Hamar bull jumping initiation ceremony. A Hamar woman wears bells on her lower legs to create sound when dancing.
The Hamar bull jumping ceremony is a rite of passage for Hamar youths, it must be successfully completed before a man is permitted to marry. The youth must jump over the castrated bulls two times in each direction to be successful. The bulls are held still, so the physical risk is limited. The jumping is performed naked as a symbol of the childhood the initiate is about to leave behind. After succeeding the young man becomes a Maza - an age set of men who have recently completed the same initiation ceremony. Several days of feasting follow. Before the ceremony women of the Hamar village, especially the jumper's sisters, provoke a Maza into lashing their bare backs with sticks, these inflict open wounds that scar them for life. The wounds are seen as the mark of a true Hamar woman. As the woman was whipped at the ceremony and endured pain for the initiate, later in life she can ask him for help if she falls on hard times as the scars from the whipping prove his debt to her. The Hamar people, who number around 45000, are semi-nomadic pastoralists. Their villages contain huts that are round and conical made from a dome frame of branches covered with grasses, mats and hides. The huts are built around a meeting place where dancing and feasting occurs, and together with a cattle and goat pen make a village. The Hamar often trade with their neighbours for sorghum and corn as they do not grow it themselves. Goats and Cattle offer milk and meat. Sorghum is made into a pancake or porridge and eaten with a stew. Men typically wear a checkered skirt of cloth while women wear a cow skin skirt. The Hamar only marry members of their own tribe, but they have nothing against borrowing – songs, hairstyles, even names – from other tribes in the valley.
Size: 4200px × 4400px
Location: Turmi, Southern Ethiopia.
Photo credit: © Neil Harris / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: african, bell, bells, castrated, cattle, celebration, ceremony, dancing, ethiopia, girl, girls, hamar, hammar, hooting, horn, horns, initiation, jump, leap, leaping, man, maza, naked, omolitic, tribal, tribes, turmi, warrior, woman, women, youth
