Mingi

Last updated

Mingi is the traditional belief among the South Omotic-speaking Karo and Hamar peoples of southern Ethiopia that children with perceived and true physical abnormalities are ritually impure. An example of perceived abnormalities include the top teeth erupting before bottom teeth. Children born out of wedlock (marriage) are also considered impure and therefore capable of bringing curses upon the people.

Contents

The fear of curses or bad luck for the tribe leads to the killing of many children. These children are disposed of either through drowning, putting soil in their mouths and strangling or leaving infants in the forest. The elders make the decision to brand a child mingi but the deaths are carried out by various members of the tribe. The Karo tribe officially banned the practice of mingi in July 2012, but it remains an active part of the belief system in others. It is believed as many as 686,000 individuals secretly practice it in other Omotic communities. [1] [2]

Overview

Among the Karo and Hamar, physically deformed or mingi individuals have traditionally been considered to exert an evil influence upon others, so disabled infants have traditionally been disposed of without a proper burial. [1] Such a child was historically killed by forced permanent separation from the tribe by being left alone in the jungle or by drowning in the river. [3] [4] [5]

Reasons for being declared impure include birth out of wedlock, the birth of twins, the eruption of teeth in the upper jaw before the lower jaw, and chipping a tooth in childhood. [6] [7] Some who were separated have been reported to shadow the tribe at a distance until eventually succumbing to hunger or predators. [3]

When Italy occupied Ethiopia as part of its colony from 1936 to 1941, the Italian East Africa colonial government banned mingi practice because it was considered a crime.

A feature story in 2011 points out that there has been a dearth of academic scholarship on the subject, but "some observers have speculated that it might have started many generations ago as a way to purge people who are more likely to become a burden or who cannot contribute to the propagation of their people." [5]

The Karo officially banned the practice in July 2012, while around 50,000 individuals secretly continue to practice it in other Omotic communities. [8]

In 2008, Karo tribesman Lale Labuko began rescuing children deemed "mingi." The 2011 award-winning documentary film Drawn From Water chronicles Mr. Labuko's early mingi rescue activities. [9] Together with California filmmaker and photographer John Rowe, Mr. Labuko founded Labuko's Omo Child Organization. To date, 37 children ages 1–11 have been rescued. The children live in a home built with the help of John Rowe. [10] [11]

An additional film about Mingi practices called Omo Child: The River and the Bush was released in 2015. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

Infanticide is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of resources being spent on weak or disabled offspring. Unwanted infants were usually abandoned to die of exposure, but in some societies they were deliberately killed. Infanticide is broadly illegal, but in some places the practice is tolerated, or the prohibition is not strictly enforced.

Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship lines within the family Hominidae, working from biological evidence and cultural evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Turkana</span> Alkaline lake on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya

Lake Turkana is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul, and Lake Van, and among all lakes it ranks 24th.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region</span> 1992–2023 regional state of Ethiopia

The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region was a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five kililoch, called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council elections on 21 June 1992. Its government was based in Hawassa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mursi people</span> Surmic ethnic group in southwestern Ethiopia

The Mursi are a Surmic ethnic group in Ethiopia. They principally reside in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, close to the border with South Sudan. According to the 2007 national census, there are 11,500 Mursi, 848 of whom live in urban areas; of the total number, 92.25% live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamar people</span> Omotic language-speaking ethnic group in southwestern Ethiopia

The Hamar people are a community inhabiting southwestern Ethiopia. They live in Hamer woreda, a fertile part of the Omo River valley, in the Debub Omo Zone of the former South Ethiopia Regional State (SERS). They are largely pastoralists, so their culture places a high value on cattle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lip plate</span> Form of body modification

The lip plate, also known as a lip plug, lip disc, or mouth plate, is a form of body modification. Increasingly large discs are inserted into a pierced hole in either the upper or lower lip, or both, thereby stretching it. The term labret denotes all kinds of pierced-lip ornaments, including plates and plugs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Ethiopia</span> Overview of observance of human rights in Ethiopia

According to the U.S. Department of State's human rights report for 2022, there exists "significant human rights issues" in Ethiopia. In addition to extrajudicial killings and instances of "enforced disappearance", other human right issues in Ethiopia include arbitrary arrest, the censorship and unjustified arrests of journalists, the use of child soldiers, and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pojulu people</span> Tribe of the White Nile Valley

The Pojulu is a tribe of the savanna lands in the White Nile Valley, in the Equatoria region of South Sudan. They are Nilotic people and part of the Karo people — which also includes Bari, Mundari, Kakwa, Kuku, Nyangwara, and the Karo Tribes Of Omo Valley in Ethiopia such as the Banna, Hamer, Mursi, Kara, Dassanech, Arbore, Nyangatom known as the Omo Karo peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kwegu people</span> Nilotic ethnic group in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region of Ethiopia

The Kwegu are an ethnic group that lives on the western banks of the Omo River in the newly formed South Ethiopia Region. Some members of the Kwegu also live on the eastern banks of the river among the Mursi. Previously they were hunter-gatherers, but today they are engaged in a mixed economy of hunting, farming, beekeeping, and fishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surma people</span> Grouping term for ethnic people resides in southwestern Ethiopia

Suri is a collective name for three ethnic groups mainly living in Suri woreda, in southwestern Ethiopia. They share many similarities politically, territorially, culturally and economically but speak different languages. They all speak South East Surmic languages within the Nilo-Saharan language family, which includes the Mun, Majang, and Me'en people's languages.

Infant oral mutilation (IOM) is a dangerous and sometimes fatal traditional dental procedure performed in many areas of Africa.

Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa have received increasing international attention in the first decade of the 21st century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female infanticide in Pakistan</span> Deliberate killing of female newborns in Pakistan

Female infanticide in Pakistan had been a common practice. But it is no longer a common practice due to steps taken by local polices and Governments and Ordinances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impurity after childbirth</span>

Impurity after childbirth is the concept in many cultures and religions that a new mother is in a state of uncleanliness for a period of time after childbirth, requiring ritual purification. Practices vary, but typically there are limits around what she can touch, who she can interact with, where she can go, and what tasks she can do. Some practices related to impurity after childbirth, such as seclusion, overlap with the more general practice of postpartum confinement.

<i>Omo Child: The River and the Bush</i> 2015 film

Omo Child: The River and the Bush is a documentary film by John Rowe. It is about a young man who is on a quest to get tribes to change their beliefs and traditions. Namely their beliefs about curses. One tribe in particular had a custom of killing children that were believed to be cursed.

Lale Labuko is an Ethiopian activist and founder of the Omo Child Shelter which houses children who are at risk of being killed due to certain tribal beliefs.

In 2017 in Ethiopia, 40% of girls are married off before 18 years old. 14% are married before they turn 15. Ethiopia is the 16th highest nation in the world for child marriage.

<i>Black Leopard, Red Wolf</i> 2019 novel by Marlon James

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a 2019 fantasy novel by Jamaican writer Marlon James. It is the first book of the Dark Star Trilogy. The novel draws on African history and mythology, blended into the landscape of the North Kingdom and the South Kingdom, and the political tensions between these two warring states, as well as various city-states and tribes in the surrounding landscape. The rights to produce a film adaptation were purchased by Michael B. Jordan in February 2019 prior to release of the book.

Superstition is highly prevalent in Ethiopia. Like Turkey and Greece, Ethiopian culture believes in the evil eye. In Ethiopia this belief helps uphold a caste system.

References

  1. 1 2 Petros, Gezahegn (2000). The Karo of the lower Omo Valley: subsistence, social organisation and relations with neighbouring groups. Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Administration, Addis Ababa University. p. 57.
  2. Strecker, Ivo. Do the Hamar have a Concept of Honor? Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 The Hamar and Karo Tribes: The Search for Mingi http://ffh.films.com/id/1572/The_Hamar_and_Karo_Tribes_The_Search_for_Mingi.htm
  4. Taboo, Episode 2: Skin Deep, National Geographic. Video.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
  5. 1 2 LaPlante, Matthew D. (2011-05-11) Is the tide turning against the killing of 'cursed' infants in Ethiopia? CNN
  6. [The Hamar] believe that evil and bad luck (mingi) exists in certain unholy or impure things. Twins, a child born out of wedlock, a child born with a cleft lip or palate, and children, whose upper milk teeth come before their lower ones, are considered to possess 'mingi and for this reason, they are thrown into the forest to die. [ permanent dead link ]
  7. Emnet's Story... ebenezerethiopia.blogspot.com (2010-01-03)
  8. "Lale Labuko". nationalgeographic.com. Archived from the original on June 9, 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  9. "2013 Film Festival Awards | Drawn From Water". drawnfromwaterthemovie.com. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. Lale Labuko, Humanitarian Information, Facts, News, Photos. National Geographic (2014-02-02). Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
  11. Video – NG Live!: Lale Labuko: Rescuing Children of the Omo Archived 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine . Video.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-07.
  12. Charleston City Paper November 04, 2015 The short films shine at this year's Charleston International Film Festival, Tiny Stars by Kevin Young