Talk:Himba

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If anyone has further information on the Himba it would be really helpful. Please post it if you do. I'm trying to write a short novel about them and need to know more about the traditions and culture of their people. Thanks a lot!

You could look on the german page. There is more information about them.

[edit] What do men do, if anything?

Much is made of what women are supposed to do, but not a word about men's task. Herding, maybe?--BertSen (talk) 12:12, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

That is good question. I was just wondering that myself. Maybe because the women color themselves with the pigment, they are the most interesting to look at and talk about. I haven't seen any pictures of their men and there's not much discussion about them, either. I am beginning to think that the men live separately. --Lance E Sloan (talk) 15:55, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

I just saw a program about them on TV. Two of the things men do: They herd the cattle from place to place. It seemed like the women stay at the "homestead", though they did not state that outright. When the local land was all grazed out, a man set off on a donkey to herd the cattle to other land. They said he'd probably be gone for months, and wasn't happy about it. One man (maybe the youngest, unmarried son) was complaining that he always had to do it, perhaps for his parents. I think they said that the woman sometimes goes with him, but not always.

The other thing was, one man had to go inform his in-laws about his son's (their grandson's) impending circumcision. The men make these "messenger" journeys. It seemed like the women didn't really go anywhere, except when they got married they left their mother's clan and went to their husband's clan.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure whether that means that the women at least might have tri-lateral clanship - mother, father and husband. After the marriage ceremony they described, which lasted two weeks, the last step was that the woman became a member of her husband's clan. Catnmus (talk) 04:32, 10 March 2008 (UTC)catnmus