Mursi tribe. Why do women of the Mursi tribe insert plates into their lower lips and how do they manage to eat?

About a kind of high and about people who rolled out their lips The head of a woman from the Mursi tribe resembles a medieval fortress. The mouth is like a fortress gate with a palisade of teeth, a folding bridge of the lower lip, a wary tongue at the entrance and numerous gate services. The loophole eyes seem to look very unkindly.

A Mursi man and without additional fortification is a warrior to the core, without a machine gun he will not take a single step out of the yard, despite the fact that he is under the influence of psychotropic drugs around the clock.

The Mursi worship the demon of death, which, according to them, lies within each of them. Their neighbors consider them the most bloodthirsty and brutal killers in all of Africa. However, this is not what they are known for - who in our world would be surprised by their cruelty? – and the lower lips of their women. Chaste Europeans once agreed to believe that Murcian women perform such an amazing operation on themselves for beauty. “Savages, sir.” They stretch their ears, they say, so why not stretch their lips? Actually, ears don't count. The ears are placed on the sides of the head simply to enliven the dull roundness of the back of the head. Apart from beauty, there is no benefit to earlobes. Another thing is the functional part of the body. For example, fingers. Perhaps it would not be difficult to bend them more intricately and gracefully with a few precise blows, to make them not so monotonously straight, but then they would be inconvenient to use in everyday life and on the hunt. The same situation applies to lips, which are needed for such an important procedure in life as eating. When a functional part of the body undergoes transformations, compensation requires a significant incentive, some dividends, tangible practical benefits. Changing the muscular structure of the face means causing yourself great inconvenience for life. So why do this? The answer is that the making of this structure is part of the Murcian marriage ritual.

When a girl reaches maturity, her lower lip is pierced and a small twig is inserted into the hole. Then the twig is replaced with a cork and so on - the technology for making “tunnels” is known to us. When it’s time for the real labial disc, the beauty’s four lower front teeth are removed.

The Mursi do not have a particularly sterile environment or antiseptic preparations, but they do not need it. Since childhood, they have the strongest immunity against any infection. Bumps on the skin are healed larvae of various insects. They are gradually, one by one, introduced under the skin, they live and develop there for some time, until the Murcian’s body, in a fierce struggle, seals them forever. This is a Murcian mantu. Every scar is a conquered tropical disease. A pattern of such scars is a certificate of completion of a course of vaccinations and a diploma primary school survival, giving a ticket to adulthood - in other words, a referral for piercing.

When the lip cracks, tears and bleeds, it is coated with special healing potions. New, stronger ones grow at the site of the rupture. muscle fibers and connective tissue. Mursi piercing is voluntary. No one is forcing a girl. I felt like an adult - welcome to the piercing procedure. If your lip is not pierced, it means you are getting married early. This is the simple logic according to which you can live until old age without a hole in your lip, without family, wealth and respect from others. This pretty young lady has not yet decided to get married. And the expression on her face tells us that her life is not sugar.

A woman decides for herself when she is ready enough for family life. By piercing her lip, she declares her desire to participate in quotes on the bride exchange. The most persistent train to champion-sized muscle rings, inflating their cost to the skies.

It is important not to overdo it here, because you can end up in that segment of the market where only the wealthiest Murcian warriors operate and, thus, narrow the circle of buyers too much. The Mursi warrior has no foolish lips; he won’t take just anyone as his wife - his fellow tribesmen will laugh. A warrior is supposed to choose one important purchase, like a wife, picky.

Why does he need a defective wife, not tuned? What should we do with it? But what, exactly, should we do with the tuned one? The basic options are clear without any hints, but we will not consider ingenious ways of bringing the Murcian lip into working condition by putting it on various objects, winding options and other traditional kung fu. Someday, the descendants of the present Mursi, who have mastered literacy, will themselves enrich humanity with legends about the art of their ancestors. True, by that time there will be no more bearers of true mastery. And, unfortunately, the idea of ​​the entire breadth of the range of possible manipulations with this elastic device will remain lost for incurious humanity.

But, one must think, there will be caring people who will not disdain even a broken penny from the treasury of world traditional culture. The courageous look of this man leaves no doubt that the banner of the proud Mursi tribe, if necessary, will be picked up from weakening hands.

True, the mayonnaise cap on this gentleman’s lip looks comical in comparison with the solid jug caps of Mursi women. Genetics clearly let us down. Only the poorest disabled Murcian would buy it at the bride market. Size matters for Mursi, and the cost of the bride is determined based on the length of the lower lip, its thickness, density and mobility.

But even the most prominent lip in itself does not make its owner a woman of exceptional merit. Because a luxury wife is one whose both lips are stretched. Even the most inveterate Murcian fashionista rarely dares to try such a trick - because then how can she eat food?

As Mursi women approach perfection, they lose all ability of speech, facial expressions and any reasoning. Which, by the way, is not required of them - they are not valued for this. They handle the housework quite well.

Murcian women rarely smile. A smile is a facial action that pulls the lower lip towards the face and visually reduces it, which makes all the glamor disappear.

Murcian women are a source of pride for their husbands. Good wife is of great value to a warrior. By the size of his wife's lip plate, you can immediately determine how respectable a man is. And it is obvious that among the Murcians there are men of incredible cool.

A good wife can cost 10 cows, and wealthy people can have ten wives. The Murcian builds a separate hut for each of them and lives with them in turn. The entire women's council of the tribe knows about the latest internal political changes - who moved in with whom, which young lady inserted a twig into her lip and is preparing to participate in competition, and which married matron took out the disk, being dissatisfied with the conditions of detention or not getting along with her husband's characters.

A married Murcian woman never leaves home without a lip disc. The disc indicates that the woman is busy and is simply needed to keep in shape. A free Mursi woman can walk without it. In this regard, there are many ways to signal “free cash” to others. A disk often taken out in public indicates that this moment movable property - a Murcian wife - is put up for auction and can be repurchased.

Fans of extreme adventures may wonder: is it possible to visit the Murcians? Is it possible to come into close contact with this ancient culture? It’s not so simple here, because these are warriors of death, they are not to be trifled with. Among them, murder is considered part of a national ritual, and for each killed they receive the right to cut a small chevron on their hand. According to the regulations of the Murcian military fashion, when there is no longer room on the arms, chevrons are cut out on the chest, then on the stomach, and then on the hips. With such intensity of fighting, it usually does not reach the rest of the surface of the body, because sooner or later the warlike Murcian lays down his violent head in battle.

But we also have people who can pierce such chevrons right up to their heels. Maybe they can somehow come to an agreement among themselves. Well, yes, there are people who know how to be friends. They say that hot Murcian women simply melt with friendliness when a brave Russian tourist touches them.

It's no secret that Africa is a treasury of ancient civilization and holds many secrets, attracting the attention of numerous tourists and historians. Today on the African continent there are many tribes that adhere to unusual ancient traditions that are shocking. modern man. Thus, the most aggressive Mursi, instilling fear in tourists and local tribes, still remains the most mysterious ethnic group.

The Mursi live in the south of Ethiopia and live according to the canons of the primitive system. They preserve the thousand-year-old customs of their ancestors, they do not care about the problems of the civilized world, they do not know how to read and write. Representatives of this tribe are short in stature and men have practically no hair on their heads, while women create a variety of headdresses and unusual jewelry from available materials such as branches, dead insects, shellfish and even parts of carrion that emit the appropriate smell. The Mursi tribe is particularly aggressive and hostile, which manifests itself both in appearance, and in behavior.

Most of the men of the tribe are required to carry machine guns, obtained illegally across the border, and those who do not own such weapons are equipped with long sticks, the size of which determines the man’s leadership. Usually they kill with a machine gun, and with the help of sticks they beat the enemy half to death to prove their superiority. Men are prone to alcoholism and have a violent temper, so travelers going to Ethiopia are wary of them. Mursi tribe, photos of which are amazing modern people with its unique and at the same time terrifying way of life, it is the most unusual tribe in the world.

Both men and women paint their bodies with unusual symbols. Their main feature is the original, rather creepy decoration of the women’s faces. From the early age girls have their lower lip cut open and wooden plates are inserted there, the size of which increases every year. Later, during marriage, the wooden plate is replaced by a clay plate, which is called “debi”. This decoration is considered the main advantage of girls. The size of the plate can reach 30 centimeters. The Mursi tribe allows women to take out the plate only in the absence of men. There is an opinion that women deliberately mutilated themselves in such a way as to become unattractive and not become the property of slave owners. However, today the presence of such jewelry on girls is a symbol of beauty; the bride price depends on their size.

In general, many African tribes are colorful. Mursi stand out against their background not only because of their decorations. Tattoos are an equally creepy and unusual addition to the image. They are created using cuts into which the larvae of various insects are pushed. Since the body is completely unable to cope with the larvae, it fences itself off with scar tissue, creating bizarre patterns. In addition, the women of the tribe create strange and eerie necklaces made from the phalanges of human fingers.

Ethiopia is home to one of the most unusual tribes in the world - the Mursi.
They are considered the most aggressive ethnic group.
All the men carry Kalashnikov assault rifles, which are handed to them illegally across the border.
In addition, they start drinking in the morning, and, closer to lunch, they become uncontrollable.

Those warriors of the tribe who did not receive machine guns, or who simply left them in their homes, carry sticks with them. With the help of these sticks they prove their leadership. The one who claims it must beat his competitors half to death.

This tribe probably belongs to the mutants of the Negroid race, because its appearance is significantly different from the usual standards of beauty. Both men and women are short, big-boned and bow-legged. Low foreheads, flattened noses, short necks. The bodies are flabby and sickly in appearance, with sagging bellies and hunched backs. There is almost no hair on their heads, and therefore all Mursi women constantly wear intricate headdresses of complex design, made from branches, rough skins, swamp shellfish, dried fruits, dead insects, someone's tails and some kind of stinking carrion. Their wrinkled, chewed faces, with small, narrow-set eyes, have an extremely angry and wary appearance.

The unique facial "decoration" they use is completely unusual, even for wild people. The fact is that even at a young age, their girls’ lower lips are cut, and wooden blocks of larger and larger diameters begin to be inserted there.

Over several years, the hole in the lip gradually grows larger and larger. On the wedding day, a “plate” made of baked clay, called debi, is inserted into it, the purpose of which will be discussed later. The diameter of such a vessel in the lip can reach 30 centimeters, exceeding the diameter of the head itself! True, the tradition of wearing plates did not appear out of beauty, rather the opposite.

When the Ethiopians were captured and taken into slavery, they forcibly mutilated themselves so that they would not be taken. Now the size of the plate is a measure of beauty. The larger the plate, the more cattle they will give for the bride. Mursi girls always have a choice whether to make a hole in their lip or not. But for a girl without a stretched lip they give a very small ransom.

If such a plate is pulled out, the outer edge of the lip under the hole hangs down by 10–15 cm in the form of a kind of round rope. Many Mursi do not have front teeth, so that the plate does not knock on the front teeth, and the tip of a cracked, bleeding tongue constantly sticks out in this gap, like a rotten sting.

Mursi women also have other, no less strange and creepy jewelry, hanging on their flattened necks. These are monists, collected from the bones of the nail phalanges of human fingers, called nek. Normally, an ordinary person has 28 such bones. Each of them required at least four to six hands. In addition, some “ladies” have several of these, terrifying-looking necklaces. They shine greasyly and emit a sweet, rancid smell - they rub each monist bone with rendered human fat every day.

They begin to develop there, but the body, entering into a fight with the aliens, encloses the “strangers” with its connective tissue and they eventually die, leaving their own grave nodules under the skin, varying in size and shape. Knowing this, the Mursi specifically alternate the places of their introduction among themselves, depending on the final “pattern” on the skin that they want to obtain. For almost any offense, the priestess of the tribe cuts off the hands of the man who violated the laws (neks immediately come to mind here).

According to the traditions of this mystical tribe, all its women are Priestesses of Death. In the evenings, in their hut, they first prepare some kind of relatively light narcotic potion by grinding the dried fruits of a special bog nut into powder. Having poured it onto a debi plate stuck into the lip, each woman brings the narcotic dish closer to her lips own husband and they both begin to lick it off at the same time (with the wife sticking her tongue out through the hole between her teeth). This part of the ritual is called the “kiss of death.” By the way, they don’t use the usual way of kissing for us at all.

Then, a bunch of some intoxicating grass is thrown into the smoldering hearth, which begins to emit upward streams of yellowish smoke. The man climbs onto the “mezzanine” poles and lies over the fireplace so that the streams of sweet incense rise directly to his face. He lies down not just like that, but by placing his head on the recess of a special pillow stand. This small thing, shaped like a coil, is called brkuta and is made from the wood of a secret plant that was never shown to us. About two dozen of these amazing sleeping devices are kept in the hut of the High Priestess of the tribe, called Srek.

Srek rubs each of them with one of his many potions and casts a special individual spell. As a result, each brkuta becomes the bearer of some very specific dream! It could be a “film” about a successful hunt, or a night of love, about delicious gluttony, or a victorious battle with enemies, etc. At the husband's request, his wife brings him a wooden headrest every evening with the vision he wants to see before his possible death. This part of the ritual is called the “sleep of death” and this name is not at all accidental. While the man dreams sweetly in the smoke of dope, his wife prepares to give him poison.

The High Priestess of the tribe prepares this deadly powder from the very lower teeth pulled out from women, infusing them with a complex potion of nine herbs growing on the hummocks of the dead swamps of Lotagipi. After some time, the Mursi woman rises to her sleeping husband and blows deadly powder into his mouth from her lip plate. This part of the mystical rite is called the “bite of death.” But the passions don't end there. Having poisoned their husbands, all the Priestesses of Death gather in the Srek hut and perform some mysterious ritual there.

The ominous ritual ends with an action that we call “the roulette of death,” and the Mursi themselves call it “the gift of death.” The High Priestess walked around all the huts of the village, rising to the poisoned men and putting a life-saving antidote in their mouths, portions of which are in her necklace, which adorns her complex “hairstyle.” And no one except her and the God of Death Yamda, whose will the High Priestess carried out, knows: all the men of the tribe were ordered to live on, or not all of them. There were times when Srek did not give one of them the antidote. Then she, leaving the hut, draws a white cross on his wife’s death plate. Such a woman remained a widow for the rest of her life and was highly respected in the tribe, as a priestess who had fulfilled her duty to the almighty Yamda.

After natural death, the bodies of such widows are placed in the stump of a hollow trunk and hung on the branches of special trees. The bodies of all other tribesmen, both men and women, are boiled down. Soft fabrics and broth are used for food, all sorts of potions and amulets. With the skeletons of my fellow tribesmen, the Mursi lay out their secret paths in dangerous swamps so as not to fall through.

However, what may seem savage to us is good for the natives. The Mursi tribe are servants of the God of Death. Their faith says that the bodies of Mursi men (earthly flesh) are a kind of ritual “prison” of God Yamda, in which he imprisons the Souls of his assistants - the Demons of Death, in case of any disobedience. And the white stripes with which the body is painted symbolize the shackles of the flesh, temporarily restraining the rebellious Spirit.

Methodically killing the flesh of men by systematically giving them narcotic poison, women priestesses seem to destroy these physical earthly shackles, bringing closer the hour of liberation for the higher spiritual Beings languishing in them. They themselves are simple Spirits of Darkness, sent here to perform mystical ritual rites and have the right to return to their Lord - only after the natural death of the resulting body. Good does not exist without evil, light does not exist without darkness, and life does not exist without death. And each person in his earthly life serves one of the opposing forces, fulfilling the destiny given to him by the Creator. And it is not for us to judge whose path and faith is more correct. The ancient Mursi tribe is simply doing its duty.

January 30 Jinka - Mago NP - Jinka. (200 km).
(gravel winding road with steep ascents and descents). Travel time, including stops, is 5 hours.

We have breakfast and leave for the Mago National Park to visit the Mursi people.

But first we stopped at the national park office and took a guide, now this is mandatory.

The road is beautiful through forested mountains, then the trees suddenly disappear, it gets hot, which means we descended into the valley.

The sky is covered with rain clouds. Periodically we drive into a rain zone.... We pray to God that the rain will pass...

Our car drove up to the checkpoint. Entrance to the park costs 100 birr per person and 80 per car. They write out a check, our driver pays it all, everything is purple for us, we have everything included. The road was blocked with a rope, two guards with machine guns talked to the guide and let us through, putting us in the guard's car.

There are many stories on the Internet that after lunch, after drinking local beer, the Mursi shot at tourists. They drink often and always at lunchtime.

I did not notice any aggressiveness on the part of the Mursi.

We arrived in the village. She was small.

A person of 10-15 adult women, 5-6 adult men and about three dozen children and teenagers. There are a total of 12 villages in this area.

A young man immediately came up and asked to buy an entrance ticket costing 300 birr.

The jeeps stopped near the thatched houses.

As soon as we got out of the cars, a crowd of women, men and children flew up to us... and it started to rain. I had to run back to the jeep.

We look at the tribe from the windows of the jeep.

The downpour was getting stronger, the little mursies wrapped themselves in some kind of blankets and hid in groups under the trees.

Mursi's eyes are small and alert.

Almost all of them walk barefoot or wear sandals made from tires.

Below the waist they wear some kind of rags in the form of skirts.

Men with bare torsos are armed with machine guns, or in extreme cases a carbine.

The most surprising thing is the headdress. This is some kind of belt-collar with dangles and cow horns near the ears.

Like most men, ladies shave their heads bald. They smear their face White color.

Many women make tattoos on their bodies from small scars, the design being done by the older brother when the girl reaches puberty. Decorating the body with artistic scarification is called scarification.

The art of scarring has its roots in the deep past. Since time immemorial, representatives of ancient African tribes put scars on their bodies to indicate their social status or during ritual ceremonies. They developed the ritual of scarring to distinguish a person’s belonging to any tribe.

They begin to develop under the skin, but the body fights this infection, and when the larvae die, traces of these “graves” remain on the skin.

Buy soap and razor blades. Mursi cut their skin and need soap. And change the soap and blade in the photo.

But the most distinctive feature of the Mursi are the plates in the lips, they are called “tybi”.

At a young age, girls have their lower lip cut and a small wooden block inserted into it.

The girl is growing, and the size of the die is constantly increasing, acquiring amazing dimensions over time.

And already on the wedding day, a ceramic plate is inserted into the young lady.

The larger the plate a girl has in her lip, the more beautiful she is as a bride and, importantly, the greater the ransom they give for her.

Nobody forces Murcian women to insert discs into their lips, and many of the already mature girls do not wear them. Let's say a plate about 30 centimeters in diameter is 50 cows.

Most women do not have lower front teeth, they interfere with wearing a plate, I think they are removed on purpose.

I don’t even know which of the young ladies is “more beautiful”, with an inserted disc or with a hanging lower lip.

I bought three of these plates for 5 birr each, they turned out to be fragile and broke, but that was later.

I have noticed discs in the ears of many people, and the characteristically sagging ones indicate that almost everyone, even very young ladies, wear something like plates in their ears..

Price per photo - as agreed.

At first we paid 3 birr for a series of photographs to one person, then 2, and in the end 1 birr ($1 = 19 birr). But I repeat this as agreed.

We had a scandal with the obligatory guide taken in Jinka. In the photo he is wearing a black T-shirt with headphones.

At the beginning, he tried to set a price for the photo himself. Well, like all tourists, 5 birr per photo.

While he was explaining this to me and Vlad, Seryozha stepped aside and agreed with the Mursi for 3 birr per episode.

We gently asked the guide not to interfere with our communication with the Mursi and our driver Henok explained to him that if he wants a tip, he must always take the side of the tourist and do so that they are happy.. I don’t understand...

I agreed with two warriors (they are always more expensive) for 2 birr each for a series of photographs. But by this time I had run out of small money, so I asked the guide to change me 10 birr.

He snatched 10 from me and gave them to the soldiers and told me that everything was ok and that this was a normal price. Naturally, I was indignant... This was the last straw. I explained to him in Russian where he would go.... Strangely enough, I understood...

And the rest of the time he stood on the sidelines, I didn’t hear a word from him anymore.. True, Henok stood next to him and taught him how to behave with tourists and did not allow him to come closer to us anymore. So 5 birr for a photo is far-fetched by local guides - bargain...

Small mursy children were constantly spinning underfoot, their chance of getting two birrs was zero, they were no different from other children in Africa.

In short, we took a photo and gave it away plastic bottles, bought lip disks for 10-25 birr (depending on the size and design) and got ready to go to another village. But we stalled... or rather the jeep did not want to start, we had to push...

Mursi everyone stood and watched laughing, and even some helped push the car...

After visiting the village, we returned to Jinka (Bako) - a commercial and administrative center in Southern Ethiopia, located in a hilly area.

Bako is a traditional mountain settlement, while Jinka was founded in a valley where the local airfield had a runway.

There is a Research Center for the Study of the Peoples of the Lower Omo in Jinka. I recommend visiting it, there are a lot of interesting things about the tribes.

It rained for the first time tonight...

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Appearance

Both men and women of the Mursi tribe cut their hair short, shave their skulls in a variety of patterns and use a variety of designs.

The traditional clothing of the Mursi has always been goat skins, however Lately More and more Mursi are changing into lighter cotton capes, which they buy in the markets. Today, all men tie colorful fabrics around their hips; Mursi women can still be found wearing clothes made from skins, but they also prefer to use fabrics more and more.

Mursi men are known for brutal stick fighting. And women wear a plate in the lower lip, shaped like a clay saucer. The size of the disc depends on the social status of the girl, and, as a rule, indicates the number of livestock that the family hopes to receive by marrying her off. Even at a young age, girls cut through part of their lower lip and begin to insert wooden discs, constantly enlarging them until large sizes until on the wedding day they replace them with clay “debi”. In this case, part of the lower teeth is knocked out.