www.womanthismonth.com 33 September 2015 HAMAR TRIBE This is one of the best-known tribes in the region as both women and men use oil and ochre mud to paint their hair and bodies giving them a bronze-like cast to their skin. The women twist their hair into locks, a style distinctive to the tribe. The men, as in all the tribes, adorn themselves with white body paint, giving a leopard-like effect alongside the bronzed skin. Mothers use white paint on their babies to ward off evil spirits and small boys paint each other since there are no mirrors. Married Hamar women wear two heavy iron rings around their necks. However, the tribe practises polygamy (men can marry as often as they wish) and the first wife sports an additional torque with a phallic protrusion signifying her status. Women decorate themselves with cowrie shells, glass, seeds and metal beads and wear beaded goat-skin dresses while courageous men, who have killed an enemy or dangerous animal, wear a style of mud cap decorated with feathers. The may also have their chests marked with rows of hero scars to show the number of enemies slain. 8
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