Konso people

Konso people
The Hamatic language group, Konso excel as cultivators. Their territory on the eastern rim of the lower Omo river valley lies in mountainous terrain at an altitude of approximately 5,000ft. Despite plentiful rain, it is difficult terrain for agriculture due to the steep inclines and the erosion caused.

The Konso therefore have created elaborate terracing buttressed with stone. The Konso are sedentary, hardworking and materialist. They worship the sky god “Wag” venerate serpents and display elements of an ancestor cult, commemorating dead heroes with carved wooden figures known as “Waka” or “something of grandfathers”.

Representing the sum total of man’s achievements, these totems are placed in open fields or by roadsides and depict the deceased his wives, the enemies he has slain in battle and any noble animals he may have killed. They definite age-set institutions, hold elaborate initiation ceremonials to mark the rites of passage from one grade to the next and wear phallic “Kalicha” on their foreheads during these ceremonies.