Minorities 4H

By 4H Students

MINORITIES

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1. Story

The Aztecs

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Made by: Sara Galati, Graziella Di Maggio,Gaia Ventimiglia, Maria Chiara Lima

THE HIMBA

The Himba people live in Namibia and are descended from the Herrero people, with whom they share the same language but have different traditions and above all a different past.In fact, a part of the Herrero who lived in Namibia, for fear of aggression by the tribe of Nama, in the second half of the nineteenth century he takes refuge in Angola; once arrived in the new lands they asked for protection and hospitality to the people of San (better known as Bushmen).

The Himba people live in Namibia and are descended from the Herrero people, with whom they share the same language but have different traditions and above all a different past. In fact, a part of the Herrero who lived in Namibia, for fear of aggression by the tribe of Nama, in the second half of the nineteenth century he takes refuge in Angola; once arrived in the new lands they asked for protection and hospitality to the people of San (better known as Bushmen). The Himba are also called Ovahimba, where Ova means "beggar", while Himba means "people"; therefore their name means "people begging", precisely because they begged hospitality to the San. Only around 1920 did the Himba return to their homeland, the north of Namibia, bringing with them the lifestyle learned from the Bushmen. With this absence they avoided the period of German colonization under which the Herrero were massacred and deprived of their culture. Even today, the Himbas reject modernity and, although they know our way of life, prefer to keep their traditions. They live in villages with mud huts and women play a key role in social organisation.

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Around 1920 did the Himba return to their homeland, the north of Namibia, bringing with them the lifestyle learned from the Bushmen. With this absence they avoided the period of German colonization under which the Herrero were massacred and deprived of their culture. Even today, the Himbas reject modernity and, although they know our way of life, prefer to keep their traditions.

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The Himba are also called Ovahimba, where Ova means "beggar", while Himba means "people"; therefore their name means "people begging", precisely because they begged hospitality to the San.They live in villages with mud huts and women play a key role in social organisation.

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Where five spiksDavid Campion and Sandra Shields

This book is about the wild river that divides Namibia from Angola, where members of the Himba tribe raised cattle as they have always done for hundreds of years. But the world of the Himba sits in the shadow of third-world development and the inevitability of change that threatens their way of life.

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Sandra Shields and David Campion spent two months living with the Himba, and this book, a provocative melding of photography and narrative, tells of the profound changes in the lives of the Himba both gradual and immediate which echo those effecting indigenous people around the world. The latter includes more than one hundred black and white -photographs. David Campion and Sandra Shields met in South Africa, married a year later, and have collaborated for over a decade.

AUTHORS

BINTI - NNEDI OKORAFOR

“Binti” is a funny little science fiction novel about a Earth Himba girl who get accepted into a super prestigious university and becomes the first Himba to go off the planet to attend college. There are many prejudices against Himba by the Khoush on the Earth, so Binti is nervous to leave, but when they get on the shuttle whit the other students, they discover that they have in common a passion for science and astronomy. However, in the middle of the journey the Meduse, a type of alien, attacks the ship and kills all the students, except Binti.

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She thinks it was a mysterious artefact she found on the desert that she keeps as a lucky charm. Binti hides in her room, but fears that it will only be a matter of time before the Meduse kill her. What seemed to be the beginning of an exciting new life will now end a few days later at his departure.

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Their society is based on the female hierarchy. They practice the animist religion, they believe in the figure of the god Mukuru and the cult of ancestors, and they count on the oldest woman in the village, who takes care of the sacred fire, always lit in the center of the village, to repulse the evil.

LOCAL TRADITIONS

They look like statues, because they cover body and hair with the otjize, a red mixture that gives they a coloring like the terracotta, and protects the skin from the sun and insects.They are in an arid region and the little water available is considered sacred, so they use the rite of otjize for normal cleansing, as a perfumed Turkish bath. Inside a hut the mixture is made to burn for a long time, until wrapping the room with a perfumed smoke, the air is humid and the women are enveloped by the vapor.

LOCAL TRADITIONS

For the Himba the age of a person is counted since the birth of desire of the child in the mind of the mother. The mother need to sit under a tree and remain silent until she hears the song of the future child. Then she returns to the village to conceive his son physically. The mother teaches the song to the father of the child, to the midwives and the old women of the village, and gradually to all the inhabitants, as long as whatever happens to the child, whether it is an ugly or beautiful event, people can sing his song, who represents their identity card and will accompany them throughout their lives.

LOCAL TRADITIONS

Women wear a goatskin skirt with uncovered breasts, walk barefoot or wear leather sandals. To contrast the simple clothing wear many big jewelry, leather, steel or rame, decorated with fragments of bone and colored beads. When a Himba woman gives birth to her first child, the mother gives her a big shell as a necklace, symbol of fertility, which must be worn between the breasts. Men also wear a skirt, associated with more western clothes, as shirts.

LOCAL TRADITIONS

Hair and hairstyles have a particular according to the social status of the individual: young girls have two braids on the front, while after puberty they have rasta covered by otjize. When they marry they add a tiara, that is removed in case they remain widows. The boys are shaved, with only one central braided turned back; once married, the men always wear the cap (they only take it off to sleep or in case of mourning).

LOCAL TRADITIONS

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Made by: Agugliaro Gloria,Catalano Alessandro,Alamia Simone,Macaluso Eliana,Severino Cecilia.

"I caminanti"

Gypsy peoples scattered throughout Europe still survive, each with its own name and its history, all called as "people of the wind", because they are carried around by the air. Among these populations there is a community in Sicily which, while maintaining the nomadic spirit, refuses to be assimilated to the Rom: they are the Camminanti di Noto.

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For over 70 years in the valley of Noto, in the province of Syracuse, the Camminanti, now in limited number compared to the past. is an "invisible" group of Sicilian wanderers, continuers of an ancient tradition centered on local tales, songs and legends.

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Given their confidentiality, their origin is not known with certainty. Various and curious hypotheses have been formulated, such as the one according to which they are descendants of the survivors of the 1693 Val di Noto earthquake or the thesis that their remote ancestors were slaves of Gypsy origin mixed with other ethnic groups and freed thanks to the end of slavery in Sicily.

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Many of them are dedicated to peddling or to trades such as grinder, tinsmith, umbrella maker; many have specialized in the repairing of gas cookers.

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They are still nomads, as they spend most of the winter months in their homes, while in the remaining months they move in order to offer their services in various places in Italy, sometimes even arriving in northern Italy with their caravans at towing cars or motorhomes .

LOCAL TRADITIONS

The " baccagghiu", or the traditionally used language, which is much more similar to the Sicilian language than the gypsy languages, is gradually disappearing in favour of the local dialect and Italian.

LOCAL TRADITIONS

Alessandro gaudio He is a PhD in Literary Sciences and has worked at the Universities of Malta and Calabria. The novel of the Caminanti In this novel the author reveals all the secrets, customs, life and history of the Caminanti.

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Teresa SchemmariTeresa Schemmari, born and living in noto, graduated in Philosophy and sociology and teaches cultural anthropology. She wrote a book, entitled: "The caminanti: nomads of Sicily" which talks about the world wrapped in the mystery of the camminanti, as well as their origin, their economic and social organization, their language and their culture. Even today the caminanti live in their own neighborhood and maintain their customs.

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Made by: Gabriele Riso, Emily Giangreco, Giusy Michelle Guida, Giulia Licari

The aztecs

The Aztecs were originally a nomadic people from the northern regions (Aztlán, a Nahuatl word meaning "place of the heron", was their legendary place of origin; hence the name "Aztecs") which settled around the 12th century in Central America and mingled with local tribes. The colonization, and the subsequent expansion, occurred mostly with the force and subjugation of the neighboring cities, which, one by one, had to submit to the domination of these formidable warriors.

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We're in Mexico

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Aztecs loved the theatre but above all they loved poem. The poem was an instrument of free expression that was also used by warriors. There were several types of poems: the "Xochicuicatl", a poem dedicated to flowers; there were also poems about mythology and wars, because they were used to encourage the warriors . The most famous poet was King Nezahualcóyotl, he wrote about existential issues. The Aztecs writing was a combination of signs and drawings.

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A contemporary ‘author’ that recounts their story, in a funny and captivating way, is Dreamworks with their cartoon "Road to El dorado".

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The Aztecs were polytheist and had great respect for their divinities. The conviction that men couldn't control neither nature nor their own lives without the help of Gods to whom they also granted themselves as human sacrifices was rooted in the Aztec's civilization. The supreme God was the Sun God, for him everyday human sacrifices were done to feed him, in order to avoid a possible natural disaster. They also believed that if they let pass a day without human sacrifices the Sun wouldn't rise the next morning. The main Gods are Tonatiuh, God of the Sun; Tlaloc, God of Rain and Storms; Huitzilopochtli, Father of the Aztecs

Religion

Like most of all ancient civilizations, the social classes were divided between nobles, who led armies and collected taxes, priests, peasants and slaves.

SOciety

The monumental Aztec's sculpture was mainly expressed in the major architectural constructions, such as The Templo Mayor, that was the main temple of Mexican people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. There was an important symbolic and abstract component, closely linked to the religious universe. We can find some Aztec's art in the anthropological museum in Mexico City.

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Made by: ABBATE PIERLUCA, ARONICA NOEMI, DAMIANO GABRIELE, MUSSO ELISA

Quechua

The Quechua people are an ethnic minority of South America in particular in Peru. Traditionally their cultural identity is related to agriculture and breeding.

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This minority was the most important ethnic group of Incas’ Empire, Quechua language was the Empire’s official language, other populations spoke it and before Incas Empire too. Actually this language is important in Peru, a lot of people spoke it.

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During Colonialism period they professed Catholic religion (by Spanish) but traditionally their religion is polytheist and is professed by other minorities: Pachamama is the most important goddess: mother of the earth, fertility; people burn offers in honor of her and with libations too.

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Some Quechua’s Myths are realted by the episode of genocide during Spanich Colonialism, considered a terrible period. This ethnic minority is a victim of racism episodes since the civil war in the eighties, but we found episodes of racism in politics too. Actually the Quechua minority has fought against racism for years, there are activistes that actually fight to have equal rights.

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Quechua's Location

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Antonio Valdez is the possessor of Apu Ollantay, the oldest quechua's poem that came from us. Anyone knows who is the real Author

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A contrasting love story is told between the brave young general of the Inca armies Ollantay and Qoyllur, the daughter of the Inca king Pachacútec. As soon as the princess becomes pregnant with her, she is imprisoned by her father in the House of the Virgins of the Sun. Ollantay flees away, but later comes to clash in arms with the sovereign. However, after being captured, Ollantay was pardoned by Túpac Yupanqui, the new Inca emperor who succeeded his father, who was killed.

apu ollantay

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Made by: Carem Allotta

Kazakhs

Today's population of Mongolia is 2,500,000 inhabitants, but there is a minority that stands out for its customs, the Kazakhs, consisting of just 900,000 inhabitants, who have maintained the same customs and traditions for more than 700 years, this nomadic population lives in the province of Dornod aimag in Mongolia.

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Quechua's Location

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They periodically move to graze cattle or to hunt, they hunt like their ancestors using with eagles, or bow and arrows, which are very similar to those used by the warrior of Genghis khan but are distinguished by the larger dimensions, have various holidays for which they meet, they live divided among themselves all year round gathered only in families composed of about 8 people, they live without any modern technology except for some families who use TV, radio or some means of transport that they use only to trade in times of crisis.

LOCAL TRADITIONS

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THANKS!