The Mursi are a very egalitarian community in many ways, and it is the choice of the teenage girls to have their lips pierced, and not something older women or men force upon them. Obviously, like all teenagers, they feel some degree of peer pressure, but many girls marry happily without piercing their lips, even if they sometimes change their minds and decide to go ahead with the process after they have had one or two children.
So the motivations are complex. Girls and boys also pierce their ears; in terms of the risk of infection, piercing and stretching of the ear lobes is of a similar risk, and since this is practiced by both sexes albeit achieving different diameters there is some gender equality there. However, David Turton has shown this not to be the case. Another common idea is that the practice of cutting and stretching the lower lip originated as a deliberate disfigurement, designed to make women and girls less attractive to slave traders.
The women understand how much their husbands have paid for their Mursi or Suri Tribe marriage and wear their symbolic lip plate when they serve food to them or in celebrations or ceremonies. However, often the girls have been promised to a man for marriage before they start the lip plate process with the bridal dowry already agreed. There is no doubt that the men see it is a sign of beauty and the women with lip plates take great pride in this symbolic part of their culture and their identity.
The lip plates can be made of wood or clay, but most often clay. Often decorated with patterns and paint from their local resources - especially the lip plates in the Mursi villages. Once the lip has been stretched to the desired satisfaction it does not hurt.
When the girls begin puberty their mother usually starts the process by inserting a small wooden stick below the lower lip. During this process the lip can get infected and it can also break if stretched to quickly.
It is not uncommon in a Surma tribe village to see women who have their lower stretched lip broken with both sections dangling and pointing towards the ground. Two to four of the young girls bottom teeth are also removed in this body modification process so the lower lip and mouth can hold the lip plate. The lip plates are also called lip discs or lip plugs. Certain processes of getting a lip plate do hurt, but once it has been created to the desired size there is no pain.
The tribal tradition of the lip plate is a girls choice and many of the younger generation are choosing to discontinue this practice. The government has also put pressure on stopping this practise as it can lead to infections which can cause serious health issues. The men highly regard the traditional lip plate culture, but most seem to respect the wishes of the girls on their decision.
The main responsibility of the Mursi women is to fetch firewood and water so that they may cook the food provided by the men. Whether the Mursi women will continue to wear lip plates remains to be seen. Some younger Mursi women believe that not having their lip cut makes them more modern — they are aware that the practise is seen as backwards by their own government and by the tourists who come to photograph the girls wearing them.
For others, however, the lip plates are a part of their heritage, a way to differentiate their tribe from others in the surrounding area, and more recently the visitors it attracts has become a vital form of income for the often drought-stricken tribe. Meet the Mursi Tribe during an Ethiopian holiday. Call to speak to the experts and to book your Ethiopian Holiday.
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When they are eating and sleeping in their homes, they take them off. Wondering whether the lip plates are safe is also another common concern. It is normal for someone who has never thought that such a body modification was possible to wonder if it is safe. The process of getting a lip plate is a very safe one. However, like getting an ear piercing, getting a lip disc is a process where you could easily get an infection. When a tradition has been taking place for years, the people doing it obviously know the risks involved and have ways to curb them.
You only have to keep the piercing clean, and the Mursi people came up with herbs to disinfect their lip gauge piercing. List of inspirational women empowerment quotes. Lip gauge piercing has been embraced by other cultures all over the world. However, none of them can compare to the grace and pride with which Mursi women wear them. The lip piercings used elsewhere in the world most likely originate from the lip plates worn by women in the Mursi tribe.
Which tribe has the most beautiful ladies in Ghana? Ghana is a nation blessed with both natural and human resources. Though beauty is relative and everyone is uniquely created, certain ethnic groups have been known to outdo others in the area of beauty.
The question of which tribe has the most beautiful ladies in Ghana can now be finally laid to rest. Portrait of woman from Mursi tribe, Ethiopia, Africa.
Photo: hadynyah Source: Getty Images When young girls come of age, their lower lip is cut by their mother or another woman in the community.
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