Tradition

OvaHimba: Namibian Tribe That Offer Their Wives For Sex As Show Of Hospitality

The Himba tribe often called the Ovahimba are indigenous people with an estimated population of about 20,000 to 50,000 in northern Namibia in the Kunene Region formerly Kaokoland. A person can be called OmuHimba while as a tribe they are called OvaHimba.

The OvaHimba tribe, Namibia

The OvaHimba are semi-nomadic as they have base homesteads where crops are cultivated, but may have to move within the year depending on rainfall and where there is access to water.

Sex, for the Himbia tribe, is offered as a show of warm welcome and hospitality. In the process, the man must beg the woman to remove her ornaments one by one and must also return them intact after the act.

A young woman/bride in OvaHimba

They also don’t take their baths because of their extreme environment and they lack potable water. So rather than take their baths, the women take a smoke bath and apply aromatic resins on their skins with the belief that red colour signifies earth and blood which is a combination of butterfat, omuzumba scrub and ochre and its function is to protect their skin from the harsh desert sun and insect bites.

The nomadic nature of OvaHimba people

Pictures credit: Google

Source: Wikipedia/punch

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