Hamar woman ritually whipped at bull jump ritual in South Omo, Ethiopia

A Hamar man ritually whips a young woman at a bull jump, a ritual at which a man runs across the backs of a row of bullocks in order to become eligible for marriage, in South Omo, Ethiopia. The initiate's sisters and female cousins ask the maz, men who have performed the bull jump but have yet to marry, to whip them, an act which shows the young women’s love and devotion to their brothers. To protect their breasts from stray strokes, the women nowadays wear cotton singlet’s during the ritual. The 40,000-strong, cattle-herding Hamar are among the largest of the 20 or so ethnic groups which inhabit the culturally diverse Omo region in south-west Ethiopia.

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Copyright: Copyright © 2006 Anders Ryman. All rights reserved.
Image Size: 5587x3709 / 14.8MB; Africa African ethnicity Bull Jump Chastising Coming of Age Ethiopia Hamar Hamer Horizontal Life Cycle Ritual Male Initiaton Marriage Matrimony Outdoors Pre-Marriage Ritual Rite de Passage Rite of Passage South Omo Tribespeople Two People with Others Whip Whipping Young Adults indigenous people
Contained in galleries: Hamar bulljumping, Ethiopia

A Hamar man ritually whips a young woman at a bull jump, a ritual at which a man runs across the backs of a row of bullocks in order to become eligible for marriage, in South Omo, Ethiopia. The initiate's sisters and female cousins ask the maz, men who have performed the bull jump but have yet to marry, to whip them, an act which shows the young women’s love and devotion to their brothers. To protect their breasts from stray strokes, the women nowadays wear cotton singlet’s during the ritual. The 40,000-strong, cattle-herding Hamar are among the largest of the 20 or so ethnic groups which inhabit the culturally diverse Omo region in south-west Ethiopia.