#mursi

[kemetic-dreams]

In Africa, European colonial governments and European Christian missionaries criminalized and stigmatized the cultural practices of tattooing and scarification; consequently, the practices underwent decline, ended, or continued to be performed as acts of resistance.

Among the ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa that traditionally practice scarification are the Gonja, Dagomba, Frafra, Mamprusi, Nanumba, Bali, Tɔfin, Bobo, Montol, Kofyar, Yoruba, and Tiv people of West Africa, and the Dinka, Nuer, Surma, Shilluk, Toposa, Moru, Bondei, Shambaa, Barabaig, and Maasai people of East Africa.

Traditionally, the most common reason for scarification has been as a rite of passage.

Scarification has been widely used by many West African tribes to mark milestone stages in both men and women's lives, such as puberty and marriage.

In many tribes, members unwilling to participate in scarification were generally not included in the group's activities, and are often shunned from their society.

According to anthropologist Grace Harris, group members lacking the normal characteristics consistent with the group are not considered as having acquired the full standing as agents in their society; they would also lack the capacity for meaningful behavior, such as greeting, commanding, and stating. 

Therefore, scarification can transform partial tribe members into "normal" members entirely accepted by the group.

Scarification is a form of language not readily expressed, except through extensive and intricate greetings, and gives the ability to communicate fully, which is a key element for being considered as a normal member of the group.

One reason why scarification is used as confirmation of adulthood is how it shows the ability to endure pain. With young men, the endurance of the pain of scarring exhibits strength and discipline, especially in tribes where males have roles as hunters and warriors.

A young man who has already experienced the feeling of torn or cut flesh is considered less likely to fear the teeth of a wild animal or the tip of an enemy's spear.

In Ethiopia and Zambia, elaborate scarification is often done on women at puberty, used to denote a willingness to be a mother. The markings show that she can stand the pain of childbirth, as well as being an indication of her emotional maturity.

Some of these rites of passage have spiritual or religious roots, such young boys in the Chambri tribe of Papua New Guinea undergo scarification resembling crocodile scales to mark their transition into manhood, a ritual which stems from the belief that humans evolved from crocodiles.

In Ethiopia, Suri men scar their bodies to show that they have killed someone from an enemy tribe;

the Mursi practice scarification for largely aesthetic reasons in order to attract the opposite sex and enhance the tactile experience of sex. 

The Ekoi of Nigeria believe that the scars serve, on their way to the afterlife, as money.

[afrotumble]

[postcard-from-the-past]

Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque in Alexandria, Egypt

British vintage postcard

[lucassobretela]

.:Mursi:.

[sspacegodd]

An early example of corn rows.

A Mursi woman with lip plate in Omo Ethiopia.

Piercing, labret, and and lip plates are a strong part of the Mursi and Surma -Suri culture. These traditional adornments are worn by almost all the adult Suri women.

When a woman becomes engaged to be married, usually in her teens (around 14 or 15), she disappears from village life to live in her family hut. The gap between her front lip and the flesh below is pierced and gradually stretched. In the beginning a hole is made in the lip with a wooden stick.

The stretch continues as successively bigger discs of clay or wood are accommodated by the disfigured lip. Generally the two lower front teeth are pulled (or knocked) out to aid the process. The final size of the plates determines how many cattle the woman will receive as a dowry, so the more stretched her lip the better, and the more the more cattle the woman is worth. Some women have stretched their lips so as to allow plates up to 20 centimeters in diameter.

Having a lip plate is considered a sign of beauty. The origins of this tradition are unknown. Sometimes the lip is broken by the pressure of the lip plate. This is a very big problem for girls because men will consider her as ugly, and she won't be able to marry anyone in the tribe apart from old men or ill people.

© Eric Lafforgue

[zerihcom]

Kalıntılara Dikkat Edin ve Yapacaklarından Sakının!

2 minutes Kaynak: Hizb-ut-Tahrir Haber: Humus kentinde Cuma günü yaşanan çatışmaların ardından, Esad’a bağlı milislerin kalıntılarını aramak üzere başlatılan operasyonda Humus’un Zehra Mahallesi’nde bir mühimmat deposu ele geçirildi. Yorum: Kalıntıların tehlikesi, sadece bugünün değil, köklü ve eski bir tehlikedir; Müslümanların Endülüs’te Frankları takip edip bir kısmını dağlarda…

[jms-viriato]

Mujer Mursi

Entre las mujeres Mursi del Valle del Omo (Etiopía), los platos labiales son un motivo de orgullo y un signo de fortaleza.

Para saber mas 👌👇👇

[kemetic-dreams]

East Africans are not mixed with Arabs. Where do Arabs come from East Africans

[drawingwithlight]

a woman of Mursi tribe (Ethiopia) by Leni Riefenstahl (1975)

[delitay]

Şehit edilişinin yıldönümünde rahmetle anıyorum.

Mekanı cennet olsun inşallah 😢🤲

[antonioarchangelo]

Com uso de Inteligência Artificial, projeto de leitura criativa com lendas africanas promove Cultura Afro-Brasileira

Rio Claro, São Paulo – Em conformidade com a Lei Federal 10.639/03, que obriga o ensino da história e cultura afro-brasileira nas escolas, a Escola Municipal Jovelina Moratelli desenvolveu um projeto inovador focado em lendas africanas. Alunos do 1º ano D, em processo de alfabetização, participaram de atividades de reescrita, criação musical e design gráfico, culminando na publicação de um livro…

[liamphotoatl]

(Liam Photography Podcast)

[covenawhite66]

The Mursi live in southwest Ethiopia in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region, a regional state near the border with South Sudan. The Mursi are one of the 45 distinct ethnic groups in Ethiopia. As semi-nomadic pastoralists, the Mursi regularly move around this region wherever water sources are most beneficial for the thousands of cattle they harvest throughout the year.

There’s a litany of travel magazines with glossy images of the Mursi smiling with exotic horns, bones, and foliage hanging from their heads, ears, and around their necks. But all of these photos were taken at a tourist village subtly operating like a roadside attraction.

Mursi do not wear cattle horns or elaborate face paint when preparing food or tending to their children. These decorative headdresses are not even used in their private ceremonies. Yet they do so for tourists

Over the years, the Mursi have learned that if they participate in this sort of gimmick, tourists will give them money. They can then afford things they cannot harvest or manufacture themselves, like medicine, specialized tools, and weapons and ammunition. The money collected by the Mursi at the “front of the house” is dispersed through the immediate community, used to purchase items needed in the face of agricultural decline or drought.

[psikonauti]

Patricia Donald (South African)

Mursi Woman, 2015

Oil on canvas

[omgthatdress]

Lion's mane hat and mantle, Amhara people, Ethiopia, mid-20th century, Indiana Museum of Art

Afar man & woman

Mursi & Omo women