Wodaabe itinerant African people They lead a nomadic

Wodaabe itinerant African people

They lead a nomadic life. Their route leads through the southern border of the Sahara, includes countries such as Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. Their number is around 100, 000. They went down in history 5000 years ago, in the Stone Age. Africans belonging to the Wodaabe people live in huts without roofs, built of branches. The most important for them is tradition, which is associated with happiness and life. Everything they do, what decisions they make, are based on their own life experience. There are no commands in this culture, you can only hear good advice from them.

They do not have a hierarchical social structure. Wodaabe is also one of the last peoples who wanders in search of a source of water and a piece of good land to graze cattle, called zebu. Keeping and breeding them is difficult.

They are able to do everything for these animals, they devote their whole lives to them. They rarely sell animals and they hardly ever eat meat, because by nature they are vegetarians, they feed mainly on plants and dairy products. They believe in Allah, but not the one we know from islam’s religion. They also believe in the malicious ghosts of the bush - the Djinns.

For Wodaabe, physical beauty is very important. No one country attaches so much importance to its appearance as they do. In September, when the rainy season is ending beauty contests called Gerewol are organized, or „choosing the most beautiful”. Almost a thousand men celebrate it for few days by singing and dancing folk dances. The men are preparing for the competition much earlier. Only he can emphasize the whiteness of the teeth and eyes against the background of black skin.

When they finish their perfect make-up, they put on feather decorations. At noon, the time comes for a yaake dance, which can only for the most beautiful men elected by the elders. To be hailed as "the most beautiful", several criteria must be met.

The most important thing is the delicate nose line and narrow or long neck. To convince the jury, competitors to emphasize your attractiveness, they must bounce, grin, sing, inflate cheeks or roll their eyes. During the ceremony many women find future partners.

Thank you for your attention. Dawid Kazubiński