Herero Culture
The Herero culture combine cattle rearing with an agricultural lifestyle. They also keep other livestock such as goats and sheep. Among the Herero and Mbanderu, wage paying jobs in towns and cities are an alternative means of earning a living. The story of the Herero culture and the land is complex. Early records indicate that the ancestors of the Herero were part of a large group of Bantu-speaking people who began a great migration southward from central Africa about 1550. The migrating Herero left the main group and began to enter present day Namibia from the northeast. At this point they split into two groups. One group crossed the Okavango River and moved into the Gobabis area, they became known as the Mbanderu, or the Eastern Herero. The other group crossed the Kunene River and settled in the Kaokoveld; today they identify themselves as Ovahimba. In the Kaokoveld, dry hills and rugged mountain ranges give way to the sand of the Kalahari Desert in the east. Seasons are extreme and the harsh heat of summer has a short, heavy rainy season. This challenging land has known few intruders. Perhaps this is why Ovahimba or Himbas still practice much of their traditional herero culture and lifestyle. In the mid eighteenth century, a section of the Kaokoveld population migrated to central Namibia and met up again with the Mbanderu. The people who undertook this migration became known as the Herero. Every Herero belongs to two clans: the oruzo or patriclan of his/her father and the eanda or matriclan of the person’s mother. Herero legend states that all Herero speakers are descendants of the six virgin daughters of Mukuru and Kamangarunga who founded the Herero matrilineal clans named after them. Omukwendata, Omukweuva, Omukwenambara, Omukwante (Omukwandongo), Omukwatjivi and Omukwendjandje. The eanda is very important as it regulates key social institutions such as inheritance and marriage. The land occupied by the Herero people never had fixed boundaries. When the Herero migrated into central Namibia, they eventually displaced Damara and Nama with whom they competed for grazing land, particularly during times of draughts. Around 1800, seven or eight Herero culture groups ranged across the area of Namibia lying between the Ugab, Swakop, and White Nossob rivers. At this time the Herero followed charismatic leaders in family groups in a nomadic search for grazing. Rival Herero chiefs were in the central plateu areas of Otjimbingwe, Okahandja, Omaruru, and in parts of the Waterberg region. The Mbanderu settlements, situated around the well-watered Gobabis are were also part of Hereroland. Hereroland occupied most of the best grazing land in Namibia. This made it an attractive target for colonial forces from Germany and Great Britain.
Herero Religion
Herero religious believes are combined with Christianity. The majority of Herero and Mbanderu belong to Christian inspired churches, particularly the Oruwanu Church among the Herero, and the Church of Africa among the Ovambanderu. Nevertheless, most Herero people still place great emphasis on the spiritual importance of ancestors, and the same is true of many Christian Africans elsewhere. Herero traditionalists believe in a supreme being called Njambi Karunga. All life comes from him. He lives in the heavens and is all-knowing. Njambi Karunga is the giver of all blessings, revered for his kindness. Most Herero today would identify him as God in the Christian religion. Ancestors are the focus of traditional Herero religion. The ovakuru watches over their living relatives if they are treated correctly but cause misfortune if they are displeased. Therefore, the Herero are careful to maintain close and proper relationships with ovakuru.
The physical focus of Herero culture worship is omuriro omurangere or the sacred fire. This is the symbolic link between the living and the dead. Omuriro omurangere is a gift from the lineage Mukuru, the original ancestor of the family line. Herero religion operates on the understanding that life is a gift from the ancestors, and the fire symbolizes this gift. To maintain a good relationship with the ancestors, every household should always keep a sacred fire burning between the house of the Mukuru’s first wife and the cattle kraal. Stones or a thorn hedge separate the sacred fire from its surroundings. An arrangement of cattle horns left after ritual sacrifices are kept near the altar on which the fire burns. A branch of the sacred tree omumborombonga is kept nearby to represent the ancestors.
Until the mid 19th century, Herero people like others in southern Africa wore clothing made of leather. Men and children wore different kinds of leather aprons, and male heroes wore special pieces of animal fur and other ornaments. Adult women wore two leather skirt ieces around their waists, along leather shawl decorated with iron beads and a headdress with three points on top. Like their African neighbours, the Herero began wearing European style clothing in the 1850s, after Europeans missionaries began to settle in southern Africa. Herero people saw rival Nama groups and missionaries wearing western clothing. Today items of Herero clothing are still named after parts of the leather dress, suggesting that Herero people see continuity between the two types of dress codes. Many children wear leather aprons when they are not in school. Men wear mostly store bought clothes but when they participate in the annual days of Herero cultural celebration they wear military type uniforms and bits of animal fur.
Many Herero women wear long dresses with many petticoats underneath and matching headdresses. These outfits are regarded as proper dress for traditional married women. By wearing the long dress, a newly married woman shows her in laws that she is willing to take up the responsibilities of a Herero home and will raise her children to respect their heritage and their father’s family. The long dress is heavy, hard to keep clean and laborious and expensive to make. The outfit has changed over the years to reflect the style of new generations, and sewing it allows women to show their personal skill and creativity. The Herero women’s long dress has become a symbol of Herero tradition for Herero, tourists, scholars and other Namibians. Women are selling dolls wearing exact replicas of the long dress to tourists and crafts organizations. This suggests that they continue to find new ways to express their individual and traditional identities.
|
||||
