Bull jumping - Hamer tribes
Tradition of the Hamer tribes, the bull jumping ceremony is a rite of passage in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. It
represents a life-changing event for the young man who passes from boyhood into adulthood. A Hamer man
comes of age by leaping over a line of cattle. These ceremonies take place after the harvests and they grant the
men the rights to marry, own cattle, and have children. The tribes have then several days of feasting and
drinking sorghum beer.
On the afternoon of the leap, the man’s female relatives demand to be whipped as part of the ceremony, to
prove their love for the men of their clans. The girls go out to meet the Maza’s, the ones who will whip them –
a group of men who have already leapt across the cattle, and live apart from the rest of the tribe, moving from
ceremony to ceremony.
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There are around 45,000 Hamer people living in wood and straw huts in the Omo Valley, near
Ethiopia’s border with Kenya. They are largely pastoralists, so their culture places a high value on cattle. The
land isn’t owned by individuals, it’s free for cultivation and grazing. The Hamer move on when the land is
exhausted or overwhelmed by weeds.
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On the morning of the ceremony, members of the tribe are collecting blood from one of their bulls.
They offer it to drink to their guests before starting the festivities.
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The whippers running the ceremonies are called “maza ’s”. Maza’s are single men who
have already performed the bull jumping. They are then hired to whip the women during the
ceremony. They earn goats and money as a salary. They will whip all the jumper’s female relatives
except his mother.
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One of maza’s dismembers a goat on the morning of the ceremony. Food and alcohol are served to
hundreds of guests.
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The members of the tribe gather in the village in the morning. They drink blood freshly out of the bull
in a huge calabash and pass it to each other as a welcome mark.
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The mother of the jumper to become a man (called “Ukuli”) is walking around in the bush. She will
guide the women of the clan throughout the day, by leading and motivating them to get whipped harder and
harder.
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A young girl is watching the ceremony holding her little brother. Very young girls are discouraged
from getting whipped but some start from the age of 14 to be fully a part of the ceremonies.
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Women leave the village with one of the maza’s
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A woman sits on the banks of the river. Her back is bleeding due to the lashes she has received today.
Her wounds are swollen. Her back also has many scars from previous bull jumping ceremonies in which she
participated already in the past. Hamer women take part in these rituals several times a life.
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Hamer communities across the whole Omo Valley in South-Western Ethiopia gathers for these events.
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A woman faces the maza’s, taunting him, looking at him right in the eye and begging him to whip her
more and more.
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The young women of the Ukuli family come to the ceremony highly decorated, their hair and bodies
covered with butter, and ecstatically dancing, singing and blowing horns in circles for 3-4 hours prior the
ceremony.
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Women are being repeatedly whipped with sticks by the maza’s as they take part in this traditional
coming of age ceremony. The wounds bleed but women taunt the men, demanding more abuse. Ash and
charcoal are then packed in the open wound.
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Thick welts cover their bodies but instead of screaming, they ask their abusers to beat them harder.
The greater the physical pain, the more devotion they are thought to show to the boy who is about to become
a man and to the other men of their clans.
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The Hamer women smear their skin and tightly braid their hair with a mixture of ocre and butter.
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The Maza’s clean themselves and put on adornments before going to gather the flocks for the jumping
ceremony, that will take place later in the afternoon.
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A maza wearing his adornments
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A mother stays a few minutes away from the excitement to breastfeed her child. In a few moments,
she will return with the other women to get whipped more and more.
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!!!!!!!NO COMMENT!!!!!!!
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Women run here and there to gather the bulls for jumping
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!!!!!!!NO COMMENT!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!NO COMMENT!!!!!!!
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The teenage bull jumper stares silently into the distance contemplating the task ahead. If he manages
to run across the backs of a line of cattle, he becomes known as a Maza (“accomplished one”) and is entitled to
take the first of several brides.
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7 to 15 are lined up and the “bull jumper” has to run across their backs 4 times to become a man. If he
fails, he must return to his village and wait a year to try again. If he succeeds, he then gets granted the rights to
marry, own cattle, and have children.