This picture shows a Woman of a Moorish Tribe known for having a huge lip plate that is unique in the world.
How did the lip plate of the "Lip Plate Family" come about?
The Moorish tribes settled in the Omo Valley (Ethiopia in Africa). It is estimated that the tribe currently has less than 10,000 total members. They belonged to the nomadic people, had their own language, and were able to communicate internally, but did not have a preserved writing system.
The women of the Moorish tribe wear large discs on their lower lips. The larger the disc, the more beautiful it is. Although this painful process is completely unimaginable, most girls in the tribe begin to pierce their lips at the age of 15.
A Moldish girl who has not yet undergone the "polishing" of the lip plate. The disc is already embedded in the earlobe. On the head is a corn decoration.
The method of piercing is to make an incision in the lower lip and place a cork in it so that the wound never closes. In the following years, the hole will also be enlarged as the plug (disc) becomes larger. They also sometimes remove their lower front teeth to highlight aesthetics and ease of use to make the tip of their tongue visible.
The discs on the lips of women were generally made of clay, while the discs of men were made of wood.
Over time, this somewhat frightening-looking ornament, with a sense of pain, has become one of the tribe's most recognized symbols. And for unmarried people, the larger the plate on their lips, the greater the chances of marriage.
In addition to the lip plate, what other iconic features does the Moorish have?
The appearance of the lips after the plate is removed. The face and head are more complex decorations and patterns
Most of the people of the Moorish tribe were naked and smeared and decorated with various patterns and ornaments on the body. In addition to the iconic "lip plate", they also paint a variety of strange patterns on their bodies, and women who love beauty will also draw on nature, such as using horns, shells, dry branches, etc. to decorate.
The young males of the tribe have patterns painted with white paint on their bodies
Men in the tribe also carry AK-47 rifles with them, using civilian armed forces to prevent foreign invasion or theft of their cattle.
Marriage and everyday life
In terms of marriage, the local custom is to exchange cattle for women. The larger the disc on the lips of the girl to be married, the more cattle her father could get. Some girls can even exchange for more than 100 cows.
Women carry clay pots on their heads to transport things
Why trade cattle for other livestock? Because, they believe that "cattle are the source of life" and believe very much in the superpowers of animals and the sky.
Their daily survival is basically based on the relatively primitive hunting and grazing for a living, and it can be said that they are still stuck in the era of slash and burn. In addition to the "bride price" exchange in marriage, other daily transactions are also following the ancient "barter" system.
The tribe is about to disappear? A game between primitive tribes and modern commercial society.
The Ethiopian government has divided the Moorish community into separate administrative areas and continues to encourage tourists to visit and generate income for them. In addition, there are more modernization programs to help the tribe vigorously develop agriculture, such as the hydroelectric dam project on the Omo River.
However, this is a "double-edged sword", because the completion of the dam will prompt Ethiopia to become an energy exporter, and the Omo Valley, on which the Moor people currently depend, may also be "reduced" to a bustling commercial area to contribute to the government's GDP.
As a result, the dam construction project has also been resisted by very multicultural conservators.
Should this tribe, which does not even have a written word and is in a very primitive and even isolated state, be transformed by modern commercial society? Or should they continue their nomadic life of slash-and-burn farming, which is ill-educated and unproductive? Go. What do you think?