History of Ethiopia’s Suri tribe where men must fight to get married – BCFocus



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Shatakshi asthana
Ethiopia in Africa is home to many ancient tribes. Here, on the one hand, the dreaded Mursi tribe and on the other the Suri community where the synonyms of beauty are different from the rest of the world. Even to get married, boys must introduce a value, in which even if life is lost, there is no pain. In a conversation with Navbharat Times Online, geophysicist Ratnesh Pandey told the story of Suri, a small tribe living in southwestern Ethiopia, also known as Surma. Ratnesh has been working in Tanzania, Africa for 11 years and has visited 35 countries around the world. The main job of the inhabitants of this tribe living in the Bench Maji region in the Western Omo Valley is grazing cattle. They have a population of 20,000 and speak the Nilo-Saharan language. The life of the people of the “Suri” tribe is very different. As a resident, there is a difference in how they eat, drink and wear clothes. (PHOTO: AFP / CARL DE SOUZA)

Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa

Ethiopia is a landlocked country located in the “horn” of Africa officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The Horn is a peninsula in East Africa. It stretches for hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and is located at the southern end of the Gulf of Aden. Its appearance on the map resembles that of a horn, which is why it is given this name. It is the easternmost extension of the African continent. It was called Bilad Al Barbar in medieval times. Countries such as Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia are located in the Horn of Africa region. Its surface is about 2,000,000 km2 and about 10.02 million people live there. It is the second most populous country in Africa and is inhabited by over 85.2 lakhs. It is the 10th largest country in Africa by area. Its capital is Addis Ababa. Ethiopia is found in southeastern Sudan, southern Eritrea, western Djibouti, and Somalia, northern Kenya and eastern South Sudan. It is the most populous landlocked country in the world. (PHOTO: AFP / CARL DE SOUZA)

Definition of beauty

Like the other tribes of the Suri tribe, the traditions are unique and thousands of years old. The way to get married here is quite surprising. People of the Suri tribe consider very wide lips to be a sign of beauty. Even under the unique practice of the Suri tribe, as soon as girls enter puberty, two teeth of their lower jaws are broken and the lips are cut and punctured. After that, a 16-inch-wide piece of hardwood or clay is inserted into their lips. Over time, the size of this disc increases so that their lips become larger and more beautiful. The larger the size of the plate placed in the woman’s lips, the more cows her father receives as a dowry. Usually, a girl’s father with a small plate receives 40 cows, and the girl with a large plate receives 60 cows as a dowry. (PHOTO: AFP / CARL DE SOUZA)

Fight to the last breath

Getting married with guys from the Suri tribe is not easy. Boys must first struggle to get married. The person who wins this battle receives a reward in his reward. The ways to get married are also quite surprising. They have to fight to their last breath for a wife. The tradition is called Donga in which two boys of the clan fight each other. This war is so dangerous that even life is sometimes lost. However, these tribes have to carry on more tradition than life. These guys cannot wear clothes during fights. They become completely naked without clothes and take to the battlefield with sticks and kill each other. (PHOTO: AFP / CARL DE SOUZA)

Drink the blood of animals

The young people of this tribe drink the blood of animals to get married. Drinking blood is believed to give strength to one’s body. However, according to the Donga tradition, the tribals here also drink animal blood in their daily diet, but it is consumed exclusively during combat. In 1994, the Donga tradition was banned by the Ethiopian government due to the deaths of many young people during the conflict, but was later revived. Women had considerable freedom in this tribe. They can choose anyone as a partner. By choosing a man, she can even sever ties with him according to her mind. (PHOTO: AFP / CARL DE SOUZA)

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