The exact number of African peoples is unknown, and ranges from five hundred to seven thousand. This is explained by the vagueness of the separation criteria, under which residents of two neighboring villages can classify themselves as different nationalities without having any special differences. Scientists are inclined to the figure of 1-2 thousand to determine ethnic communities.
The bulk of the peoples of Africa include groups consisting of several thousand and sometimes hundreds of people, but at the same time they do not exceed 10% of the total population of this continent. As a rule, such small ethnic groups are the most savage tribes. The Mursi tribe, for example, belongs to this group.
Tribal Journeys Ep 05 The Mursi:
Living in southwestern Ethiopia, on the border with Kenya and Sudan, settled in Mago Park, the Mursi tribe is distinguished by unusually strict customs. They can rightfully be nominated for the title: the most aggressive ethnic group.
They are prone to frequent alcohol consumption and uncontrolled use of weapons (everyone constantly carries Kalashnikov assault rifles or fighting sticks with them). In fights, they can often beat each other almost to death, trying to prove their dominance in the tribe.
Scientists attribute this tribe to a mutated Negroid race, with distinctive features such as short stature, wide bones and crooked legs, low and tightly compressed foreheads, flattened noses and pumped-up short necks.
The more public Mursi who come into contact with civilization may not always have all these characteristic attributes, but the exotic appearance of their lower lip is business card tribe.
The lower lip is cut in childhood, pieces of wood are inserted there, gradually increasing their diameter, and on the wedding day a “plate” of baked clay is inserted into it - debi (up to 30 centimeters!!). If a Mursi girl does not make such a hole in her lip, then they will give a very small ransom for her.
When the plate is pulled out, the lip hangs down in a long, round rope. Almost all Mursi have no front teeth, and their tongue is cracked and bleeding.
The second strange and terrifying decoration of Mursi women is the monista, which is made from human phalanges of fingers (nek). One person has only 28 of these bones in his hands. Each necklace costs its victims five or six tassels; for some lovers of “costume jewelry,” the monista wraps around the neck in several rows, glistening greasyly and emitting a sweetish, rotting smell of melted human fat, which is rubbed on every bone every day. The source for beads never runs low: the priestess of the tribe is ready to deprive the hands of a man who has broken the laws for almost every offense.
It is customary for this tribe to do scarification (scarring). Men can afford scarring only after the first murder of one of their enemies or ill-wishers.
Their religion, animism, deserves a longer and more shocking story.
Briefly: women are Priestesses of Death, so they give their husbands drugs and poisons every day. The High Priestess distributes antidotes, but sometimes salvation does not come to everyone. In such cases, a white cross is drawn on the widow's plate, and she becomes a very respected member of the tribe, who is not eaten after death, but is buried in the trunks of special ritual trees. Honor is due to such priestesses due to the fulfillment of the main mission - the will of the God of Death Yamda, which they were able to fulfill by destroying physical body, and releasing the highest spiritual Essence from his man.
The rest of the dead will be collectively eaten by the entire tribe. Soft tissues are boiled in a cauldron, bones are used for amulets and thrown in swamps to mark dangerous places.
What seems very wild for a European is commonplace and tradition for the Mursi.
Film: Shocking Africa. 18++ The exact name of the film is Nude Magic / Magia Nuda (Mondo Magic) 1975.
Film: In Search of Tribes of Hunters E02 Hunting in the Kalahari. San tribe.
In our society, the transition from the state of a child to the state of adulthood is not specially marked in any way. However, among many peoples of the world, a boy becomes a man, and a girl a woman, only if they pass a series of severe tests.
For boys, this is initiation; the most important part of it among many nations was circumcision. Moreover, it, naturally, was not done in infancy, as among modern Jews. Most often, boys aged 13-15 were exposed to it. In the African Kipsigi tribe living in Kenya, boys are brought one by one to an elder, who marks the place on the foreskin where the incision will be made.
The boys then sit down on the ground. A father or older brother stands in front of each one with a stick in his hand and demands that the boy look straight ahead. The ceremony is performed by an elder, who cuts off the foreskin at the marked place.
During the entire operation, the boy has no right not only to cry out, but also to show that he is in pain. It is very important. After all, before the ceremony, he received a special amulet from the girl to whom he was engaged. If now he screams in pain or winces, he will have to throw this amulet into the bushes - no girl will marry such a man. For the rest of his life, he will be a laughing stock in his village, because everyone will consider him a coward.
Among the Australian Aborigines, circumcision is a complex, multi-stage operation. First, a classic circumcision is performed - the initiate lies on his back, after which one of the elderly people pulls his foreskin as far as possible, while the other cuts off the excess skin with a quick swing of a sharp flint knife. When the boy recovers, the next main operation takes place.
It is usually held at sunset. At the same time, the boy is not privy to the details of what is about to happen. The boy is placed on a kind of table made from the backs of two adult men. Next, one of those who perform the operation pulls the boy’s penis along the abdomen, and the other... rips it apart along the ureter. Only now can the boy be considered a real man. Before the wound heals, the boy will have to sleep on his back.
Such open penises of Australian aborigines take on a completely different shape during an erection - they become flat and wide. However, they are not suitable for urination, and Australian men relieve themselves while squatting.
But the most peculiar method is common among some peoples of Indonesia and Papua, such as the Batak and Kiwai. It consists of making a hole across the penis with a sharp piece of wood, where you can subsequently insert various items, for example, metal ones - silver or, for those richer, gold sticks with balls on the sides. It is believed here that during copulation this creates additional pleasure for the woman.
Not far from the coast of New Guinea, among the inhabitants of the island of Waigeo, the ritual of initiation into men is associated with copious bloodletting, the meaning of which is “cleansing from filth.” But first you need to learn... to play the sacred flute, and then clean your tongue with sandpaper until it bleeds, since in deep childhood the young man sucked his mother’s milk and thereby “defiled” his tongue.
And most importantly, it is necessary to “cleanse” after the first sexual intercourse, which requires making a deep incision in the head of the penis, accompanied by copious bloodletting, the so-called “male menstruation.” But this is not the end of the torment!
Among the men of the Kagaba tribe, there is a custom according to which during sexual intercourse, sperm should under no circumstances fall to the ground, which is regarded as a grave insult to the gods, and therefore can lead to the death of the whole world. According to eyewitnesses, the “Kagabinites” cannot find anything better to avoid spilling sperm on the ground, “like placing a stone under a man’s penis.”
But young men of the Kababa tribe from Northern Colombia, according to custom, are forced to have their first sexual intercourse with the ugliest, toothless and ancient old woman. It’s no wonder that the men of this tribe experience a persistent aversion to sex for the rest of their lives and live poorly with their legal wives.
Among one Australian tribe, the custom of initiation into men, which is carried out with 14-year-old boys, is even more exotic. To prove his maturity to everyone, a teenager must sleep with his own mother. This ritual means the return of the young man to the mother's womb, which symbolizes death, and orgasm - rebirth.
In some tribes, the initiate must pass through a "toothed womb." The mother puts a mask of a terrible monster on her head, and inserts the jaw of some predator into her vagina. The blood from a wound on the teeth is considered sacred; it is used to smear the face and genitals of the young man.
The young men of the Vandu tribe were much more fortunate. They can become a man only after they graduate from a special sex school, where a female sex instructor gives the boys extensive theoretical and, later, practical training. Graduates of such a school, initiated into the secrets sex life, please their wives to the fullest extent of the sexual capabilities given to them by nature.
EXCORIATION
In many Bedouin tribes in the west and south of Arabia, despite the official ban, the custom of ripping off the skin from the penis has been preserved. This procedure consists of cutting the skin of the penis along its entire length and peeling it off, just like skinning an eel while cutting it.
Boys from ten to fifteen years old consider it a matter of honor not to utter a single cry during this operation. The participant is exposed and the slave manipulates his penis until an erection occurs, after which the operation is performed.
WHEN TO WEAR A HAT?
The youths of the Kabiri tribe in modern Oceania, having reached maturity and undergone severe trials, receive the right to place on their heads a pointed cap, coated with lime, decorated with feathers and flowers; They stick it to their head and even go to bed in it.
YOUNG FIGHTER COURSE
Like many other tribes, among the Bushmen, the initiation of a boy is also carried out after his preliminary training in hunting and everyday skills. And most often young people learn this science of life in the forest.
After completing the “young fighter course,” deep cuts are made above the bridge of the boy’s nose, where the ashes of the burnt tendons of a pre-killed antelope are rubbed. And, naturally, he must endure this entire painful procedure in silence, as befits a real man.
BATTLE BUILDS COURAGE
In the African Fulani tribe, during the male initiation ceremony called "soro", each teenager was struck several times on the back or chest with a heavy club. The subject had to endure this execution in silence, without betraying any pain. Subsequently, the longer the marks of beatings remained on his body and the more terrible he looked, the more respect he gained among his fellow tribesmen as a man and a warrior.
SACRIFICE TO THE GREAT SPIRIT
Among the Mandans, the rite of initiation of young men into men was that the initiate was wrapped in ropes, like a cocoon, and hung on them until he lost consciousness.
In this unconscious (or lifeless, as they put it) state, he was laid on the ground, and when he came to his senses, he crawled on all fours to the old Indian, who was sitting in a doctor’s hut with an ax in his hands and a buffalo skull in front of him. The young man raised the little finger of his left hand as a sacrifice to the great spirit, and it was cut off (sometimes along with the index finger).
LIME INITIATION
Among the Malaysians, the ritual of entering into the secret male union of Ingiet was as follows: during initiation, naked old man, smeared from head to toe with lime, held the end of the mat, and gave the other end to the subject. Each of them took turns pulling the mat towards himself until the old man fell on the newcomer and performed sexual intercourse with him.
INITIATION AT ARANDA
Among the Aranda, initiation was divided into four periods, with gradually increasing complexity of the rituals. The first period consists of relatively harmless and simple manipulations performed on the boy. The main procedure was to throw it into the air.
Before this, it was coated with fat and then painted. At this time, the boy was given certain instructions: for example, not to play with women and girls anymore and to prepare for more serious challenges. At the same time, the boy's nasal septum was drilled.
The second period is the circumcision ceremony. It was carried out on one or two boys. All members of the clan took part in this action, without inviting outsiders. The ceremony lasted about ten days, and throughout this time the tribe members danced and performed various ritual actions in front of the initiates, the meaning of which was immediately explained to them.
Some of the rituals were performed in the presence of women, but when they started circumcision, they ran away. At the end of the operation, the boy was shown a sacred object - a wooden tablet on a cord, which the uninitiated could not see, and its meaning was explained, with a warning to keep it secret from women and children.
The initiate spent some time after the operation away from the camp, in the forest thickets. Here he received a whole series of instructions from leaders. He was instilled with moral rules: not to do bad things, not to walk on the “path of women,” and to observe food prohibitions. These prohibitions were quite numerous and painful: it was forbidden to eat opossum meat, kangaroo rat meat, the tail and rump of a kangaroo, the entrails of an emu, snakes, any water bird, young game, and so on.
He didn’t have to break bones to extract the brain, and he didn’t have to eat a little bit of soft meat. In a word, the most delicious and nutritious food was forbidden to the initiate. At this time, living in the bushes, he learned a special secret language, which he used to speak with men. Women could not approach him.
After some time, even before returning to the camp, a rather painful operation was performed on the boy: several men took turns biting his head; it was believed that after this hair would grow better.
The third stage is the initiate’s exit from maternal care. He did this by throwing a boomerang towards the location of the maternal “totemic center”.
The last, most difficult and solemn stage of initiation is the engvur ceremony. The central place in it was occupied by the trial by fire. Unlike previous stages, the entire tribe and even guests from neighboring tribes participated here, but only men: two to three hundred people gathered. Of course, such an event was organized not for one or two initiates, but for a large party of them. The festivities lasted for a very long time, several months, usually between September and January.
Throughout the entire period, religious thematic rites were performed in a continuous series, mainly for the edification of the initiates. In addition, various other ceremonies were held, partly symbolizing the initiates' break with women and their transition to a group of full-fledged men. One of the ceremonies consisted, for example, of the initiates passing by the women's camp; at the same time, the women threw burning brands at them, and the initiates defended themselves with branches. After this, a feigned attack on the women's camp was carried out.
Finally the time came for the main test. It consisted of building a large fire, covering it with damp branches, and the young men being initiated lay down on top of them. They had to lie there, completely naked, in the heat and smoke, without moving, without screaming or moaning, for four to five minutes.
It is clear that the fiery test required from the young man enormous endurance, willpower, but also uncomplaining obedience. But they prepared for all this with long previous training. This test was repeated twice. One of the researchers describing this action adds that when he tried to kneel down on the same green floor above the fire for an experiment, he was forced to immediately jump up.
Of the subsequent rites, an interesting one is the mocking roll call between the initiates and the women, arranged in the dark, and in this verbal duel even the usual restrictions and rules of decency were not observed. Then emblematic images were painted on their backs. Next, the fire test was repeated in an abbreviated form: small fires were lit in the women’s camp, and the young men knelt on these fires for half a minute.
Before the end of the festival, dancing was again held, wives were exchanged, and, finally, a ritual offering of food to those dedicated to their leaders. After this, the participants and guests gradually dispersed to their camps, and that was the end of it all: from that day on, all prohibitions and restrictions on the initiates were lifted.
TRAVELS… TOOTH
During initiation rites, some tribes have a custom of removing one or more of a boy's front teeth. Moreover, certain magical actions are also subsequently performed with these teeth. Thus, among some tribes in the Darling River region, a knocked-out tooth was stuffed under the bark of a tree growing near a river or a hole with water.
If a tooth became overgrown with bark or fell into water, there was no reason to worry. But if he protruded outside and ants were running over him, then the young man, according to the natives, was in danger of having an oral disease.
Murring and other tribes of New South Wales first entrusted the custody of a knocked-out tooth to one of the old men, who passed it on to another, who passed it on to a third, and so on until, having gone around the whole community in a circle, the tooth returned to the young man’s father and, finally, to himself. young man. At the same time, none of those who kept the tooth should have put it in a bag with “magical” objects, since it was believed that otherwise the owner of the tooth would be in great danger.
YOUTH VAMPIRISM
Some Australian tribes from the Darling River had a custom according to which, after the ceremony on the occasion of reaching manhood, the young man did not eat anything for the first two days, but drank only blood from the veins opened in the hands of his friends, who voluntarily offered him this food.
Having placed a ligature on the shoulder, a vein was opened from inside forearms and released the blood into a wooden vessel or into a piece of bark shaped like a dish. The young man, kneeling on his bed of fuchsia branches, leaned forward, holding his hands behind him, and licked the blood from the vessel placed in front of him with his tongue, like a dog. Later, he is allowed to eat meat and drink the duck's blood.
AIR INITIATION
Among the Mandan tribe, belonging to the group North American Indians, the rite of passage is probably the most cruel. It happens as follows.
The initiate first gets down on all fours. After this, one of the men was large and index fingers the left hand pulls back about an inch of flesh on his shoulders or chest and, with a knife clutched in the right hand, the double-edged blade of which has jagged and notched marks on the double-edged blade of the other knife to intensify the pain caused by the other knife, pierces the pulled skin. His assistant standing next to him inserts a peg or pin into the wound, a supply of which he keeps ready in his left hand.
Then several men of the tribe, having climbed in advance to the roof of the room in which the ritual takes place, lower two thin ropes through holes in the ceiling, which are tied to these pins, and begin to pull the initiate up. This continues until his body rises above the ground.
After this, the skin on each arm below the shoulders and on the legs below the knees is pierced with a knife, and pins are also inserted into the resulting wounds and ropes are tied to them. For them, the initiates are pulled even higher. After this, on stiletto heels protruding from the bleeding limbs, observers hang a bow, shield, quiver, etc. belonging to the young man undergoing the ceremony.
Then the victim is pulled up again until he hangs in the air so that not only his own weight, but also the weight of the weapons hanging on his limbs, falls on those parts of the body to which the ropes are attached.
And so, overcoming immense pain, covered in dried blood, the initiates hung in the air, biting their tongues and lips, so as not to utter the slightest groan and triumphantly pass this highest test of strength of character and courage.
When the tribal elders leading the initiation believed that the young men had adequately endured this part of the ritual, they ordered their bodies to be lowered to the ground, where they lay without visible signs of life, slowly coming to their senses.
But the torment of the initiates did not end there. They had to pass one more test: “the last run”, or in the language of the tribe - “eh-ke-nah-ka-nah-pik”.
Each of the young men was assigned two older and physically strong men. They took places on either side of the initiate and grabbed the free ends of the wide leather straps tied to his wrists. And heavy weights were hung from the pins piercing various parts of the young man’s body.
On command, the attendants began to run in wide circles, dragging their charge along with them. The procedure continued until the victim lost consciousness from blood loss and exhaustion.
ANTS DETERMINE...
In the Amazonian tribe Mandruku there was also a kind of sophisticated torture-initiation. At first glance, the tools used to carry it out looked quite harmless. They looked like two cylinders, blind at one end, made from the bark of a palm tree and had a length of about thirty centimeters. Thus, they resembled a pair of huge, crudely made mittens.
The initiate put his hands into these cases and, accompanied by onlookers, who usually consisted of members of the entire tribe, began a long walk around the settlement, stopping at the entrance to each wigwam and performing a kind of dance.
However, these gauntlets were actually not as harmless as they might seem. For inside each of them there was a whole collection of ants and other stinging insects, selected on the basis of the greatest pain caused by their bites.
Other tribes also use a pumpkin bottle filled with ants during initiation. But the candidate for membership in the society of adult men does not go around the settlement, but stands still until the wild dances of the tribe take place to the accompaniment of wild cries. After the young man has endured the ritual “torture,” his shoulders are decorated with feathers.
TISSUE OF GROWING
The South American Ouna tribe also uses the "ant test" or "wasp test". To do this, ants or wasps stick into a special mesh fabric, often depicting some fantastic quadruped, fish or bird.
The whole body of the young man is wrapped in this fabric. From this torture the young man faints, and in an unconscious state he is carried into a hammock, to which he is tied with ropes; and a weak fire burns under the hammock.
It remains in this position for one or two weeks and can feed only on cassava bread and a small variety of smoked fish. Even in the use of water there are restrictions.
This torture precedes a magnificent dance celebration that lasts several days. Guests come wearing masks and huge headdresses with beautiful feather mosaics, and various decorations. During this carnival, a young man is beaten.
LIVING NET
A number of Caribbean tribes also used ants during the initiation of boys. But before this, the young people used a boar's tusk or a toucan's beak to scratch their chests and skin of their arms until they bled.
And only after that they began to torture with ants. The priest who carried out this procedure had a special device, similar to a net, in the narrow loops of which 60-80 large ants were placed. They were placed so that their heads, armed with long sharp stings, were located on one side of the mesh.
At the moment of initiation, the net with ants was pressed to the boy’s body and kept in this position until the insects stuck to the skin of the unfortunate victim.
During this ritual, the priest applied the net to the chest, arms, lower abdomen, back, back of the thighs and calves of the defenseless boy, who was in no way supposed to express his suffering.
It should be noted that in these tribes girls are also subjected to a similar procedure. They must also endure the bites of angry ants calmly. The slightest groan or painful distortion of the face deprives the unfortunate victim of the opportunity to communicate with elders. Moreover, she is subjected to the same operation until she bravely endures it without showing the slightest sign of pain.
PILLAR OF COURAGE
Young people from the North American Cheyenne tribe had to endure a no less cruel test. When the boy reached the age when he could become a warrior, his father tied him to a pole that stood near the road along which the girls walked to fetch water.
But they tied the young man in a special way: parallel cuts were made in the pectoral muscles, and straps made of raw leather were pulled along them. It was with these belts that the young man was tied to the post. And they didn’t just tie him up, but left him alone, and he had to free himself.
Most of the boys leaned back, pulling on the belts with the weight of their bodies, causing them to cut into their flesh. After two days, the tension of the belts weakened, and the young man was freed.
The more courageous ones grabbed the belts with both hands and moved them back and forth, thanks to which they were released within a few hours. The young man, freed in this way, was praised by everyone, and he was looked upon as a future leader in the war. After the youth had freed himself, he was led into the hut with great honor and looked after with great care.
On the contrary, while he remained tied, women passing by him with water did not speak to him, did not offer to quench his thirst, and did not provide any help.
However, the young man had the right to ask for help. Moreover, he knew that it would be immediately given to him: they would immediately talk to him and free him. But at the same time he remembered that this would be a lifelong punishment for him, for from now on he would be considered a “woman”, dressed in a woman’s dress and forced to do women’s work; he will not have the right to hunt, carry weapons or be a warrior. And, of course, no woman would want to marry him. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of Cheyenne youths endure this cruel torture like Spartans.
WOUNDED SKULL
In some African tribes During initiation, after the ritual of circumcision, an operation is performed to inflict small wounds over the entire surface of the skull until blood appears. The original purpose of this operation was clearly to make holes in the cranial bone.
ROLE GAMES ASMATS
If, for example, the Mandruku and Ouna tribes use ants for initiation, then the Asmats from Irian Jaya cannot do without human skulls during the ceremony of initiating boys into men.
At the beginning of the ritual in a special way a painted skull is placed between the legs of the young man undergoing initiation, who sits naked on the bare floor of a special hut. At the same time, he must constantly press the skull to his genitals, without taking his eyes off it for three days. It is believed that during this period all the sexual energy of the owner of the skull is transferred to the candidate.
When the first ritual is completed, the young man is led to the sea, where a sailing canoe awaits him. Accompanied and under the guidance of his uncle and one of his close relatives, the young man goes in the direction of the sun, where, according to legend, the ancestors of the Asmats live. The skull at this time lies in front of him at the bottom of the canoe.
During a sea voyage, the young man is supposed to play several roles. First of all, he must be able to behave like an old man, so weak that he is not even able to stand on his own feet and constantly falls to the bottom of the boat. The adult accompanying the young man lifts him up each time, and then, at the end of the ritual, throws him into the sea along with the skull. This act symbolizes the death of the old man and the birth of a new man.
The subject must also cope with the role of a baby who cannot walk or speak. By playing this role, the young man demonstrates how grateful he is to his close relative for helping him pass the test. When the boat moored to the shore, the young man would already behave like an adult man and bear two names: his own and the name of the owner of the skull.
That is why it was very important for the Asmats, who gained the infamous popularity of ruthless “skull hunters”, to know the name of the person they killed. A skull whose owner's name was unknown was rendered useless and could not be used in initiation ceremonies.
The following incident, which occurred in 1954, can serve as an illustration of the above statement. Three foreigners were guests in the same Asmat village, and local residents invited them to a meal. Although the Asmats were hospitable people, they nevertheless looked at the guests primarily as “carriers of skulls,” intending to deal with them during the holiday.
First, the hosts sang a solemn song in honor of the guests, and then asked them to say their names in order to supposedly insert them into the text of the traditional chant. But as soon as they identified themselves, they immediately lost their heads.
These people do not know what electricity is or how to drive cars, they live as their ancestors lived for centuries, getting food by hunting and fishing. They cannot read or write, and can die from a common cold or scratch. It's all about wild tribes that still exist on our planet.
There are not many such communities closed from civilization; they live mainly in warm countries, in Africa, South America, Asia and Australia. Today it is believed that no more than 100 such tribes have survived on the entire planet. Sometimes it is almost impossible to study their life and culture, since they live too isolated and do not want to have contact with the outside world, or their immune system is not ready to “meet” modern bacteria, and any disease, the course of which a modern person may not even notice , for a savage will be fatal. Unfortunately, civilization is still “advancing”, uncontrolled cutting of trees is taking place almost everywhere, people are still developing new lands, and wild tribes are forced to leave their lands, and sometimes even go to the “big” world.
Papuans
This people lives in New Guinea and is found in Melanesia, on the islands of Halmahera, Timor and Alor.
In terms of anthropogenic appearance, the Papuans are closest to the Melanesians, but with a completely different language and culture. Some tribes speak completely different languages that are not even related. Today their national language is Tok Pisin Creole.
In total there are approximately 3.7 million Papuans, with some wild tribes numbering no more than 100 people. Among them there are many nationalities: Bonkins, Gimbu, Ekari, Chimbu and others. It is believed that these people inhabited Oceania 20-25 thousand years ago.
Every community has a community house called buambramba. This is a kind of cultural and spiritual center of the entire village. In some villages you can see a huge house in which everyone lives together; its length can reach 200 meters.
Papuans are farmers, the main crops grown are taro, banana, yam and coconut. The harvest must be stored standing, that is, collected only for eating. Savages also raise pigs and hunt.
Pygmies
These are the wild tribes of Africa. Even the ancient Egyptians knew about their existence. They are mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. However, the existence of pygmies was confirmed for the first time only in the 19th century, when they were discovered in the Uzle and Ituri river basin. Today, the existence of these people is known in Rwanda, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Zaire and in the forests of Gabon. You can even meet pygmies in South Asia, the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.
Distinctive feature Pygmies are short in stature, from 144 to 150 centimeters. Their hair is curly and their skin is light brown. The body is usually quite large, and the legs and arms are short. Pygmies are classified as a separate race. Special language It has not been revealed among these peoples whether they communicate in those dialects whose peoples live nearby: Asua, Kimbuti and others.
Another feature of this people is the short life path. In some settlements, people only live until they are 16 years old. Girls give birth while they are still very small. In other settlements, women were found to be going through menopause as early as 28 years old. A meager diet threatens their health; pygmies even die from chickenpox and measles.
To date, the total number of this people has not been established; according to some estimates, there are about 40 thousand, according to others - 200.
For a long time, the pygmies did not even know how to make fire; they carried the hearth with them. They engage in gathering and hunting.
Bushmen
These wild tribes live in Namibia and are also found in Angola, South Africa, Botswana, and Tanzania.
These people are classified as capoid race, with lighter skin than blacks. The tongue has many clicking sounds.
The Bushmen lead an almost vagabond lifestyle, constantly half-starved. The system of building a society does not presuppose the presence of leaders, but there are elders who are chosen from among the most intelligent and authoritative individuals in the community. This people does not have a cult of ancestors, but they are very afraid of the dead, so they conduct a unique burial ceremony. The diet contains ant larvae, the so-called “Bushman rice”.
Today, most Bushmen work on farms and little adhere to their former way of life.
Zulu
These are the wild tribes of Africa (southern part). There are believed to be about 10 million Zulus. They speak Zulu, the most common language in South Africa.
Many representatives of this nationality have become adherents of Christianity, but many observe their own faith. According to the canons of the Zulu religion, death is the result of witchcraft, and all life on the planet was created by a creator. This people has preserved many traditions; in particular, believers can perform the ritual of ablution about 3 times a day.
The Zulus are quite organized, they even have a king, today it is Goodwill Zwelantini. Each tribe consists of clans, which include even smaller communities. Each of them has its own leader, and in the family this role is played by the husband.
The most expensive rite of wild tribes is marriage. To take a wife, a man will have to give her parents 100 kilograms of sugar, corn and 11 cows. For such gifts you can rent an apartment in the suburbs of Durban, with a gorgeous view of the ocean. That's why there are a lot of bachelors in tribes.
Korowai
Perhaps this is the most brutal tribe in the whole world. These people were discovered only in the 90s of the last century.
The life of the wild tribe is very harsh, they still use the teeth and tusks of animals as weapons and tools. These people pierce their ears and noses with the teeth of predators and live in the impenetrable forests of Papua - New Guinea. They sleep in trees, in huts, very similar to those that many built in childhood. And the forests here are so dense and impenetrable that neighboring villages They don’t even know about another settlement located a few kilometers away.
The pig is considered a holy animal, the meat of which the Korowai eat only after the boar is old. The animal is used as a riding pony. Often a piglet is taken from its mother and raised from childhood.
The women of the wild tribe are common, but sexual intercourse occurs only once a year; on the remaining 364 days it is not allowed to touch them.
The cult of the warrior flourishes among the Korowai. These are very hardy people; for several days in a row they can feed only on larvae and worms. It is believed that they are cannibals, and the first travelers who managed to reach the settlement were simply eaten.
Now that the Korowai have learned about the existence of another society, they do not seek to leave the forests, and everyone who comes here tells a legend that if they deviate from their traditions, there will be a terrible earthquake and the entire planet will perish. Korowai scare away uninvited guests with stories about their bloodthirstiness, although so far there has been no evidence of this.
Maasai
These are the true noble warriors of the African continent. They are engaged in cattle breeding, but never steal livestock from neighbors and lower tribes. These people are able to protect themselves from lions and European conquerors, although in the 21st century the too much pressure of civilization, which is increasingly advancing, has led to the fact that the tribes are rapidly decreasing in number. Now children herd livestock almost from the age of 3, women are responsible for the entire household, and the remaining men mostly relax or fight back against uninvited guests.
It is among these people that they have a tradition of pulling back their earlobes and inserting round objects the size of a good saucer into the lower lip.
Maori
The most bloodthirsty tribes of New Zealand and the Cook Islands. In these places, Maori are the indigenous population.
These people are cannibals who terrified more than one traveler. The path of development of Maori society went in a different direction - from man to animal. The tribes were always located in areas protected by nature itself, additionally carrying out fortification work, creating multi-meter ditches and installing a palisade, on which the dried heads of enemies were always displayed. They are prepared carefully, cleaned of the brain, strengthened the nasal and eye sockets and bulges with special boards and smoked over low heat for about 30 hours.
Wild tribes of Australia
In this country, a fairly large number of tribes have survived, living far from civilization and having interesting customs. For example, the men of the Arunta tribe in an interesting way show respect for each other by giving their wife to a comrade for a short period of time. If the gifted man refuses, then enmity begins between families.
And in one of the tribes of Australia, in childhood, boys are cut into the foreskin and the urinary canal is pulled out, thus creating two genital organs.
Amazon Indians
According to the most conservative estimates, about 50 different wild Indian tribes live in the tropical forests.
Pirahu. This is one of the most undeveloped peoples on the planet. There are about 200 people in the settlement, they live in the Brazilian jungle. The Aborigines use the most primitive language on the planet, they have no history or myths, they don’t even have a number system.
Pirahu do not have the right to tell stories that did not happen to them. You cannot enter new words or words heard from other people. The language does not designate animals, vegetation, or flowers.
These people have never been seen to be aggressive; they live in trees and huts. They often act as guides, but do not accept any objects of civilization.
Kayapo tribe. This is one of the wild tribes of the world, which lives in the eastern part of the river basin. Their number is about 3 thousand people. They firmly believe that they are controlled by a man who descended from heaven. Some Kayapo household items really resemble astronaut spacesuits. Despite the fact that the entire village walks around naked, God still appears in clothing and even with a headdress.
Korubo. This people is perhaps the most unstudied of all the tribes in the world that live remote from civilization. All residents are quite aggressive towards any guests. They engage in gathering and hunting, often attacking neighboring tribes. Even women take part in the battles. A distinctive feature of this tribe is that they do not paint themselves or get tattoos, unlike most aborigines.
The life of wild tribes is quite harsh. If a child is born with a cleft palate, he is immediately killed, and this happens quite often. A child is often killed even after he has grown up, if he suddenly falls ill.
The tribe lives in long rooms with several entrances, typical for Indians. Several families live in such houses. Men of this tribe can have several wives.
The most basic problem of all wild tribes is the inexorable expansion of the habitats of civilized man. It is a huge risk that these are practically primitive people will soon disappear, unable to withstand the onslaught of the modern world.
In our age high technology, various gadgets and broadband Internet, there are still people who have not seen all this. Time seems to have stood still for them, they don’t really make contact with the outside world, and their way of life has not changed in thousands of years.
In the forgotten and undeveloped corners of our planet live such uncivilized tribes that you are simply amazed that time has not touched them with its modernizing hand. Living, like their ancestors, among palm trees and feeding on hunting and pasture, these guys feel great and do not rush to the “concrete jungle” of big cities.
OfficePlankton decided to highlight the wildest tribes of our time that actually exist.
1 Sentinelese
Having chosen the island of North Sentinel, between India and Thailand, the Sentinelese have occupied almost the entire coast and greet with arrows anyone who tries to establish contact with them. By hunting, gathering and fishing, and intermarrying, the tribe maintains a population of approximately 300 people.
An attempt to contact these people ended in shelling by the National Geographic group, but only after they left gifts on the shore, among which red buckets were especially popular. They shot the abandoned pigs from afar and buried them, without even thinking about eating them; everything else was thrown into the ocean in a heap.
An interesting fact is that they predict natural disasters and hide en masse deeper into the jungle when storms approach. The tribe survived both the 2004 Indian earthquake and numerous devastating tsunamis.
2 Maasai
These born pastoralists are the largest and most warlike tribe in Africa. They live only by cattle breeding, not neglecting to steal cattle from other, “lower”, as they consider, tribes, because, in their opinion, their supreme god gave them all the animals on the planet. It is the photograph of them with their earlobes pulled back and discs the size of a good tea saucer inserted into their lower lip that you come across on the Internet.
Maintaining a good fighting spirit, considering as men only all those who killed a lion with a spear, the Massai fought back against European colonialists and invaders from other tribes, owning the ancestral territories of the famous Serengeti Valley and the Ngorongoro volcano. However, under the influence of the 20th century, the number of people in the tribe is declining.
Polygamy, which was once considered honorable, has now become simply necessary as there are fewer and fewer men. Children herd cattle almost from the age of 3, and women handle the rest of the household, while men doze with a spear in their hand inside a hut in peacetime or run with guttural sounds on military campaigns against neighboring tribes.
3 Nicobar and Andaman tribes
An aggressive company of cannibal tribes lives, as you might guess, by raiding and eating each other. The Korubo tribe holds the lead among all these savages. The men, disdainful of hunting and gathering, are very skilled in making poison darts, catching snakes with their bare hands to do this, and stone axes, grinding the edge of the stone all day long to such an extent that blowing off their head becomes a very doable task.
Constantly fighting among themselves, the tribes, however, do not raid endlessly, since they understand that the supply of “people” is very slowly renewed. Some tribes generally reserve only special holidays for this - the holidays of the goddess of Death. Women of the Nicobar and Andaman tribes also do not hesitate to eat their children or old people in case of unsuccessful raids on neighboring tribes.
4 Piraha
A rather small tribe also lives in the Brazilian jungle - about two hundred people. They are notable for having the most primitive language on the planet and the absence of at least some kind of number system. Holding primacy among the most undeveloped tribes, if this can be called primacy, of course, the Pirahã have no mythology, no history of the creation of the world and no gods.
They are forbidden to talk about what they have not learned from their own experience, to adopt the words of other people and to introduce new designations into their language. There are also no shades of colors, signs of weather, animals and plants. They live mainly in huts made of branches, refusing to accept gifts of all kinds of objects of civilization. Piraha, however, are quite often called as guides into the jungle, and, despite their inadaptability and lack of development, have not yet been noticed in aggression.
5 Loaves
The most brutal tribe lives in the forests Papua New Guinea, between two chains of mountains, they were discovered very late, only in the 90s of the last century. There is a tribe with a funny Russian-sounding name that seems like something from the Stone Age. Dwellings - children's huts made of twigs on trees, which we built in childhood - protection from sorcerers, they will find them on the ground.
Stone axes and knives made from animal bones, noses and ears are pierced with the teeth of killed predators. The loaves hold wild pigs in high esteem, which they do not eat, but tame, especially those weaned from their mother at a young age, and use as riding ponies. Only when the pig gets old and can no longer carry the load and the little monkey-like people that loaves are, the pig can be slaughtered and eaten.
The entire tribe is extremely warlike and hardy, the cult of the warrior flourishes there, the tribe can sit on larvae and worms for weeks, and despite the fact that all the women of the tribe are “common”, the festival of love occurs only once a year, the rest of the time men should not pester to women.
It is believed that there are no less than a hundred “isolated tribes” in the world that still live in the farthest corners of the world. Members of these tribes, who have preserved traditions long abandoned by the rest of the world, provide anthropologists with an excellent opportunity to study in detail the ways in which various cultures developed over many centuries.
10. The Surma People
The Ethiopian Surma tribe avoided contact with Western world for many years. However, they are quite famous in the world due to the huge plates they put on their lips. However, they did not want to hear about any government. While colonization, world wars and the struggle for independence were in full swing around them, the Surma people lived in groups of several hundred people each, and continued to engage in their modest cattle breeding.
The first people who managed to establish contact with the people of Surma were several Russian doctors. They met the tribe in 1980. Because the doctors were white-skinned, the tribe members initially thought they were the living dead. One of the few pieces of equipment that members of the Surma people have adopted into their lives is the AK-47, which they use to protect their livestock.
9. Peruvian tribe discovered by tourists
While wandering in the jungles of Peru, a group of tourists suddenly encountered members of an unknown tribe. The entire incident was captured on film: the tribe tried to communicate with the tourists, but due to the fact that the tribe members did not speak either Spanish or English, they soon despaired of making contact and left the puzzled tourists where they found them.
After studying the tape recorded by the tourists, Peruvian authorities soon realized that the group of tourists had encountered one of the few tribes that had not yet been discovered by anthropologists. Scientists knew about their existence and searched for them without success. long years, and tourists found them without even looking.
8. Lonely Brazilian
Slate magazine called him "the most isolated person on the planet." Somewhere in the Amazon there is a tribe consisting of only one person. Just like Bigfoot, this one mysterious person disappears just when scientists are about to discover it.
Why is he so popular, and why won’t they leave him alone? It turns out that according to scientists, he is last representative isolated tribe in the Amazon. He only person in a world that has preserved the customs and language of its people. Communicating with him will be tantamount to finding a precious treasure of information, part of which is the answer to the question of how he managed to live alone for so many decades.
7. Ramapo Tribe (Ramapough Mountain Indians or The Jackson Whites)
During the 1700s, European settlers completed their colonization of the east coast of North America. By this point, every tribe between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi River had been added to the catalog of known peoples. As it turned out, all but one were included in the catalogue.
In the 1790s, a previously unknown tribe of Indians emerged from the forest just 56 kilometers from New York. They somehow managed to avoid contact with the settlers, despite some of the biggest battles, such as the Seven Years' War and the Revolutionary War, actually taking place in their backyards. They became known as the Jackson Whites because they had light color skin, and also due to the fact that they were believed to have originated from "Jacks" (a slang word for British).
6. Vietnamese tribe Ruc (Vietnamese Ruc)
During the Vietnam War, unprecedented bombings of regions isolated at that time took place. After one particularly heavy American bombing raid, North Vietnamese soldiers were shocked to see a group of tribesmen emerging from the jungle.
This was the first contact of the Rook tribe with people with advanced technology. Because their jungle home was badly damaged, they decided to stay in modern Vietnam and not return to their traditional homes. However, the values and traditions of the tribe, passed down from generation to generation for many centuries, did not please the Vietnamese government, which led to mutual hostility.
5. The Last of the Native Americans
In 1911, the last Native American untouched by civilization walked calmly out of the woods in California, in full tribal garb - and was promptly arrested by shocked police. His name was Ishi and he was a member of the Yahia tribe.
After questioning by the police, who were able to find a translator from a local college, it was revealed that Ishi was the only survivor of his tribe after his tribe was wiped out by settlers three years earlier. After trying to survive alone using only the gifts of nature, he finally decided to turn to other people for help.
Ishi was taken under the wing of a researcher from Berkeley University. There, Ishi told the teaching staff all the secrets of his tribal life, and showed them many survival techniques, using only what nature provided. Many of these techniques were either long forgotten or completely unknown to scientists.
4. Brazilian tribes
The Brazilian government was trying to find out how many people lived in isolated areas of the Amazon lowland in order to add them to the population register. Therefore, government aircraft equipped with photographic equipment regularly flew over the jungle, trying to locate and count the people below it. Tireless flights did indeed produce results, albeit very unexpected ones.
In 2007, an airplane performing a routine low flight in order to obtain photographs was unexpectedly hit by a rain of arrows, which a previously unknown tribe fired at the airplane with bows. Then, in 2011, satellite scanning detected several specks in a corner of the jungle where people were not even expected to be present: as it turned out, the specks were people after all.
3. Tribes of New Guinea
Somewhere in New Guinea there likely remain dozens of languages, cultures and tribal customs that are still unknown to modern man. However, because the area is largely unexplored, and because the character and intentions of these tribes are uncertain, with frequent reports of cannibalism, the wild part of New Guinea is very rarely explored. Despite the fact that new tribes are often discovered, many expeditions that set out to track down such tribes never reach them, or sometimes simply disappear.
For example, in 1961, Michael Rockefeller set out to find some of the lost tribes. Rockefeller, the American heir to one of the world's largest fortunes, was separated from his group and apparently captured and eaten by members of the flames.
2. The Pintupi Nine
In 1984, an unknown group of Aboriginal people was discovered near a settlement in Western Australia. After they escaped, the Pinupian Nine, as they were eventually called, were tracked down by those who spoke their language and told them that there was a place where water flowed from pipes and there was always an ample supply of food. Most of them decided to stay in modern city, several of them became artists working in the style traditional art. However, one of the nine, named Yari Yari, returned to the Gibson Desert, where he lives to this day.
1. The Sentinelese
The Sentinelese are a tribe of approximately 250 people who live on North Sentinel Island, located between India and Thailand. Almost nothing is known about this tribe, because as soon as the Sentinelese see that someone has sailed to them, they greet the visitor with a hail of arrows.
Several peaceful encounters with this tribe in 1960 have given us almost everything we know about their culture. The coconuts brought to the island as a gift were eaten rather than planted. Live pigs were shot with arrows and buried without being eaten. The most popular items among the Sentinelese were red buckets, which were quickly dismantled by members of the tribe - however, exactly the same green buckets remained in place.
Anyone who wanted to land on their island had to first write their will. The National Geographic team was forced to turn around after the team leader took an arrow to the thigh and two local guides were killed.
The Sentinelese have built a reputation for their ability to survive natural disasters - unlike many modern people living in similar conditions. For example, this coastal tribe successfully escaped the effects of the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which wreaked havoc and terror in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
