When you belong to a non-dominant culture in the society you live, watching certain aspects of your culture play out in front of you without necessary context can be triggering. As important values and rituals are taken out of its context, these cultural emblems lose their meanings, and are churned through an endless, unforgiving mainstream media mill that leaves me disheartened and malcontented.
Recently on social media – the gift that keeps giving – there was a flurry of memes and TikTok videos of young girls wearing a hairstyle inspired by Tsireya, a character in the latest Avatar series, The Way of Water. I immediately recognized why her image elicited a reaction from me. Tsireya’s hairstyle (too) closely resembled an indigenous hairstyle of the Tigrinya ethnic group from Eritrea, of which my family is from. The hairdo was a mash-up of the Dfn style, along with a Sergeta braid in the front, a look I had seen many times before in old family photos and in decades-old depictions of my fellow people online.
An image from Avatar: The Way of Water
I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance: Seeing our traditional hairstyle–worn by our mothers, grandmothers, and their mothers before them–reduced to a costume design on a fictional blue alien left me bereft. How can a part of a culture that dates back millennia be cherry picked for mass consumption with no due recognition? I dread the day that an Avatar fan comes across an Eritrean woman dressed traditionally for a celebration and they think the hairstyle was inspired by the character – embwa!
Growing up in the States, my sisters and I were so fortunate to have much exposure to our Eritrean heritage and culture. And getting our hair braided–in similar styles we saw our grandmother and our mother in her youth wear in photos– was our connection to our cultural roots.
Traditional hairstyle worn by a Tigrinya girl. Photo credit: @eri.treanarchives
There was an immense element of pride to belong to a culture that stood unwavering amidst a dominant culture. I knew my culture implemented unique braiding styles and went searching for more information. I sought to learn more.
In my quest, I came across a woman named Ruth, an Eritrean cultural content creator whose posts under the Instagram handle SEMAI Kids, centers around raising awareness of Eritrean culture and heritage. The platform–“Semai” is Tigrinya for “sky”–was born from Ruth’s desire to engage younger generations of the Habesha diaspora with their culture.
From Ruth’s content I learned that each Tigrinya hairstyle represented a stage of a female’s life: Chinga’at (Lxai/Rango): ages 3-6 and 6-9; Gamme: during puberty and after marriage; Dfn: after the 2nd child and until the end of her life. The brilliance that is held in this nexus of language, aesthetic, and rhythm is overwhelmingly humbling. I sensed an element of unspoken shared protection among the women – a unique experience that did not involve men – as they move from different hairstyles through their various stages in life; a certain level of respect and dignity is bestowed upon them. Initiation, status and ritual is also important. For instance, there is a different hairstyle worn during mourning periods– in extreme cases some widows rip their hair out – showing how deeply important hairstyles are within our culture as a form of identity, beauty and expression.
A traditional hairstyle worn by a Tigrinya woman. Photo credit: @eri.treanarchives
I recently sat down with Ruth, where we talked about the importance of heritage, cultural appreciation versus appropriation and her reasons for starting SEMAI Kids.
Semira: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Ruth: I am an Eritrean born in the diaspora. I have a multilingual background and a true passion for our culture, so I try to channel my interests and expertise to offer our community a shortcut to discover the beauty and value within our culture.
Semira: How did you become an Eritrean cultural content creator?
Ruth: The seed was sown when I was very young. As I grew older the interest towards our traditions kept growing and I have found myself asking millions of questions about things that we have accepted as ours, but we do not really know the meaning of or reason for. You could say I’m a very curious person!
Growing up, my parents were very connected to our culture, so we grew up surrounded by it. My father was a living library. He never missed a chance to share a story or teach us something new about our history, culture, family, play us a song from his krar (a traditional 5-or-6 lyre string bowl shaped lyre) or read us an awlo, a poetic speech or teaching.
SEMAI Kids founder, Ruth. Photo credit: SEMAI Kids
So, my sister and I thought this was every Eritrean kid’s experience, only to later realize that we were particularly lucky to be exposed to such a wealth of culture in our own home.
That’s why I decided to start SEMAI Kids and share the fascinating reasons behind some of our customs and traditions in detail.
Semira: Tell us more about SEMAI Kids.
Ruth: SEMAI Kids is a company born to help the Habesha (modern colloquial term for Eritreans and Ethiopians) diaspora connect to their culture of origin. Just as it is for trees, roots are what provide us with our stability and strength. As we gradually detach from our origins – whether physically or with our habits – our identity, confidence and sense of self is bitten into. Whether it is through fun games, short clips or language courses, we explore and share the precious value of our traditions and culture with the world in a contextually appropriate way.
Semira: So, since we’re talking hair here, who taught you about our traditional hairstyles?
Ruth: Growing up I’d always heard bits and pieces about a particular hairstyle being for young girls and another for grown women, but I never really understood the reason behind it. My curiosity arose when I had to get my hair braided for my son’s baptism and the lady who was supposed to braid my hair, mentioned that the style I chose was not appropriate for my age. After putting my pride aside, I collected information from older relatives and cross-referenced it with books and vintage archive photos and discovered the depth and beauty hidden behind what most see just as an aesthetic choice.
Semira: Which hairstyle is your favorite?
Ruth: Gamme is definitely my favorite. It’s the style younger girls traditionally wear from puberty until after marriage. The hair is parted in the middle and 4 or 5 small braids go down the left and right and the rest of the hair is braided towards the back.
After researching the stories behind our different braiding styles, I have tried to braid my daughter’s hair with the Gamme style. I need more practice but seeing her wearing our own style for the first time was very powerful and it immediately reminded me of an old, faded picture of my mother in her teenage years, which felt like a sort of natural continuation of tradition and life.
Semira: We’ve seen our hairstyles in mainstream culture, from Beyonce and Rihanna to Avatar. So I ask: appropriation or appreciation?
Ruth: There can be a very fine line between the two. Giving recognition and credit to the source of inspiration is what makes the difference. Those who are the inspiration should be responsible for reclaiming and owning it.
Many celebrities have featured our culture in their work – from the renowned fashion label Alexander McQueen showcasing a jacket during its Spring 2017 collection that was an almost identical copy of our traditional ceremonial kaba (a traditional cloak worn by the bride & groom) in its collection, to the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna wearing our distinctive hairstyles in their videos and photoshoots – what makes us raise an eyebrow is the lack of credit given to the source of their inspiration.
Learning more about our culture and sharing our rich tradition with the world is a way to bring these appropriations to the surface and to give our mothers and older generations the recognition they deserve.
Semira: Anything else interesting to share about SEMAI Kids?
Ruth: As of this year we’ve made LILO, our interactive flashcard reader, available worldwide! Diaspora children and aspiring Tigrigna speakers all over the world can now learn Tigrigna through playing with LILO.
We are also so excited to offer a unique access to a completely new learning method for the Ge’ez alphabet. We have put great effort into finding experienced and dedicated teachers who rely on a revolutionary program specifically targeted to diaspora-born children and adults. We are very proud of the remarkable results achieved by our students. After only 3 months of Sunday classes, they now know how to read and write in Tigrigna. Many have shared with us how powerful the impact of finally knowing your own language has made in their lives. The small step they took when joining our Language Academy has led to incredible growth and transformation and we’re so proud. Our Academy’s online language courses registration is still open, until March 18th.
Semira: Where can our readers find you?
Ruth: You can find us on our website and on all social media platforms, with the handle @semaikids
Semira Haile is a writer, who more recently is exploring her Eritrean culture.
