herds.
Samburu tribe
Location: Kenya and Tanzania. Filmed in 2010. The Samburu are a semi-nomadic people, moving from place to place every 5-6 weeks to provide pasture for their livestock. They are independent and much more traditional than the Maasai. Equality reigns in Samburu society.
Mustang tribe
Location: Nepal. Filmed in 2011. Most of the Mustang people still believe that the world is flat. They are very religious. Prayers and holidays are an integral part of their life. The tribe stands apart as one of the last strongholds of Tibetan culture that has survived to this day. Until 1991, they did not allow any outsiders into their midst.
Maori tribe
Location: New Zealand. Filmed in 2011. Maori are adherents of polytheism and worship many gods, goddesses and spirits. They believe that the spirits of ancestors and supernatural beings are omnipresent and help the tribe in difficult times. In originated in distant times Maori myths and legends reflected their ideas about the creation of the Universe, the origin of gods and people.
“My tongue is my awakening, my tongue is the window of my soul.”
Goroka tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2011. Life in high mountain villages is simple. Residents have plenty of food, families are friendly, people honor the wonders of nature. They live by hunting, gathering and growing crops. Internecine clashes are common here. To intimidate the enemy, Goroka warriors use war paint and jewelry.
“Knowledge is just rumors while they are in the muscles.”
Huli tribe
Location: Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Filmed in 2010. These indigenous people fight for land, pigs and women. They also spend a lot of effort trying to impress their opponent. Huli paint their faces with yellow, red and white paints, and also have a famous tradition of making fancy wigs from their own hair.
Himba tribe
Location: Namibia. Filmed in 2011. Each member of the tribe belongs to two clans, father and mother. Marriages are arranged for the purpose of expanding wealth. Vital here appearance. It talks about a person's place within a group and their phase of life. The elder is responsible for the rules in the group.
Kazakh tribe
Location: Mongolia. Filmed in 2011. Kazakh nomads are descendants of the Turkic, Mongolian, Indo-Iranian group and the Huns, who inhabited the territory of Eurasia from Siberia to the Black Sea.
The ancient art of eagle hunting is one of the traditions that the Kazakhs have managed to preserve to this day. They trust their clan, count on their herds, believe in the pre-Islamic cult of the sky, ancestors, fire and in the supernatural powers of good and evil spirits.
Lives on the banks of the Meikhi River wild tribe Pirahu, numbering about three hundred people. The natives survive by hunting and gathering. The peculiarity of this tribe is their unique language: there are no words denoting shades of colors, there is no indirect speech, and also interesting fact, it does not contain numerals (Indians count - one, two and many). They have no legends about the creation of the world, no calendar, but despite all this, the Pirahu people have not been found to have the qualities of reduced intelligence.
Video: Amazon Code. In the deep jungle of the Amazon River lives the wild Piraha tribe. Christian missionary Daniel Everett came to them to bring the word of God, but as a result of becoming acquainted with their culture, he became an atheist. But much more interesting than this is a discovery related to the language of the Piraha tribe.
Another known wild tribe of Brazil is the Sinta Larga, numbering about one and a half thousand people. Previously, this tribe lived in the rubber jungle, however, due to their deforestation, the Sinta Larga became a nomadic tribe. The Indians engage in fishing, hunting and farming. There is patriarchy in the tribe, i.e. a man can have several wives. Also, throughout his life, a Cinta Larga man receives several names, depending on individual characteristics or certain events in his life, but there is one special name that is kept secret and only those closest to him know it.
And in the western part of the Amazon River valley lives a very aggressive Korubo tribe. The main occupation of the Indians of this tribe is hunting and raids on neighboring settlements. Moreover, both men and women, armed with poisoned darts and clubs, take part in the raids. There is evidence that cases of cannibalism occur in the Korubo tribe.
Video: Leonid Kruglov: GEO: Unknown world: Earth. Secrets of the new world. " Great River Amazons." "Korubo Incident".
All these tribes represent a unique find for anthropologists and evolutionists. By studying their life and culture, language, and beliefs, one can better understand all stages of human development. And it is very important to preserve this heritage of history in your in its original form. In Brazil, a special government organization (National Indian Foundation) has been created to deal with the affairs of such tribes. The main task of this organization is to protect these tribes from any interference of modern civilization.
Adventure Magic - Yanomami.
Film: Amazonia / IMAX - Amazon HD.
When it comes to the birth of a child, the first thing that comes to mind is a regular clinic, then a maternity hospital, and so on. But in remote corners of the planet, where life is still little different from what it was a hundred or two hundred years ago, rituals accompanying childbirth in natural conditions have been preserved. The founder of the scientific and creative project Wild Born travels the world and captures the beauty of this purely feminine task - the mystery of bearing and giving birth to a child.
(Total 11 photos + 1 video)
“Women in Native American tribes have extensive traditional knowledge of nature, which promotes healthy pregnancies and births. Women of the Kosua tribe prepare a hole with boiled water, heated by stones, and throw a collection of cinchona, roots and herbs. Then they sit on top of this depression, allowing the steam to envelop their body and relieve pain, help them relax and recover after childbirth.”
The project participants set themselves the goal of studying the sociocultural, environmental and economic aspects of the traditions and rites of natural childbirth among women from various aboriginal tribes who were on the verge of extinction due to the influence of civilization.
The project was founded by photographer Alegra Elli in 2011. She wanted to explore and document traditional practices and sacred rites associated with pregnancy and childbirth, and how they change over time. Photographs taken during expeditions explore the role ancient knowledge in childbirth, midwives, ecology, local flora and fauna for rituals, pain relief and nutrition.
Girl from the Taut Batu tribe, Palawan (Philippines).
Every seven years, this tribe performs a ritual to cleanse the world and restore cosmic balance.
In 2011 and 2012, the expedition went to Papua - New Guinea to find out what it's like to give birth in the jungle. The following year, activists traveled to Palawan, Philippines. In 2014, they went from pregnancy to childbirth with the Himba tribe in Namibia, and this year they will observe how women in Yamal cope with the birth of children.
These vivid photographs remind us that we need to take care of customs and traditions, try to preserve the richness and diversity of cultures, and also that the birth of children is perhaps the most natural and at the same time the most mysterious process that is possible observe.
In this video, an experienced Himba midwife in Namibia massages the belly of a pregnant woman hours before giving birth.
Before the baby is born.
Newborn of the Himba tribe.
“On the path to becoming a woman. I witnessed several social rituals while living among the Himba tribe, including the initiation of a girl. Having reached puberty, the girl leaves the village until, during the ritual, she is led to a new social status. With the support of women from the community, the girl is brought to a special room where she is spiritually protected during her first menstruation. She receives many gifts during this time, and once she is introduced to the spirit, the change of status becomes official and a traditional leather crown is placed on her head as a sign that she can be married. In the photo, the girls are gathered in a small temporary tent, which was built for an initiation ceremony to assign them the status of women with the onset of their menstrual cycle. During the ceremony and on a regular basis women burn various roots to produce aromatic smoke, which is used as body perfume.”
- Go to: ; South America
Natives of the Amazon
An unknown Indian tribe was discovered in the Amazon jungle
By specially conducting reconnaissance from the air, the Brazilian authorities were able to confirm the fact that in the jungle, not far from the border with Peru, a primitive tribe of about 200 people lives in complete isolation from the civilized world.
And scientists were able to find out where the Brazilian aborigines live by carefully examining images from space. And then, in the Vale do Javari reservation, large areas of tropical forest were noticed, cleared of woody vegetation. From the air, the expedition members managed to photograph the dwellings and the aborigines themselves. The men of this tribe paint themselves red and cut the hair on their heads at the front, leaving it long at the back. However, representatives of modern civilization made no attempts to come into contact with the aborigines, fearing that this could harm primitive people.
Currently, in Brazil, the affairs of primitive tribes are handled by a special government organization - the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI). Its functions mainly include an attempt to protect the savages from outside interference and from all kinds of encroachments on the lands they occupy by farmers, loggers, as well as poachers, missionaries, and of course those businessmen who grow narcotic plants in the wild wilds. Essentially, the National Indian Trust protects and protects Aboriginal people from any outside interference.
It is part of the current official policy of the Brazilian government to locate and protect isolated indigenous groups in the Amazon jungle. Here, to date, 68 groups cut off from civilization have already been discovered, including fifteen of them in the Vale do Yavari reservation. From the air, the expedition members managed to photograph the dwellings and the aborigines themselves of the last discovered group. They live in large windowless thatched barracks and wear primitive clothing, although many wear nothing at all. In areas cleared of forest vegetation, the aborigines grow vegetables and fruits: mainly corn, beans and bananas.
In addition to the marked group of aborigines, space images revealed 8 more places of possible habitat of savages, which employees of the National Indian Foundation FUNAI undertake to “register” in the near future. To do this, they definitely fly there and take pictures of everything. For this purpose, they may use helicopters to take a closer look at the primitive Indians and the peculiarities of their life.
Almost unknown to science, the wild tribes of the Amazon Indians seem to be in danger due to constant unwanted contact with the outside world. These Indians, members of a once large tribe, were previously forced to move deeper into the forest due to constant invasions of their settlements. In the past few years, these Amazonians have often had to encounter other aboriginal tribes. Therefore existing on at the moment The ethnic issue is difficult to resolve, and, unfortunately, it will soon be impossible to keep these tribes truly “wild” and protect them from all external contacts. And most of the wild settlements are concentrated on the border of Peru and Brazil, where there are more than 50 tribes that have never had contact with the outside world or with other tribes. Scientists believe that wild tribes need to be kept “wild” for as long as possible, although the aborigines are now at increasing risk as the development of tropical forests in Peruvian territory is gaining momentum...