The Omo Valley in southwest Ethiopia is a fertile region that’s home to the Hamar. They are a pastoral tribe with a culture that places a high value on cattle. During the dry season families move to live with their herds in grazing areas, and survive primarily on milk and blood from the cattle.
They are easily recognized for their body adornment with multitudes of colorful beads, necklaces, and bracelets, and for their distinctive hairstyles, curling their hair with a mixture of ochre and butter.
Controversial practices include ritual flogging of women by their husbands to prove devotion, and the initiation rite of ‘bull jumping’ performed by boys to allow them to marry.
Women of the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia 🇪🇹 engage in a ritual called "Maza," which involves them being whipped by men till the point of them bleeding with several scars.
The thought of being whipped repeatedly would make most of us cringe. Yet the practice was embraced and encouraged not only by attendees watching from the sidelines, but the women subject to the beatings. In fact, the women taunted the men and asked them to strike their bodies with long, wooden whips.
Enduring the pain, amid dancing and cheers, is seen as a sign of love and loyalty toward their male relatives. Indeed, the men are forever indebted to the women after the ceremony is over.