A population of 250-300,000, live in 40 villages in the surrounding area of Konso town which sits at an elevation of 1,640 metres 4 hours journey from Arba Minch. An agricultural people that live in the middle of the Rift Valley in a landscape raised from the valley floor south of Lake Chamo. They are famous for their stone terraced sorghum fields and intensive agriculture, their intricate walled villages and clan system.
The small town is a junction, and provides a stop off point for people travelling down to the Omo Valley. It's a dull, one horse town but the villages of the Konso people and the landscape are beautiful and fascinating. The structure of both the villages and the society is deep and intricate, and it's only in the last 50 years that outside influence has shaken it. The growth of Protestantism has affected the communities' ultimate conviction in Animism; though still practised it is slightly less necessary.
Nine clans headed by nine chiefs make up the Konso community. The clans are co-operative and they inter-marry, conflict can occur between villages but is not based on inter-clan rivalries.
The Konso are polygamous and can take one or two wives.
Chiefs are allowed one wife who is appointed to him by advisors, he sees her for the first time on their wedding day. The chief is the only man in the clan who doesn't work, and he always eats alone. His wife brings him food and then leaves.
The theory behind this is that the chief has time on his hands to look at women, but if he has to eat alone he won't be tempted by sexual dalliance in the afternoons!
Sex before marriage is strictly frowned upon and traditionally results in being cast out.
Rape is unheard of, its punishment is to be buried alive before execution; this acts as a reasonable deterrent.
When a chief dies the advisors can choose whether or not he should be mummified. This last happened in the 1920's during a time of unrest when the advisers recommended maintaining the continuity of the existing chief. In Konso lore a chief can be mummified and remain in office for up to nine years, with the advisers acting as his agent. The eyes and brains are removed and he is left sitting outside his hut with a blanket around him.
Rumour spreads that the chief is sick and village life continues under this pretence until a favourable time comes to instate the successor. Visitors arrive, inquire after his health, wonder why he's not talking and remark on how peaky he's looking. Songs are sung about his illness although it is really understood that he is dead. It allows for a period of emotional adjustment before coping with the intense grief of the wake and funeral.
Things come in nines in Konso as a reflection of the nine clans. Once the advisers have decided to bury the chief, within the allotted nine years, a great wake takes place over nine days and nights. Following this the eldest son is appointed as the new chief regardless of his age.
During the wake the funeral drums are used. The drums are kept in an attic in the chiefs’ compound and are only used for this occasion. The importance of this is shown in the legend of how a local gorge was created when robbers attempted to steal the funeral drums.
Traditional dances fall in to three categories:1) Harvest 2) Birth and Marriage 3) funerals of elders and chiefs.
The music is made by singing and clapping with hands, wood blocks or bones, there are no instruments. Men and women gather together in large circles and generate vibrant musical energy, in the centre dancers spontaneously spark in to typical Konso movements; sharp rhythmic stamping of one foot as the balancing leg changes direction, and an equally sharp horizonital arm motion in to the pulsing chest.
The beads worn are red and white; red for strength/war and the white for peace.
The mens' cloth is predominantly royal blue, as are the widespread blue t-shirts with chevron stripe which have been assimilated in to the cultural dress.
The women wear heavy white cotton skirts that have a coloured border of Ethiopian red, yellow and green stripes.
After the age of 18 ostrich feathers can be worn by any-one. Many run with ostriches in order to hunt them and gain their feathers in this way.
THE VILLAGES
Dry stone walling is a common feature of the landscape, used for agricultural terracing and building villages. The construction of the villages is based on a system of defence. They are built on hill tops with massively thick surrounding walls that have four entrances facing the four directions.
The original compound of huts lies in the centre of the village with a wall around it, as the family extend so the village develops outward in an ever increasing system of huts and walls. Dried poles are used for fencing and building the frame work of the huts which are then covered in mud and thatched. The use of earthenware pots as chimneys is both distinctive and charming.
Each village has a square called 'the Moro' which serves as a vital meeting and playing place. It is an open space with plenty of stone slab seating, a tree for shade and the generation pole, or stone. The system of 'Generations' is an integral part of Konso society and represents 18 years. Each 18 years or so the young men between 9 and 25 go through their initiation rites. This momentous social shift is then marked on the pole. It's possible to tell how old a village is by the markings, rather like a tree. The Konso are reputed to have settled in the area in the last 500 years(check!) , this is not their place of origin.
The other common feature to all Konso villages is 'the sleeping place,' which is where the men and boys sleep once they are over the age of twelve. A husband may spend part of the night with his wife and the rest at 'the sleeping place.' This arrangement fulfils many purposes.
...back . . .
|
 |
|
|
|