Ovambo

The Ovambo people live in northern Namibia. They are part of the larger Bantu-speaking people of southern Africa and have kinship with many of the people who migrated from central Africa. There are eight major clans that comprise the Ovambo. They are the Ukuanyama, Ondonga, Ukuambi, Ongaqndjera, Ukualuthi, Ombalantu, Eunda, and Onkolonkathi.

In fact, the Ovambo people live in the top third of the country of Namibia and reach to the Angolan border. They are the largest population in the country. It is believed that they migrated from the Zambezi region over the past 600 years. They found in Namibia a fertile land and soil that could support a growing population. Although the Ovambo do not number more than 250,000 people, they remain the dominant ethnic group of the land. The language of the Ovambo is called Oshivambo.

Namibia has a unique topography to which the Ovambo have made great adjustment. The people have organized their religion, customs, and values on the basis of their environment. For example, the flat sandy plains of the area called Ovamboland in Namibia are often bisected by water courses called osbanas during the rainy season. However, the average rainfall is no more than 20 inches annually. Yet the oshanas appear each year and influence the way the people respond to the vegetation and water. The Ovambo adapt to the weather patterns in an effort to maintain their society's values by discovering in the oshanas and other areas the spirits of the ancestors that assist them in keeping evil at bay and bringing about good. As expert artisans and blacksmiths, the Ovambo people are known as good farmers, fishers, potters, and artists.

The Supreme God of the Ovambo is called Kalunga. Nothing escapes the eye of Kalunga, who looks after the creation of all of the creatures and objects in the universe. It is the belief that Kalunga moves among the people as a spirit who determines what is necessary for the people to survive. In this way, the Ovambo, who believe in their own ability to make a difference in their lives, accept the power of the great Kalunga to assist them in ordinary activities such as basketry, pottery, the capture of elephants, relationships with community people, and the fertility of the soil.

According to some authorities, the spirit of Kalunga takes the form of a human and can move invisibly among the people. Famine especially calls Kalunga into action. The people make rituals to celebrate all of the ancestral spirits as well as the almighty Kalunga. When an Ovambo person seeks to visit the king, he or she must remove his or her sandals. If one does not show this type of deference, it means that death will come to one of the royals. Therefore, it is expected that the person would remove shoes. Furthermore, if the fire goes out in the king's kraal, then the people would also withdraw.

When the harvest is completed, the Ovambo have one of their greatest festivals to celebrate the end of the harvest. At such a festival, the akwanekamba, or royal family, presides, and only the members of this family can be named to the kingship. Because the Ovambo are matrilineal, it means that the inheritance is on the mother's side.

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