Mursi tribe, or women with plates in their mouths

More than a dozen tribes are nomadic in the eastern part of Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. For most of them, an elemental part of their culture and evidence of their tribal affiliation is the body. One of the more "bizarre" peoples is the Mursi. Indeed, Mursi women are distinguished by their rather deformed... Mouths.

Self-mutilation of women of the Mursi tribe is very unusual. As early as the age of about 15, girls are cut on the lower lip. Fact, it sounds a bit brutal. In the resulting wound, twigs or sticks are inserted to keep the resulting hole open. Once it has managed to heal a bit and blood has stopped oozing, the process of pushing the hole in the lip to the largest possible size begins. An oval block is pushed into the hole to stretch the hole cut in the lip. Later, it is replaced every two to three weeks with another one. Another one means an even bigger one! Once the hole in the lip is large enough, the young girl can... Enlarge it further! To do this, jewelry in the form of clay or wooden discs is used. At first, this is jewelry of about 4cm in diameter. However, these discs eventually exceed even ... 20 centimeters! That is, about as much as a large plate. Well, the procedure is certainly not one of the most pleasant - it hurts, takes a long time to heal and makes daily life difficult. To make matters worse, it is also common for women to have their... two lower ones removed. This is because it is difficult to keep the disc in a horizontal position when the teeth stop it. It is interesting to note that adult women do not walk non-stop with discs in their mouths at all - they can be found with a sagging lip on a daily basis. The women of the Ethiopian tribe don't seem to care at all about their deformity. From the disc-less, demonstratively exposed mouth, a toothless gum is frighteningly visible!

The disc, worn in the lower lip, is like an ornate earring for Mursi women. For them, it is one of many body beautification procedures. The women of the Omo River Valley in Ethiopia believe that the disc is indicative of their... Beauty. The larger the disc one possesses, the more attractive one is. Mursi women adorn themselves with this kind of jewelry to arouse the desire of men. In addition, it is their shield - a kind of amulet, protecting against evil spirits and demons. In the past, women also used to ward off human traffickers in this way, to avoid being sold as live merchandise. Jewelry in the form of clay or wooden plates is also a symbol of the Mursi tribe's values. The bigger they are in the mouth, the more cows a man must give to a woman's family. Especially on the day she gets married.

It is unfortunate that many of these traditional beliefs are disappearing today. Nevertheless, women still mutilate themselves in this way. Thanks to this, the tribe makes money for itself! Tourists are happy to pay for photos with the unusual African people. Sometimes they even buy from them... a freshly removed disc from their lips. Maybe they believe that this way they will fight all the evil spirits in their surroundings? Or maybe the "plate" jewelry is supposed to bring them luck in life? It looks funny when a car with tourists pulls up to the village. The women quickly put the plates in their mouths and wait for the newcomers. All it takes is for one of them to take an interest in the disc. A moment and a Mursi woman removes the ornament from her lip... And, as if nothing ever happened, she calmly begins to negotiate the price.