Shambaa People example essay topic

I gained a personal interest in the Shambaa Tribe when one if its members Mufika Badu came and spoke to our high school peer-group. I learned a lot of very interesting things about the people of the Shambaa tribe and the different aspects of their culture, and how they differ from the every day culture that I am exposed to. The Shambaa, also referred to as the Shambala, are a Bantu people found mainly on the West Usa mbara mountain range in Tanzania. Their language is Shambala. The homeland of the Shambaa is called Shambaa.

Kings and queens rule the Shambaa people. The Shambaa kingdom is made up of several descant groups with a common origin, but a single descent group governs the kingdom. The survival of the whole descent and its steady increase in size is crucial, because the Shambaa people take great pride in the culture and they don't wont their clan to die out. The king rules over several chiefdom's. The chiefs were appointed by he king and received tribute from their chiefdom's as representatives of the king.

All the wealth of the land is regarded as the king's. This gives him control of his subjects and the right to demand tribute from them. The king, in return, is expected to bring rain and food to his territory. Maul id is a popular holiday celebrated by the Shambaa people in which the people gather with family members and give thanks to the king in hope that he will bring good fortune to their family in the upcoming year ("Life In The Shambaa Nation"). Peasants and slaves are the king's subjects. Peasants live in village groups under a patriarchal system.

Badu described the life of a peasant as being very difficult with work days lasting from sun up until sunset, laboring in the scorching heat with only a few breaks (Mufika Buda). The peasants are free to go about their daily work on the farm and the homestead. They pay their tribute to the king in the form of food, life stock and labor. The gender role of the Shambaa is very different then than that of the United States in that children start to play an active role in the work place at an early age. If a child is not of capable of working in the field he must stay home and tend to the younger children (Garson, W. 1997 Cross Culture Heritage). Polygamy is widely practiced by the Shambaa.

A man marries as many women as he can support, and he also fathers as many children as he can support, because children are a blessing from the gods. It is the father's duty to defend the family from all harm, including illness and hunger. Survival skills and material goods are handed down from the father to son. The son's well being, his family and prosperity, all depend on the father's pleasure. Incurring the father's displeasure was dreaded as it could lead to a curse. It was believed that the curse could cause the son to lose all his possessions, wander about like a fool, and even die.

The father has a lot of power in the household because it is believed to be the way of the gods, and after the death of the father it is believed that he returns to the household in the form of a ghost. Thus all the sons are believed to share a common fate through the dependence of their father, both alive and as an ancestral ghost. The ghosts' influence over the daughters and their descends ceased when the daughter died. The dress code has been greatly influenced by the coastal people.

Men wear long, flowing white robes and a small capon their heads. The women use lengths of colorful clothe as wrappers for the body. The wrapper may be worn over a dress sometimes used to carry a baby on the back of her hip. Young women after puberty are required to wrap a kang a around their waists when working of leaving for the homestead. Married women cover their heads and clothes with two pieces of kang a, in honor of the head of their household.

Traditionally, women do not wear short clothes in public. Short skirts with shorts may be worn for sporting events and in military camps. Second clothing may be bought in the marketplace and is generally worn by the proper people. The Shambaa people plant many different food crops adapted to the climate of the area, including tubers, medicinal plant, tobacco, beans and bananas. The Shambaa diet is composed of starchy foods such as rice, maize, and sweet potatoes. Traditionally, Shambaa children have received their education from their parents.

Youths also receive instructions during religious ceremonies in the form of songs and stories. During this time the young men are taught the rules of the tribe and sexual conduct. Usually only the young men stay for the schooling and the young women are sent home to do house chores. To educate women is considered to be a waste of family money, because she will soon be sold of to her future husband. I have gathered a lot of information from the research of this project. I have learned the ways of the Shambaa people and how their lifestyles differ from that of mine.

I must say that I think that the Shambaa people are behind a couple with the time, but I guess that what makes this world so great, because everyone is special in their own way..