The Mengesha Tribe
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The Mengesha Tribe is a southeron tribe traditionally inhabiting the deserts to the south of the Atlas continent. They have played a part in both the former Chieftaincy of Ghanyah and the current Rasdom of Melle.
Culture
The Mengesha are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, meaning their existence relies heavily on the management of herds of animals, moving from pasture to pasture,for their livelihood and survival. They specifically raise cattle in the desert. As a historically nomadic and then semi-nomadic people, the Mengesha have traditionally relied on local, readily available materials and indigenous technology to construct their housing. Traditional Mengesha homes are designed for people on the move and is thus very impermanent in nature.
Socially,The Shombe are organized into numerous clans, each ruled by a chieftain. Each chieftain is supervised by a separate council of elders with the authority to replace him with another able-bodied warrior. Such an event is rare, and only happens if a chieftain has seriously failed in his duties. The most distinctive feature of Mengeshan society is the age system, which stratifies adult men into age sets, spaced apart by about fifteen years. Each age set is further divided into two successive subsets, the "right-hand," followed by the "left-hand." Of primary importance in the community is the subset of warriors who have been most recently initiated. In their physical prime, they form their warrior villages during this period, until the next subset captures the limelight. It is the establishment of such successive arrays of warrior villages, every seven years or so, that symbolizes the autonomy of the warrior ideal and the temporary independence of each warrior from his father.
Mengeshan philosophy and belief is centered in a cyclical nature of reality. The living stand between their ancestors and the unborn. Traditional belief embraces natural phenomena – ebb and tide, waxing and waning moon, rain and drought – and the rhythmic pattern of agriculture.
The Mengesha are easily recognizable by their traditional robe, the Shuka; it is a bright-colored cloth, predominantly red, wrapped around their lean and slender frames; red symbolizes Maasai culture and it is the color believed by these people to be able to scare off lions even from a great distance. Mengeshan men shave themselves bald and remove all facial hair. Shombe women braid their hair, color it with red ochre, and shave off all of their body hair. Mengeshan jewelry takes the form of beads strung on either wire or raffia fibers. Beads can be glass, ceramic, wood, bone, or cowry. men wear wrist or ankle bracelets, and sometimes belts and necklaces too, while women wear tens of bracelets and big flat bead-decorated collars in various patterns and colors, that identify the clan they belong to and their social status.
Military
The Mengesha have a well-deserved reputation for bravery and valor.
