
Somali people back in the day used to rest their head on this Barkin, so their faces weren't vulnerable to snakes and scorpions and also to prevent deep sleep so they can watch their herd while they're sleeping (raggeedi). And also to keep their hairdo look fresh to death.
This is not entirely unique to Somalis, the Boni people in Northeast Kenya have it too, but nobody knows them, so let's just pretend they don't exist. As a matter of fact I'm gonna search the wikipedia page of the Boni people and delete the page.
