The Mundari Tribe are cattle herders who move from one open-air camp to another. Each day, they take their cows to pastures and bring them back. They do not hunt or farm, so they rely on milk and yoghurt from their cows for food.
A Mundari tribal person protects a cow with a weapon (Photo credit: Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images)
New Delhi: Many mysterious tribes exist worldwide, but few are known. These tribes are known for their traditions, food habits, and lifestyle. While today’s people forget their traditions and roots, some tribes have kept them alive. One such tribe belongs to South Sudan, a country in Africa. The Mundari Tribes are one such tribe on the entire planet that can take the lives of others for the sake of cows. This tribe protects cows with weapons like AK-47s. In this article, read more about such tribes and how they protect the cows.
Cows are everything for the Mundari Tribal people (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Mundari Tribes and Cows
Cows are everything for the Mundari tribe
These Mundari tribal people worship cows and consider them everything. If there is any danger to the cows in the Mundari tribe areas, then these tribal people protect the cows by taking their lives or sacrificing their lives. The people greatly respect the cows because they consider these animals storehouses of money. Those people who do not have a cow are considered dead.
Use of AK-47
The Mundri tribe people sleep with their cattle, and to prevent anyone from killing or stealing their cattle, they protect them with weapons like AK-47s. These tribal people call cows the king of cattle. Cows are seven to eight feet tall, more than normal cows.
People in the Mundri tribal areas consider cow slaughter as the biggest sin. They also even get their cows married. They may not care for their children for once, but they will leave no stone unturned in caring for the cows.
Use of cow urine and dung
To protect cows from the heat, they apply bhabhut (ash) on them. The tribals consider cow urine pure and sacred. They wash their hair with cow urine and even clean their teeth with cow dung. People of the tribe also believe that it removes the dirt in them. Cow dung is dried and used as a powder.
A person applying ash on cow (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
About Mundari Tribe
The tribal people wash their hair with cow urine (Photo credit: Michael Runkel/robertharding/Getty Images)
The Mundari are a small ethnic group in South Sudan. They belong to the Karo people, which comprises cattle herders and farmers in Bari, Pojulu, Kakwa, Kuku, and Nyangwara. Kutuk na Mundari is also the name of their language, which is similar to Kutuk na Kuku, Kutuk na Kakwa, Kutuk na Pojulu, Kutuk na Bari, and Kutuk na Nyangwara.
Like other Nilotic tribes, the Mundari is cattle-oriented, using cattle as currency and a status symbol. Marriages involve the groom offering cattle to the bride’s family, and men may have multiple wives. During the dry season, they often engage in cattle-raiding wars with the Bor Dinka.
They also cultivate sorghum and fish with nets and spears.
Similar to other Nilotic tribes, the Mundari practice ritual scarification for young men as a rite of passage. This ritual is characterised by two sets of three parallel lines on either side of the forehead.
Next Article
Follow us on social media
