Today there are there three (3) ethnic groups belonging to the Surma and these are: the Suri, Mursi as well as Me’en and they dwell in the southwestern part of Ethiopia and today have a population of about 187900 people.
These three ethnic groups share the same culture and the Mursi people are who stay close to the Omo Valley are the most popular of them all. Their popularity is credited to the fact that their women wear large plate made of clay in the lower lips. The young Surma girls cut the lower lips and put a wooden plug inside it. Each of the plugs is continually changed after some time for a wider size until the lips can eventually stretch enough to accommodate a wooden plate. Interestingly they have to remove 2 to 3 of their lower teeth so that the plate can fit well. Plates as wide as 30 centimeters can be worn by some women.
One wonder why do these women do this? Well the major attraction in this tribe is a woman with a plate in their lip. The wider the plate, the more attractive they are. The younger girls actually wear decorated colored plates to draw more attention to them from the opposite s*x. The women normally wear these plates as they serve their husbands food or even during special ceremonies, this implies that they eat with these plates hanging from their stretched lips.
Unfortunately to date, the reason the primary reason why and when this tradition of lip cutting cannot be traced back to when it started despite the fact that there are a number of theories locally told. Perhaps as compared to the women of the modern world, who wear lipstick for beauty and to adorn themselves, the Surma women wear these lip-plates not only for beauty but for prestige as well. In simple terms the girls are not forced to wear them but do so by choice. the Surma men pay the family of their bride to be dowry (cows as well as Kalashnikovs), and its alleged that the women with wider lip-plates make better wives, thus more dowry paid for their hand in marriage.
The young male warriors normally spend a large number of weeks or months from the village tending to the herd of cattle. During that period, they only feed on anima blood mixed with milk. To obtain the blood from the cow, the make a small cutting on the cow’s neck puncturing a vein and then draw the blood. Furthermore, they use white clay to paint their naked bodies.
This is done to command respect and look fierce. During the customary tribal ceremonies such as the popular Donga fight during which men illustrate their skills and strength in fight using long sticks, this body painting is very vital as well.
You may also notice that children of the chief also paint their faces in order to distinguish themselves from other village children.
The households are run by the women. The women own personal fields and are at liberty to use the profiles obtained from farming in whichever way they please. The younger boys (Tegay) who are not yet warriors by the age of eight starts to become a Rora (junior warrior) the young men have to go through a long period of initiation which may take 20 to 30 years. This may involve being whipped until one bleeds or being starved for several days. In case of any circumstances that require making decisions for the village, and assembly of men sit and this is chaired by the Komoru who is the ritual chief for the tribes.
The women normally do not contribute any opinions to these meetings at all.
The Surma people have a sky god they call Tuma. They believe in ancestral spirits and offers sacrifices as well as prayers to their god through the medicine men. Another interesting yet important position among the Surmi is the rain-maker. The position which can only be held by a male is passed down through hereditary means. Once his services are required, chips are collected from a particular tree, masticated, and then the resultant juiced mixed with clay are smeared on a man, shortly after which it’s expected to rain.
