africa is a continent full of beauty its beauty can be seen through its places and its people
welcome to the amazing people of africa series where we take
a look at some of the indigenous people of africa we'll be looking at their lifestyle
culture and getting to learn about life through their knowledge and experiences
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today we take a look at one of the most unique communities that live along the oma river in
ethiopia the banner now if you've watched some of our previous episodes you'll remember some of our
other unique communities who dwell along the river like the big belly body the surma and the hama
people all these communities are unique and all have practices or ceremonies that are mind-blowing
but in today's video we'll be showing you the great lengths the bannermen go through
to get a wife the banner are approximately 45 000 and are mainly an agricultural community
it is believed that they originated from the hama tribe and because of the great resemblance
some people refer to them as the hammer banner if you do not know the hama are a community
known for their practice of body adornment and wearing a multitude of coloured beads the banner
although mainly an agricultural community still live a nomadic life
during the dry season the men walk long distances with their herds in search of water and grass
they also harvest wild honey when not hiding beekeeping is actually a great source for them
as many banner women trade their honey in the markets and that is what sustains them
like many other african communities the banner have their own king he is looked up to for
leadership health or even rain during the drought seasons aside from the king they also have tribe
elders who serve beneath the king to solve the small problems that may arise in the community
the banner society consists of a complex system of age groups in order for one to
move from one group to the other the individual must take part in interesting rites of passages
and today we focus on the right of passage for young men who wish to get married that is the bull
jumping ceremony a ceremony that puts any young boy's bravery and courage to the ultimate test
the ceremony usually takes place in october or november of every year and involves running on the
back of bulls sometimes 7 or even up to 10 bulls may be there there's no specific age criteria
and it is usually the father of the boy who decides when his son is ready for the bull jump
depending on the father's decision some boys performed the bull jumping as young as five
years old with the help of the community members to show he has chosen his son to go through the
rite of passage the father gives the boy a short stick called boko the boy then has to travel with
the bokor to all his relatives houses to tell them the news and invite them to the ceremony
and since the hammer do not use the ordinary calendar to track days the boy gives each
relative a coil of rope carefully marked to show the number of days leading up to the ceremony
each day the relative cuts a piece from the rope to keep track of how many days are left
when the long awaited day finally arrives the whole village takes part elders and men who
have performed the ritual before but are not yet married gather their bowls which they smear with
dung to make them slippery they also paint the boys bodies with chalk mixed with yellow rock
red iron ore and charcoal in preparation for the ceremony the women dress in traditional clothes
and adorn themselves with bells around their legs they start dancing together and blow loud horns
they step on each bull's back before making a final jump back to the ground for those who
make it they prove to the community they are agile brave and strong and that they are fit to be a man
for those who do not succeed they have to wait for the next year to try their luck again
hamar men are allowed to marry as many as four wives but the fast wife is always chosen by the
father following the bull jumping ceremony a bright price of 30 cows is given to the
bride's family as dowry it is also interesting to note even if a man has married he may sometimes
be assigned the responsibility of protecting a divorced woman a widow or the wife of an absent
husband what are your thoughts about today's video is this a ceremony you would like to take part in
let us know in the comments below how many bulls you think you can jump over and the lengths that
you can go to find yourself a wife thank you for watching and if you haven't subscribed yet
please do so and hit the notification bell if you've enjoyed today's video be sure to give
it a thumbs up also make sure to watch our other videos we celebrate our mama africa we have the
mysteries of africa series and the amazing people of africa series and remember africa is watching