The Dassanech community is located about 28km from the Kenya border at the very south of Ethiopia, in the Southern, Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ State.
For the lives of the Dassanech community, cattle are central as they are important for the other tribes of the Omo Valley. Meat, milk, leather for clothing, houses and mattresses also provide status in the tribe and the bride-wealth that allows a man to marry.
Like many pastoral communities throughout this region of Africa, the Daasanach are highly egalitarian society, with a social system involving age sets and clan lineages – both of which involve strong reciprocity relations.
The Dasanach are a primarily agropastoral people; they grow sorghum, maize, pumpkins and beans when the Omo river and its delta floods. Otherwise the Dasanach rely on their goats and cattle which give them milk, and are slaughtered in the dry season for meat and hides.
Sorghum is cooked with water into a porridge eaten with a stew. Corn is usually roasted, and sorghum is fermented into beer. The Dasanach who herd cattle live in dome-shaped houses made from a frame of branches, covered with hides and woven boxes (which are used to carry possessions on donkeys when the Dasanach migrate).
In the community, women wear a pleated cow skin skirts, necklaces and bracelets. They are usually married at 17 while men are at 20. Boys are circumcised. Men wear only a checkered cloth around their waist.
Within the village, it is the women who build and take down the huts during migrations. They are semi-circular constructions with no interior divisions, made up of sticks and branches called Miede.
The first part of the hut to be constructed is the ‘store’ – actually a small box-like structure made from reeds and rope from cow skin. This also the box used for moving items on the donkey back. It is set by one side of the hut and used for storing tobacco, coffee and other important items.
These huts are well ventilated, as it is important to have airflow through in such a hot environment. There is only one entrance, a small opening that is closed by animal skin – that way it is extremely difficult for an enemy to go through the opening unnoticed.
Inside the huts are a hearth, an area where animal skins are laid for sleeping on, and the store. Women also claim the right-hand side of the hut (and of the porch outside).
The tribes here have always traded between each other, for beads, food, cattle, cloths and so on. More recently, the trade has been in guns and bullets. Inevitably, as roads are made through the area, other goods like beer and food find their way into the villages.
The Dassanech tribe is not strictly defined by ethnicity. Anyone – man or woman – will be admitted, as long as they agree to be circumcised. Over the centuries, the tribe has absorbed a wide range of different peoples. It is now divided into eight main clans, which to some extent reflect the wide-ranging origin of its members. Each clan has its own identity, customs, and responsibilities towards the rest of the tribe, and is linked to a particular territory.
The largest clan is the Galbur, or Water and Crocodile clan. The Dassanech believe its members have the power over both water and crocodiles and are responsible for dealing with diseases of the glands across the tribe. The Turat clan is responsible for dealing with burns from the fire.
They have powers to keep away snakes and to cure many diseases, and also have the ability to keep away enemies from their animals.
Another important clan is Turnyerim, which has powers over drought. They pray for rains during dry periods and they can also cure snakebites by spitting on the wound.
Other clans claim to have healing powers over eye infections, scorpion bites, muscular problems, and so on. Members of the same clan are forbidden from marrying – or indeed dancing – with each other.
Dassanech girls are circumcised young, at around 10 or 12 years of age. If they are not circumcised, a girl can’t marry and her father won’t receive her bride-price, so he has a direct interest in her going through the ordeal. Until they are circumcised, girls are called ‘wild animals’ or ‘men’ to tease them – the idea is that their clitoris has to be removed before they act like women.
Girls may be circumcised in their mother’s house, or in another village, but always with other girls of their age going through the same ritual. The cutting itself is usually done by an older woman who will be helped by the girl’s relatives.
She is held down, and a leather strap is tied around her ankles or in between her legs. It is kept tied to restrict the girl’s movement, until the wounds have healed and the pain has subsided.
When the ritual has been completed, the girl is given sour milk to drink and a necklace by her mother. From then on, she is allowed to wear a leather skirt to show she is now considered an adult. Marriage for girls often takes place soon after.
The biggest ceremony in a man’s life is called Dimi. Its purpose is to celebrate and bless his daughter for fertility and future marriage. When he has gone through Dimi, a man becomes an elder. About 10 cattle and 30 smaller animals are slaughtered and other stock is traded for coffee. Men and women dress in animal fur capes to feast and dance, and the leaders of the village bless the girl.
Dimi ceremonies, with their need to slaughter cattle, take place in the dry season – when cattle are not producing much milk, and grazing has limited value. Slaughtering cattle at this time of year provides meat when other food sources are low.
During circumcision, specific ornaments are given to the adolescent: headband pearl necklace, roots, bow and arrows, two gourds and a special campaign.
The festival is a collective ritual that all men of a group whose daughter reaches puberty participate for six weeks. The father of the girl sacrifices a large number of livestock, foreshadowing the dowry he will receive in the future marriage.
This event marks the entrance of the man in the political world of the tribe. At the end of the ceremony ostrich feathers stuck into his hair, leopard skin covers his shoulders reappears, then the campaign of circumcision plus bracelets cow’s tail, and a small shield cane.
The Ethiopian herald December 15/2020
