The Somba tribes live in remote areas of northern Benin and Togo.
Somba's ancestors came to the Atakora Mountains around the end of the 18th century. According to the legend told by the Somba people, they traveled from Mangochi and passed the Chilwa River.
When other tribes saw them, they exclaimed:
The Somba people community consists of a large family. The account of kinship is patrilineal. In the family, every first son is called M'Po, every first daughter of N'Koua. Thus, there are also names for the second, third, fourth, etc. child. On the eighth son or daughter, the naming will be restarted from the beginning. In addition, every child has a Christian name. A distinctive feature of the somba is their scars - they are inflicted in childhood.
Somba is built from clay houses - fortresses, like the Kasbahs in Morocco.
Houses are at a distance from each other at an “arrow shot” distance for self-defense, because when internecine wars were going on, opponents, approaching any house, found themselves at this African people, at a glance. The settlements are scattered. The houses are mainly two-story and three-story tower-like. On the lower floor there are utility rooms, the upper one is a living room or a room for grain. The roof of the building is conical.
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Each house has a pattern that will then be drawn on the owner's face using small notches (scarring).
Most of the Somba people are pagans, and reject world religions, adhering to their ancient traditional beliefs in witchcraft, magic, ancestor cults. Therefore, in every home there are many attributes for worship and celebrations.
6 November
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Somba tribes (Benin)
The Somba tribes live in remote areas of northern Benin and Togo.
Somba's ancestors came to the Atakora Mountains around the end of the 18th century. According to the legend told by the Somba people, they traveled from Mangochi and passed the Chilwa River.
When other tribes saw them, they exclaimed:
- "Oh, there are as many of them as there are fish in the water!" “Since then we have been called somba (which means fish).
The Somba people community consists of a large family. The account of kinship is patrilineal. In the family, every first son is called M'Po, every first daughter of N'Koua. Thus, there are also names for the second, third, fourth, etc. child. On the eighth son or daughter, the naming will be restarted from the beginning. In addition, every child has a Christian name. A distinctive feature of the somba is their scars - they are inflicted in childhood.
Somba is built from clay houses - fortresses, like the Kasbahs in Morocco.
Houses are at a distance from each other at an “arrow shot” distance for self-defense, because when internecine wars were going on, opponents, approaching any house, found themselves at this African people, at a glance. The settlements are scattered. The houses are mainly two-story and three-story tower-like. On the lower floor there are utility rooms, the upper one is a living room or a room for grain. The roof of the building is conical.
Each house has a pattern that will then be drawn on the owner's face using small notches (scarring).
Most of the Somba people are pagans, and reject world religions, adhering to their ancient traditional beliefs in witchcraft, magic, ancestor cults. Therefore, in every home there are many attributes for worship and celebrations.
Once in one of the Somba houses, we were speechless for a while. The owner turned out to be a local Voodoo master, and in his house there was a whole warehouse of religious things: horns, hooves, whips, mirrors, and so on, so on, so on.
It's like time stood still here!