LifestyleReligion & Belief
Get to know the Hamar people of Ethiopia, a tribe in which women are brutally whipped before marriage.
Meet the Hamar people of Ethiopia, a tribe in which women are brutally whipped for marriage.
In the tradition known as “Ukuli Bula”, women are whipped as part of a Rite of Passage ceremony for boys, when female family members declare their love for the young man at the heart of the celebration.
The wedding ceremony involves whipping, teasing, screaming, horn-blowing and leaping are all part of the Jumping of the Bulls Ceremony. Its a rite of passage into manhood for all Hamer boys.
After the bulls have been lined up side by side, each naked boy must cross the line of bulls, jumping from bull to bull on their backs. If he falls the women laugh at him. He does this for respect, to become a man, and to get married. He jumps one way and then back again. He does this four times.
A woman must be whipped several times to prove she is a strong woman and that is what a man looks for in a wife. The women ask to be whipped more and more and if a man will not whip her they call him a girl for not being a man and whipping her.
The more scars a woman has the more beautiful and strong she is. She asks to be whipped to prove her strength.
