The decision to get married is a milestone celebrated with proposals and congratulations from friends and family. The women of the Hamar tribe gladly accept beatings and body scars to show support and appreciation.
The Hamar tribe is a community that dwells in the Debub Omo Zone, Hamer woreda, a fertile part of the Omo River valley in Southwestern Ethiopia. They are largely pastoralists who graze in the Southern Nations of Ethiopia.
One of the extraordinary characteristics of the Hamer tribe is the body modifications of their women. But if you look closer, they are scars and gashes from a traditional ceremony that celebrates manhood, love, and matrimony.
When a boy comes of age, the tribe holds a ceremony for the Rite of Passage. This is part of their tradition known as Ukuli Bula.
As part of the ceremony, female family members of the boy are brutally whipped when they declare their love for the young man at the height of the celebration. After this spectacle, the boy becomes Maza and is allowed to marry.
The young women from the boy’s side including relatives are all whipped as they sing, trumpet, and laud the virtues of the boy-turned-man. As part of the ceremonial dance, they also express their desire to be marked by the whip.
They then begin to beg men to whip them and chase them down to bestow a whipping. The women show no fear, instead, they celebrate and chant as the men beat them.
There are no rules for the men on how to deliver the beating. It is entirely up to them to decide how hard they hit. Some are tender and others are vicious.
However, not just any male is allowed to beat the young women. Only those men who have undergone the rite of passage can participate.
After the whipping, the girls proudly show off the wounds and scars as proof of their integrity and courage.
A key element of the whipping ceremony is that the women smear butter all over their bodies. They do this to blunt the effect of the whips.
The ceremony is held in the Omo River Valley and is forever etched on the bodies of the females with scars of love.
