The Mursi People of Ethiopia

A Mursi woman with lip disc, hippo tusk and snail shell.

In this era of civilization, there are some things that does not add up, well maybe they do but you get flabbergasted. You see them and yet you find it difficult to believe. The question that pops up in your head is: 'Is this real?'. Body modification is a ritual that long existed, but it is mostly practiced for fun these days. And here's a story of the people of Mursi in Ethiopia so weird the world has explored it's inhabitants.

They are an ethnic group that inhibits the southwestern part of Ethiopia and reside in the Debob Omo Zone very close to the border with south Sudan. They speak Mursi as mother tongue and undergo various rites of passage, disciplinary process or educational. They are most characterized by wearing large pottery or wooden disc or plates in their lower lips. This is called Lip plates, it is also a mode of traditional dressing and rites that makes them unique within the community.

A Mursi girl will lip disc and 'corn-hair'.

Girls' lips are pierced at the age of 15 or 16. They insert a peg in the lips until after it heals. They begin inserting different sizes of disc until they achieve the size they feel happy about. It's a symbol of pride to a Mursi woman, and an emblem of identification to the tribe and community they belong. The lip plate is seen as an expression of social adulthood and reproductive potential.

A disc-less lip of a Mursi woman

A Mursi woman with disc and basket

Mursi on "horny"

The tradition and culture that spreads across the earth differs and varies with each community. While it is a normal way of life for the people that practices it, to some it is seen as nothing but weird.

You might want to read about this Lee Redmond with the longest fingernails.