Unlike the lowland pastoralists, cattle are owned in small numbers by the Karo tribe of Ethiopia, and goats are their main livestock. Although pastoralist by tradition, the Karo now subsists growing sorghum, maize, and other crops because of the livestock losses to disease in the tsetse-infected area some years ago. The Karo tribe lives together in three large villages (Korcho, Duss, and Labuk) as they are the smallest ethnic groups in the Omo Valley region.
The Karo tribe doesn’t have their own markets so they trade with the Hamar at the markets in Dimeka and Turmi. The Karo does have a traditional way of fishing. A portion of the wood is sharpened at one end and used to spearfish in the Omo River or Lake Karo. In the language of the Karo people, the word Karo means fish. They have cultural and linguistic commonalities with the Hamar and perform the cattle jumping ceremony for young Karo boys to pass into adulthood.
Types of Marriage of the Karo Tribe
The Karo tribe has four types of marriage:
• Miliko – arranged marriage
• Haramu – consensual marriage
• Astergnar – marriage through abduction
• Beski – marriage by inheritance
Appearance of Karo Tribe Ethiopia
In common with most of the tribes, scarification plays an important role in the Karo tribe’s body decoration. The men plaster their hair in tight buns (previously recognized as a hero sign) The hairstyle favored by Karo tribe women is tightly cropped at the side, tied into bulbous knots, and dyed ochre on top. Men and women also make an incision below their bottom lip and insert a nail or piece of wood. The Karo tribe men are best known for the elaborate body painting they indulge in before important ceremonies. They paint their faces and bodies in white chalk and pierce their ears in five places.
Karo Tribe Culture
Gori Ritual
Gorri is a ritual performed when the first male child is born. The paternal grandfather (if he is no longer alive, a senior member from the father’s side will do) is responsible for the ritual.
The grandfather ties strips made from sheepskin around the child’s neck, wrists, and ankles. He also put a strip of rope made from the bark of a meter tree and smeared it with butter and clay around the waist of the child’s mother. The leader of the ritual then paints his forehead and chest with a mixture of red clay and butter and other participants follow suit.
Marriage Ceremony of the Karo Tribe of Ethiopia
Many of the Karo tribe customs surrounding marriage are analogous to those of the Hamar and Banna. They are a polygamous society consistent with the Hamar and the Banna but their marriage customs do not allow a young member of a family to marry before the elder.
Marriage is mostly arranged with the consent of the two partners. When the boy informs his father of his intention to marry a certain girl, the father relays this information to the girl’s father. A go-between is then arranged. The go-betweens consist of an elderly man and an elderly woman. The two elders smear their bodies with a mixture of red clay and butter during their first visit to the girl’s parents. The male mediator carries a Y-shaped stick, and the woman a milk container. The two elders will make four visits. The marriage payment is then made, although this may continue for some time after the wedding. The ceremony consists of a feast and, finally, the girl’s friends will take the bride and deliver her to the groom.
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