Ethiopia’s Tribes

A Hamar man has his face painted before a bull jumping ceremony in Ethiopia’s southern Omo Valley region near Turmi on September 19, 2016. The Hamar are a Nilotic ethnic group in Ethiopia. Bull jumping has been practised by the Hamars for thousands of years. The ceremony is a coming of age tradition which allows young men to marry. The man has to run across the backs of bulls which have been lined up, 4 times. If he falls through the row of bulls he is to start again until he finishes without falling. If the man fails to properly “jump the bulls” he risks humiliation and being cast out by his village as well as never being able to marry in the future. Before the ceremony women line up to be whipped by men holding sticks to prove their devotion to the men. The construction of the Gibe III dam, the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa, and large areas of very “thirsty” cotton and sugar plantations and factories along the Omo river are impacting heavily on the lives of tribes living in the Omo Valley who depend on the river for their survival and way of life. Human rights groups fear for the future of the tribes if they are forced to scatter, give up traditional ways through loss of land or ability to keep cattle as globalisation and development increases. (Photo by Carl De Souza/AFP Photo)
Ethiopia’s Tribes
   
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