Inside Omo Valley

Market Days of the Omo Valley
Market Day in the Omo Valley Since most people have long journeys to and from the towns, markets are best visited between 10:30 am and 4:00 pm.

Access Omo Valley Origin Tours listed the Notable markets of Omo Valley as follows to help travelers plan their trip dates to match the Market days.

Key Afer Tribal Market

Once a week, the small town of Key Afer in the Lower Omo Valley holds a large market (the largest in Omo Valley) where three different tribes come together to buy and sell. The market brings together people from Tsemai, Hamer, and Bena tribes. Everything from fruits and vegetables to wood to honey and butter to silverware and animals is sold here – the open-air market brims with color and sound. Some are not tourist-friendly, but the vast majority of mostly women sellers are happy to pose for your pictures with their wares.

Alduba Tribal Market

There’s a market here on Tuesday. It’s much bigger than Turmi or Dimeka; loads of people, nice vibe, and several tribes visit. Also check the ‘cafe area’ under the trees in the back, where all the locals hang, drink and chat.

There’s lots of Fruit and veggies + a good selection of souvenirs if you’re looking for something. Better prices than in Turmi.

Turmi Tribal Hamer Market

The Monday market in Turmi is well worth seeing as a slice of quintessential rural African culture. Hamer people from the surrounding villages descend on the town to buy and sell goods, some of them walking over 15 km to get there.

The atmospheric Ethiopian market is a chance for locals to socialize and catch up with people from neighboring towns and villages. Travelers are more than welcome to join in.

The market stalls are typically African in nature. As long as they are prepared to barter, visitors can get great deals on everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to traditional jewelry; from goatskins to gourds.

There are also smaller markets on Thursdays, which see much fewer tourists.

Dimeka Tribal Market

Dimeka is located on the Turmi-Jinka road, about 30 km North of Turmi; Also here in Dimeka, as in the Key Afar market, there is a part dedicated to souvenirs and crafts, The market days are in Dimeka on Saturday and Tuesday.

Dimeka is found in the territory of the Hamer and the market is mainly frequented by them, but it is also possible to meet some Banna farmers, but it is difficult to distinguish them from the Hamer because they dress and style their hair in a very similar way, besides Banna and Hamer can marry each other, so this can create even more confusion in distinguishing the two tribes.

Unlike the Key Afar Thursday market, the Dimeka market is laid out in a square but also along with a series of alleys; the goods for sale are mainly honey, chewing tobacco leaves or sniffing powder, corn, the dried skins of coffee to make tea, pumpkins, and other vegetables.

Tribal Body Painting A Moving Art Masterpiece

stunning ancient tribes who are basically human canvases and moving art masterpieces have been living in Omo river valley Ethiopia for centuries still perusing ancient traditional lifestyle. Only in Omo Valley, Ethiopia do so many genetically and linguistically diverse people live as traditionally and in such a small space. once this river valley been a crossroads for humans migrating in many directions over many millennia.

The tribes such as Mursi, Suri, and Karo are known for their elaborate body and face painting,  they use body art as a method of self-expression and a way of presenting the social hierarchical class in their tribe. Various colors, patterns, and designs are used to designate the position, for ritual( Bull-jumping, stick fighting of Suri, and harvesting ceremonies), to ward off illness, and to attract the opposite gender. There are many different designs that generally differ from event to event, as each design has a different meaning/reasoning and evokes different emotions and feelings.
Tribal body painting is a moving art masterpiece

They use natural material obtained from the local environment, which is believed to further enhance the relationship between the Tribes and their natural environment and create a soulful connection. ochre which is found in the local Omo River. Ochre comes in a variety of colors like; Yellow, Red, Purple, Brown, Sienna, and Umber. Another material that is utilized in body painting expression is yellow sulfur, white kaolin, white limestone, and grey ash, common minerals found in local low-lying areas.

(Bull Jumping)

The Hamer (or Hamar) tribe has a famous ceremony involving bull-jumping by young men about to marry. Other African tribes in the Omo Valley such as the Bashada, , and Banna also practice this ritual.

The bull-jumping ceremony also involves his sisters and young female relatives being whipped with sticks before the actual jumping of the bulls takes place. The women willingly take part in the ceremony, even though they will be scarred for life. The ceremony tends to unite the family as if the woman ever falls upon hard times, she can rely upon the man to help her. The scars on her back are said to be proof of her sacrifice for the man and it is therefore impossible for the man to refuse her needs in times of emergencies.

Interestingly, the more scars that a woman possesses, the greater her status in the Hamer tribal society by proving just how dedicated she is to her family. During the bull jumping ceremony, the bulls are held in place by men who have successfully completed the ceremony on previous occasions (the MAZZA). The MAZZA is responsible for holding the bulls in place and preventing serious injury to the man if he might fall.

The man is required to transverse the bulls four times (two round-trip journeys). He must perform the bull jumping ceremony naked as is the tradition of the Hamer African tribe. If he should fail to jump over the bulls without falling, he will not be permitted to marry the woman of his choice and must wait another year to make another attempt. Moreover, if the young man should fall, he will be whipped by the women.

In addition to jumping bulls, the Hamer African tribe requires that the man pay the bride’s family a dowry in the form of cattle. The bride and groom will then drink the blood of the cows mixed with milk. This African tribe is polygamous and one Hamer man can marry as many as four Hamer women

Mursi And Suri’s Duelling(ART Stick Fighting)

Ceremonial dueling (tagine) is a form of ritualized male violence, or ‘martial art’, in which men from different locally-based divisions of the population join in brief but furious single combat, using wooden poles and wearing stylized protective clothing. It is a key marker of Mursi identity and a highly valued and popular activity of young men who, amongst other things, are keen to prove themselves to unmarried girls.

The dueling weapon is a wooden pole (donga, pl. Dongen), around two meters long which is cut from one of two species of tree of the genus Grewia (Kalochi). In the attacking position, the donga is gripped at its base with both hands, the left above the right, the aim being to land a blow with the shaft (never with the point) on any part of the opponent’s body, including the head, with sufficient force to knock him over.
Blows are parried by continuing to grip the base of the donga with the right hand while sliding the left hand up the shaft to a point above that at which the blow is received. Each contestant wears a dueling ‘kit’ (Tumoga) which is both protective and decorative. It includes a basket-work handguard for the right hand, shin guards made from animal skin, rings of plaited sisal cord to protect the elbows and knees, a leopard skin over the front of the torso, a hide skirt, cut into strips, and a cattle bell tied around the waist. The head is protected by wrapping around it long swathes of cotton cloth. Bouts are controlled by one or more referees (Kwethana, sing. Kwethani).

For about to end in the victory of one of the contestants his opponent must either fall to the ground or retire hurt (commonly because of broken or bruised fingers). In the first case, though not in the second, the victor is carried around the field on the shoulders of his local age mates and then surrounded by unmarried girls of his mother’s clan, his girl mothers(dole juge). They lay goatskins on the ground for him to sit on and hold cotton cloth above him, stretched on dueling poles, to provide shade. The explicit symbolism here is that of a mother protecting her baby from the sun: ‘They are wrapping up their child.

Doesn’t one wrap up a baby to protect it from the sun?’ It is probably this custom that gave rise to the popular misconception that the victor in a dueling contest can take his pick of the available marriageable girls. In fact, there is a strict prohibition on marriage between a man and a woman of his mother’s clan. It is these same ‘girl mothers’ who welcome a man back from war, after he has killed for the first time, with gifts of necklace beads.

A dueling contest usually takes place over several days and is carefully prepared for, often being discussed, within and between both contesting groups, for several months in advance. It is scheduled for a time of year when there is plenty of food available so that the participants can be physically well prepared. When it eventually takes place, it is treated with the utmost seriousness, one indication of this being that it is frequently described as ware(Kaman). And like war, dueling contests are not seen as isolated or one-off events. They are seen as part of a continuing series of events, in which each side takes it, in turn, to visit the other side’s home ground, at intervals of up to a year, to exchange their wounds (chacha Muloi).

Contact tribal tours leader Bereket for Event information

False Banana(Enset)

False banana is way better than its name as millions of tribal people in southern Ethiopia depend on it, it is called false banana because it resembles a banana plant but it doesn’t produce banana fruit. Both the Enset and the banana tree belong to the family Musaceae.

Enset ventricosum( false banana) is endemic to the south part of Ethiopia farmed in a mixed system along with grain crop and coffee, it is the most reliable source of staple food than any other crop in the area
Bread, porridge, alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks can be made up of it, apart from the source of food it provides fiber for making ropes, mats, bags, and sacks. It also produces medicine that helps wounds and breaks heal faster.

Harvesting and processing

At harvest, leaves and older leaf sheaths are first removed from the designated plants, then peel and cut the concave side of the leaf sheath is lengthwise into a workable size, Then the leaf sheath is decorticated using a locally made bamboo scraper while the leaf sheath is held on an incline (at 45 to 80 degrees from the ground) against a wooden plank. In some groups, women may sit on the ground (often on Enset leaves) and use one leg to hold the leaf sheaths in place, while collecting the white juice below which will be sieved and evaporated by spreading on fresh Enset leave to form thick past ( Kocho or Kincho)

The knowledgeable women in the household prepare the yeast starter or fermentation infusion in advance from already fermented Kocho and herbs, and mix it with Kocho, when the Kocho is prepared, the men dig a hole about 3 meters deep and 2 meters in diameter filling the bottom with stone for drainage. The Kocho treated with yeast is buried in a hole packed with Enset leaves and heavy stone on the top to force water out.

Kocho will be ready in one month, the floury oval cake is formed and cooked as desired. Bread, porridge, and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks are some of them.

The Fattening Ceremony Of Bodi Tribe (Kel)

The Kel ceremony takes place every June or July, which is the beginning of the Bodi New Year. Bodi men feed on blood and milk for several months before the ceremony. The date for the ceremony is fixed by the traditional leader (Komoro). On the day of the ceremony, cattle are killed using a stone and the elders examine the intestines in order to forecast the coming year. More cattle are killed until the forecast is agreeable and the blood from these cattle is smeared on the Komoro. The Bodi men who have been fattening up then pass in front of the Komoro and elders show off their physique.
The Komoro elects the ‘Fat Man of the Year’

Feasting follows and women perform a special dance called a heart.

Evangadi Dance

The Hammer is known for their traditional dancing called “Evangadi”. “Evan” is to refers to tonight and “Gadi” means dancing. Evangadi is a traditional dance performed during harvest time for refreshment. It’s performed by boys and girls through which they are introduced to social life, new songs, and dancing styles. Evangadi takes place every three days in Hamer neighborhoods and fields while the moon is shining.