Marriage requires ‘bride wealth’, a payment made to the woman’s family and generally made up of goats, cattle and guns. Girls, on the other hand, tend to marry at about 17. It’s the parents who give permission for the men to marry, and many don’t get married until their mid-thirties. Hamar parents have a lot of control over their sons, who herd the cattle and goats for the family. The Hamar only marry members of their own tribe, but they have nothing against borrowing – songs, hairstyles, even names – from other tribes in the valley like the Nyangatom and the Dassanech. Cattle raids and counter-raids are a constant danger. Sometimes, for a task like raising a new roof or getting the harvest in, a woman will invite her neighbours to join her in a work party in return for beer or a meal of goat, specially slaughtered to feed them. The young men of the village work the crops, defend the herds or go off raiding for livestock from other tribes, while adult men herd the cattle, plough with oxen and raise beehives in acacia trees. They’re also responsible for collecting water, doing the cooking and looking after the children - who start helping the family by herding the goats from around the age of eight. The women and girls grow crops (the staple is sorghum, alongside beans, maize and pumpkins). There is a division of labour in terms of sex and age. They provide the cornerstone of a household's livelihood it’s only with cattle and goats to pay as ‘bride wealth’ that a man can marry. Just as for the other tribes in the valley, cattle and goats are at the heart of Hamar life. In the dry season, whole families go to live in grazing camps with their herds, where they survive on milk and blood from the cattle. Often families will pool their livestock and labour to herd their cattle together. The Hamar move on when the land is exhausted or overwhelmed by weeds.
#Video cows jumping line free#
The land isn’t owned by individuals it’s free for cultivation and grazing, just as fruit and berries are free for whoever collects them. Once they hunted, but the wild pigs and small antelope have almost disappeared from the lands in which they live and until 20 years ago, all ploughing was done by hand with digging sticks.
The 15,000 to 20,000 members of the Hamar make their living as successful cattle herders and farmers.
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