Mundari
The Mundari are a small ethnic group in the Central Equatoria region of South Sudan.
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Main article: Population of South Sudan
At the beginning of 2024, mundari live 75 km north of the capital of the country, Juba, in the area of the town of Terekeka. In the east, the border of the mundari lands is Bahr El Jebel or Neil Gorny. This name Neil Beliy bears in the territory of South Sudan.
In 2021, the number of mundari was estimated at only 70-100 thousand people.
They come from a group of pastoralists who came from Ethiopia.
The Mundari people at this time are divided into 6 groups, all of them raise cattle. Members of groups are distinguished by external features: scar on the forehead, removal of teeth on the upper or lower jaw.
Cattle are the main value
Heavy rainfall during the rainy season and rich pastures provide great opportunities for cattle breeding.
The boy is called the name of the bull chosen by his father, the girl - either the name of the cow, or after the place in which she was born.
Cattle serve as a form of currency and a status mark. Marriages are arranged by a prospective groom offering cattle to the bride's family, and husbands can take as many wives as they can feed.
In the dry season, the Mundari fight wars with the Bor-Dinka, raiding herds of cattle.
Mundari focus on zebu breeding, but also contain common cows.
Purebred zebu breeds tend to produce less milk and grow more slowly than European cows.
The most expensive and valuable zebu are white with rare black spots, pure white or black. The name of the tree is given after the appearance of the calf.
The main decoration of cows is their horns, which are sawed and rubbed, giving them the desired direction of growth. The bull is decorated with beads or a cape for display during a special camp tour or at dances in the evening.
Bulls live for an average of up to 40 years. Young animals with defects are very large and bulls over 30 years old are not sold.
The bull, who has lived for more than 30 years, is part of a group of people, respected and treated as a guide for communicating with ancestors. For example, it is used when insoluble and difficult questions about health, weather appear.
Mobile cattle camps
During the dry season, when the grass around the village becomes insufficient, children, boys and girls are removed to mobile camps, which are broken by pastures. The camp can be located up to a few days walk from the main village. It is equipped with several awnings and sunbeds for sleep and rest and a hearth, around such a sunbed there are pegs to which cattle are tied. Thus, cattle are around the tent and hearth. Small cattle are located at the edges of the camp. Cooking is also done on the outskirts of the camp.
Young men, boys and young girls live in the camp.
The camp also houses several adults with young children.
For the night, pews of wooden poles are installed, covered with a curtain of fabric on top.
As soon as a child grows to the age when he is able to do work, he has many responsibilities. The boys clean the camp, collect manure for the hearth, milk the cows, blow them if necessary, engage in goats, carry out the orders of the elders.
Adult men after waking up can communicate, smoke hookah.
In the morning, children collect and carry the urine of cows to adults for washing. Urine is considered cleaner than the water in the river, it is warm and always at hand.
Mundari brush their teeth with a misvac - a stick from a branch of a shrub that has healing properties (plant extract is added to toothpastes and anti-inflammatory tinctures). When chewing, the stick is split into numerous fibers, and a brush is obtained.
The next stage of morning hygiene is the application of ash to the body and head. Ash from manure fires is used to protect humans and animals from insects.
Next, you need to milk the cows. Only children or women can do this. First, it is necessary to wash the bidons with cow's urine.
If a cow does not milk well, then it needs to be blown. To do this, you need to blow air with your mouth into the vagina of the cow for some time. A sharp exhalation creates additional pressure in the udder, which stimulates the flow of milk. This technique is widespread among cattle-breeding tribes of Africa.
In the 5th century BC in Crimea, to increase milk yields, the Scythians also used air injection to a cow or horse in the vagina or anus. Herodotus also described this technique, noting that the Scythians blew air into the cow's vagina through hollow bone tubes, while another person milked the cow at that time.
After blowing the cow, the milk goes much better and the child can back up himself.
When the herd eats all the grass next to the parking lot, it has to be driven to the other side of the Neil Beliy channel. Most cows swim across the river on their own, but a few cowards and teenagers have to force them with force.
Cattle are grazed by men and young men over 15 years old. Younger boys graze goats, bring water and young grass for calves left in the camp. Women are engaged in children.
After herds are stolen into pastures, children begin to collect manure in heaps so that it dries and serves as fuel for fires.
Usually manure is transferred to a heap in the hands or in a container on the head. But some are perfecting this technique.
Before returning the herd to the camp, the children must have time to spread all the ties on separate pegs so that each cow can be immediately fixed in the place assigned to it.
One of the few pieces of furniture in the mundari parking lot is a barrel dug into the ground with knots. His installation is entrusted to older guys.
A small metal shovel is used to dig a hole and remove unnecessary knots.
An important household item that is stored on the trunk is the drum available from each mundari group.
The basis of nutrition in the camp is porridge on milk.
Wrestling is one of the main entertainment among children and the sphere of rivalry among young mundari men.
Mundari children and youths wash their hair in cow's urine.
Uric acid gives hair a red, yellow or orange color that they consider beautiful.
In the evening, animals are rubbed with ash from burnt manure to protect against insects. For horns, paste from ash is used, and for the head and body - dry ash.
Young people come to dances after sunset with their drums, on which they play alternately in the spirit of rivalry.
The girls sit in the center, the guys bring to demonstrate their most beautiful bulls.
Village
During the rainy season, when there is a lot of livestock feed around, mundari live in villages. The main villages are located along riverbeds, serve as a permanent place of residence for the adult population, girls, and those who do not participate in grazing. The villages have common areas for cooking, gathering men, dancing, learning. In such villages, dwellings are round with a high cone-shaped roof. The walls, floor and courtyard are coated with a mixture of clay and manure to protect against insects and cleanliness. A storage facility for grain and supplies is located separately. One family occupies one yard. The yards are located at some distance from each other.
In different groups of mundari, as a distinctive sign, you can find scars on the forehead and the absence of several teeth that are specially removed.
Appearance, clothing, jewelry
Adult mundari men are tall (above 190 cm). Skulls of beautiful shape, thin limbs, large palms, almond-shaped eyes. The look is proud, people are curious in themselves - they like to touch white foreigners, are interested in clothes and jewelry, they easily make contact.
Children and boys walk naked, have no shoes, rarely wear jewelry. Men in the camp wear blankets as a cape, less often T-shirts and jerseys and a thin canvas of fabric as a skirt, rarely shoes. They wear beads and bracelets made of fabric or beads, and Nahuli shells are rare.
European clothes are more common in the village: shorts, trousers, T-shirts.
Girls in the camp wear jerseys and a canvas made of thin fabric as a skirt and a cape over their shoulder. Rarely exposed breasts. In the pastoralist camp, all the girls shave their heads. They wear beads and bracelets and belts made of beads of traditional colors.
Initiation, wedding, funeral
Men are divided into groups according to the age on which the range of duties depends.
Until the age of 12-14, boys work a lot in a cattle camp (see above).
The transition to new duties and growing up is initiation upon reaching the age of 15: boys in a small group leave with a small number of zebu in the bush, where they must spend about 5 months on their own (period from August to December).
After returning, a holiday takes place: the guy must kill the bull, his horns are placed on a high pole painted with alternating black and white stripes. The basis for the pole is a pit into which an alcoholic drink is poured with the wish of health.
At this age, teeth are removed. The group that TAdviser visited has four central teeth removed in the lower row.
From 15 to 30 years old, men are engaged in grazing livestock, caring for animal horns. cows are treated with ash.
When a young man is ready to marry (he has honorably cows), he dresses special beads symbolizing his readiness. After the wedding, these beads pass to the wife.
After 30 years, men are engaged in grazing, solving group issues, selling and acquiring livestock.
After the death of one of the family members, his body is buried in the yard. One or more of the cows belonging to the family are killed, it depends on the status of the person. The meat is eaten with other villagers. Horns on a pole are installed above the burial in the courtyard of the house.
See also
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