TUAREG- Dinyayeke Din

INGAL, NIGER, OCTOBER 2009: Scenes at a Baptism in a Tuareg Nomad camp, Ingal Region, Niger, 11 October 2009. Tuareg Baptism is very simple, three names are discussed by elders and then straws are drawn to choose the final name. The women perform a ritual of walking around the tent in a line with the leading woman brandishing two knives to symbolically cut away misfortune from the future of the child. The women then dance and sing and play the drums while men prepare goat mead and drink tea and discuss things while people visit from the surrounding nomad camps. Tuareg Nomads have two traditional priorities, their animals and access to water. This group has moved to this region at this time to enjoy the remaining good grassland of the rainy season and will soon move again to be close to a good water source. The nomads survive on a diet of millet and camel milk which is occasionally supplemented by goat meat. (Photo by Brent Stirton/National Geographic.)