SHOCKING STORY:shocking traditional practices for marriage in Ethiopia

African tribes are known for their strange rituals and shocking traditional practices but four specific tribes seem to have a totally strange requirement for their women.  The Surma and Mursi people of Ethiopia as well as the Sara and Lobi people of Chad have a strange practice of forcing women to have Lip plates.
The lip plate is a form of body modification made from clay or wood) and inserted into a pierced hole in either the upper or lower lip, or both, thereby stretching it. Among the Surma and Mursi people of the lower Omo River valley in Ethiopia, about 6 to 12 months before marriage, a young woman has her lip pierced by her mother or one of her kinswomen, usually at around the age of 15 to 18.

The initial piercing is done as an incision of the lower lip of 1 to 2 cm length, and a simple wooden peg is inserted. After the wound has healed, which usually takes between two and three weeks, the peg is replaced with a slightly bigger one. At a diameter of about 4 cm, the first lip plate made of clay is inserted. Every woman crafts her own plate and takes pride in including some ornamentation. The final diameter ranges from about 8 cm to over 20 cm.
Surma men have several wives, most of the time in different villages. When a woman is pregnant she cannot have any sexual relations until the year following childbirth. If the husband dies, his wives go living with the oldest of his wives. in Suri culture men are allowed whereas women are not, because the man is considered to have paid a high economic price for his wife. Piercing and lip plates are a strong part of the Suri culture.

These traditional adornments are worn by almost all the adult Suri women. Ear labrets are worn by women, but also men. When a Suri woman is about to be married, usually in her teens (around 14 or 15), she disappears from village life to live in her family hut. The gap between her front lip and the flesh below is pierced and gradually stretched. In the beginning a hole is made in the lip with a wooden stick. The strecth continues as successively bigger discs of clay or wood are accomodated by the disfigured lip.

Generally the two lower front teeth are pulled (or knocked) out to aid the process. The final size of the plates determines how many cattle the woman will receive as a dowry, so the more stretched her lip the better, and the more the more cattle the woman is worth. Some women have stretched their lips so as to allow plates up to 20 cm in diameter. Having a lip plate is considered a sign of beauty. The origins of this tradition are unknown.

Sometimes the lip is broken by the pressure of the lip plate. This is a very big problem for girls because men will consider them as ugly, and they won't be able to marry anyone in the tribe apart from old men or ill people. Although it is seen as a sign of beauty nowadays, it is said that the disfigurement began as a way to prevent slavers from seizing Surma women. Over the last few years, a growing number of young Suri women refuse to have their lip pierced. The  increasing exposure and opening  of the Suri to other cultures is the main reason of this trend. Indeed, some Suri teenagers have t

Research by National Geographic shows that, for Mursi and Surma women, the size of their lip plate indicates the number of cattle paid as the bride price. But, anthropologist Turton, who has studied the Mursi for 30 years, denies this.

It has thus been noted that reasons for wearing the plate vary with tribes. Sources in Chad claim that the plate’s size is a sign of social or economical importance. But, because of natural mechanical attributes of human skin, the plate’s size may often depend on the stage of stretching of the lip and the wishes of the wearer.

Elders of the Surma have alo confirmed that the plates are used among women as a form of initiation and to symbolize social maturity by indicating a girl’s eligibility to be a wife. The value of the ornamentation symbolises female strength and self-esteem.

This adornment has attracted thousands tourists to view the Mursi and Surma women. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, African women wearing lip plates were brought to Europe and North America for exhibit in circuses and sideshows. Truly, the world has its fair share of wonders.