Why do you need a dish for a lip?

Insert a plate or a round plate in the lip – a common tradition in the past and present of some nations.

Excursion to history

Archaeological excavations show that already thousands of years ago, Africa tribes were used, and, completely independently of them, in a later period, the same inwheat plates appeared at the tribes of Central and South America. Depending on the region, both men and women were worn, both on the bottom and on the upper lip.

It is known that they gave the owner a certain social status. It is curious that the Aleuts and Inuites living in Russia (as well as in Alaska and in Canada) also used such plates, however, like most other nations forgotten about this tradition before the onset of the XX century.

Our days

Installation of intoxicated plates to this day are widely practiced only by two related tribes – Mursi and Suri, inhabiting the Omo Valley, which at the junction of the borders of South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. In fact, this is the same tribe – only with some differences. Plates are used exclusively by women and only on the bottom lip. As a rule, the plate is installed for girls – before the wedding, in the period of puberty.

Installation Instructions (for those who want)

Installation of a plate on the lip – a long and painful process. To begin with, the girl usually remove four front teeth on the lower jaw. Then (usually they make a mother or grandmother) the sharp blade is made through an incision just below the lower lip, a couple of centimeters long, where the wooden plug is inserted. About a month after the incision heals, the plug is changed to another, more sized, thus gradually stretching the hole. When it reaches 4 cm, insert the first round plate.

Over time, the lip stretches more and more, and the plates change one to another, larger, until the desired size is reached.

There are cases when the size of a carved plate reached 40 cm in diameter.

After healing and stretching the lower lip without a plate looks like this:

Why goat bayan?

Versions why Mursi and Suri used and still continue to actively use the plates, differ. Opinions of several Western specialists who investigated the issue, criticizing and refuting each other, are reduced to the following options.

1. Protection. In the past, Mursi themselves began to crip out themselves so that they were not taken into slavery. However, as you know, the times of slavery have long been behind, and Mursi everything continues to wear plates.
2. Self-identification. Without a plate in the lip, a woman feels like a white crow, because this tradition is picked out with her mother’s milk. However, recently, more and more girls of Mursi refuse to install the plate, despite the disapproval of tribesmen. Having been in the village for tourists, and in those places where a foreigner’s foot has not yet stepped, I can say that, on my subjective look, today only about half of women Mursi and Suri cut the lower lip. From those who did it, not all in everyday life are constantly carrying a plate.
3. Earnings. As the great combinator would say in this case: "In the morning, Mursi in the morning!»The appearance of women of the tribe has long attracted tourists. Since it is quite difficult to get to the place (this is a remote border area) and dangerous (there are often armed skirmishes between tribes), the tour groups usually fall into a couple of proven places. Residents of these small villages, throwing everything else, live only by the fact that they are posing for the photo for money. However, two small villages on the background of the 7.5-thousand population of Mursi – it is rather an exception than the rule. After all, Mursi is a tribe of cattle breeders whose herds are calculated hundreds of heads. You can make money on this much more than on scant tips of tourists.
4. the beauty. Plate in the lip for the girl – a symbol of femininity and beauty. What it is more, the greater the chance to find an enviable groom. Parents of the same potential bride Successful wedding promises to rip the big kush in the form of cattle and other goods from the groom. After all, beauty, as you know, is a terrible force! It is possible that Mursi took it too literally!

"Goat Bayan, Pop Harmony, Papuas icon!" (V.V. Vysotsky)

Be that as it may, in fact, Mursi and Suri remain the last, in the literal and figurative sense, the carriers of the ancient tradition disappeared all over the world. And even if this tradition is shocking us (as someone, perhaps shocking that our women pierce their ears), it existed in the world for more than 10,000 (!) years, and therefore takes place. After all, the wealth of the world – in its diversity! All good!