Konso Ethiopia

The Konso are southern Cushitic peoples that live in isolated region on basalt hills. A Konso village may be fortified by a stone wall used as a defensive measure. The corner stone of Konso culture, however, is highly specialized and successful agricultural economy that through terracing buttressed with stone, enable these people to extract a productive living from the not too fertile hills and valleys that surround them.

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 wives, the enemies he has slain in battle and any noble animals he may have killed. They define 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.

Tour Ethiopia and be among the Konso!