They inhabit a small region along the southeastern coast of Madagascar near Mananjary and share their origins with the partially Arab Antaimoro people, from whom the group split in the 15th century under a leader named Ravalarivo.

There is a long-standing taboo against raising twins that historically led them to be killed immediately after birth or left to die of exposure in the forest.

Human rights groups and the Malagasy government are working to provide support for twins and their parents in the effort to put an end to this tradition.

[4] The Antambahoaka share their origins with the Antaimoro people,[5] who believe they are the descendants of an Arab named Raminia who migrated from Mecca to Madagascar between the 10th and 12th centuries.

It is commonly said that he left to escape an increasingly rigid application of Islamic law; others attribute the departure to his search for fertile land to cultivate.

[7] The Antambahoaka live in a highly homogeneous community with relatively few immigrants and lower rates of emigration than neighboring peoples.

At an annual festival called hosin'ny mpanjaka, villagers gather to prepare the local king's paddy field for planting rice.

[8] The two Antambahoaka noble sub-groups were the Onjatsy and Tsimaito, who were the keepers of scientific knowledge, magic and charm-making and mastered the use of sorabe, the local language transcribed using Arabic script.

[3] Clothing called tafitsihy was traditionally made of sedges (harefo) or beaten bark woven into mats that were then stitched together.

Women traditionally wore harefo reed mats stitched to form a tube dress that was knotted at one shoulder or belted at the waist.

[3] The homes of local mpanjaka, called tranobe (big houses), are used as community meeting space as well as a temple for the worship of ancestors.

These houses are unusually large by Malagasy standards, built in a rectangular form with no veranda, and are raised on low stilts and have a gabled roof covered in ravinala leaves.

For the entire month of Sambatra, the Antambahoaka commemorate their origins and Raminia's circumcision of his own son Ndohanina, who passed the practice down to his people.

During the month of Sambatra there are war reenactments between "armies" led by the Antambahoaka general for each clan, composed of the boys' fathers and their maternal uncles dressed as soldiers.

An increasing number of families are unwilling to adhere to this taboo and have been ostracised by the community, typically being forced to leave their home village to live at the outskirts of another.

[3] In addition, a "secret language" using a blend of Arabic, Malagasy and Creole words was historically spoken among ombiasy to communicate confidential knowledge and rites.