The Wodaabe - Gerewol - Eye for the Light

In Trevor Cole’s second feature on indigenous peoples & their disappearing worlds, he searches out the nomadic Wodaabe from Africa’s Sahel for their annual Gerewol festival.

The Wodaabe tribe (Mbororo), a branch of the Fulani tribe, are nomadic pastoralists who are found predominantly in Niger and Chad, in the Sahel region of Sub Saharan Africa. They speak Fula, which isn’t a written language.

Girl of the Sudosukai; Wodaabe approaching the camp by donkey; Young men of the Sudosukai watching the festival

These nomadic people follow the rains to ensure that their livestock is sustained. In the Sahel these rains have become increasingly less predictable, as a result of climate change – something which is not given much consideration by developed countries.

The Wodaabe’s most important possession is a large wooden bed which serves as a house (Suudu) when they camp and it is surrounded by screens. The women carry calabashes as a status symbol. These calabashes are passed down through the generations, and often provoke rivalry between women. Their diet is simple. The Wodaabe mostly live on milk and ground millet, as well as yoghurt, sweet tea and occasionally the meat of a goat or sheep.

The code of behavior of the Wodaabe emphasizes reserve and modesty (semteende), patience and fortitude (munyal), care and forethought (hakkilo), and loyalty (amana). They also place great emphasis on beauty and charm. Parents are not allowed to talk directly to their two first born children, who will often be cared for by their grandparents. During daylight, husband and wife cannot hold hands or speak in a personal manner with each other.

I came for a week to Chad to watch the Gerewol festival. The location is not decided upon until the last minute but it’s is always held at the end of the rainy season in the Sahelian zone. The seasonal rainfall and the grass, that grows when the rains come, is an imperative for the long horned red Fulani cattle. The Wodaabe move frequently in search of fresh pasture for their animals. They use donkeys and bulls to transport their Suudu (houses).

Wodaabe bearing teeth; A Djapto man adorning himself with a small mirror

I always relish going to locations where I can experience indigenous peoples in their home environments. The Wodaabe are elusive due to their migratory lifestyles but once a year they come together to celebrate the Gerewol. I saw a National Geographic article on these people in Niger many years ago and it has always been an aspiration to visit. The actual event was everything I hoped it would be. It was unquestionably authentic and epitomised what I had hoped for. It wasn’t an event for tourists it was entirely for the tribe. To see them applying ‘makeup’ in the bush using broken mirrors and adorning themselves with beads and baubles was simply incredible.

Once a year in Chad, usually in October, these nomads come together in a festival known as the Gerewol. This is a beauty pageant for the men so that they might be selected by the women or girls of the tribe. The women are usually younger than the men and are seen as fair game in a society which is polygamous. During Gerewol, the men adorn themselves using a diversity of facial paint colours often so that the whites of the eye and teeth colour are particularly prominent. Their outfits are embellished with beads, buttons and baubles in the brightest of colours. Mirrored tunics and hats add to the exuberance and adornment. The overall appearance with the paint, makeup and outfits can only be described as feminine from our cultural perspective. They dance like male peacocks or other birds who exhibit their plumage to attract females. The male beauty ideal of the Wodaabe stresses tallness, white eyes and teeth; the men will often roll their eyes and show their teeth to emphasize these characteristics. Animists at heart, this may be why they emulate the animal kingdom. Outside influences have reached them and they have now, if only in a token way, been converted to Islam.

Sudosukai dancers

At this festival there are two groups of Wodaabe, the Sudosukai and Djapto. They are both scarred facially and on their bodies using razor blades. Ash is then rubbed into the open wound. The result is a black tattoo which is slightly keloidal (raised). This scarification starts with very young children and tattoos are added with time. The Djapto are more heavily scarred than the Sudosukai. There are perhaps some physiological differences too with the Sudosukai being finer-framed. Many have model like features and all are very slim.

They dance endlessly at this festival with breaks when it is too hot and on the last night they danced until dawn. The dances have their own ancient rhythms which are repeated over and over. The dancers dance in circles and lines (Yaake) with the latter culminating in choices made by small numbers of girls. To participate in the Gerewol the girls must have menstruated prior to the festival. Effectively when choices are made the girls know they are going to have sex in the bush with the chosen Wodaabe male, if the male accepts them. This may be a one night affair, or last for longer and sometimes culminates in marriage. The men may have a few wives and as women do most of the work second or third wives are seen positively by the first wife. If a husband is infertile he may ask a fellow tribesman to impregnate his wife. Children are prolific and are seen as a sign of machismo, wealth and labour. Larger numbers help to offset high infant and child mortality. A child died when I was there.

The dancing is mesmerising and they seem to repeat the same rhythms over and over. The two clans of Sudosukai and Djapto seem to compete with each other and embellish themselves in different ways. I learned that a girl of the Djapto may go with a man of the Sudosukai and vice versa. The heat, whilst there, was intense but this did not seem to impede them. The atmosphere was electric. When a girl chooses she is almost demure or shy in her approach. She can, of course, get rejected.

The Wodaabe’s cattle are also seen as their wealth and they very rarely eat them. They do, however, trade them for other goods. Their animal husbandry is superb and there are always a very young (less than 7 years old) herdsmen in training. They grow up quickly in such a society. The girls may be as young as 12 or 13 when they make their selections at the Gerewol. They have no formal education and their culture is still partially resilient to an encroaching outside world.

Djapto woman milking; Portrait of a Sudosukai man; Wodaabe matriarch; Child in Suudu; Young Wodaabe

The Wodaabe don’t seem to suffer from malnourishment, despite a live-style dependent on the rains, and those I saw were healthy in my eyes. Yet they may only eat a predominantly vegetarian diet, using millet, milk and perhaps some cassava or manioc, once a day. They were tall, slim and well toned with a life which is endlessly physical.

As a tribe they perform the Gerewol for themselves, not for any visitors. Very few have ever seen this in Chad. More have seen it in Niger but instability has curbed any potential tourism. There were only a few photographers and travellers there but the friendliness of the tribe was universal, even though quite a few were shy, which is part of their cultural code. I hope that the tourism here, which is in its infancy, remains sustainable.

As yet the influence of tourists seems minimal. To go there you have to use an agency and camp as the location of the event is unknown until a few weeks before and it’s in the remote bush.

Photographing the Gerewol and the wodaabe was relatively easy. They were friendly and receptive and most images were candid shots of them performing. When wandering around the camp there were a few individuals, elders and girls, who I asked for photos but apart from that the images portrayed what was happening at the event. I tried to photograph at dawn and dusk where feasible. In the mornings they were invariably preparing themselves and in the late afternoon they danced in the hope of attracting a young female. There were times when I took shots earlier in the day but I had to use the shade from trees to take the shots.

Sudosukai boy; Wodaabe elder watching the Gerewol; Young scarified Djapto girl; Sudosukai boy in traditional attire

Apart from the impacts of climate change, the Wodaabe have been susceptible to the spread of mainstream religions and in particular islam. Whilst there we experienced a very intense tropical storm with heavy rain and strong winds. Sadly as climate changes the boundaries of the Sahel change and desertification and resultant drought are more prolific. The rains which follow the overhead sun are less predictable and they lives are dependent on the growth of grass for grazing. They are pastoralists.

Nonetheless their animistic roots remain an integral part of their culture, hence the Gerewol. As road networks expand local markets sell cheap Chinese plastic shirts and beads and these are now integrated into their beautification. The beautiful shells and leathers of the past are seen less commonly. Plastics have replaced clays and baskets, but the calabashes are still commonplace.