Mursi Family and Marriage

         Although many people have different views of the Mursi people, whether good or bad, they are, in fact, more cultured than their given credit for. The Mursi actually have a very interesting view on family values and marriage in their society. The cultural and societal orientation of the Mursi society leans heavily in a hierarchical direction that is, a more male dominated society. Lineage is carried through the males, so it is a patrilineal affair.

          One of the main divisions in Mursi family-life is that of clans. Mursi people naturally tend to clump together as clans based on their ancestors' names. These clans are usually very tightly bound and treat each other close like family. These clans tend to become pretty large and can consist of up to fifty men and are so tightly bound that, in the case of an infertile Mursi man, he will ask one of his clansmen to impregnate his wife on his behalf. The infertile man will still be considered the child's legal father, and the biological father will have no role in the child's name or life outside of clansmen roles.

          Not only are these Mursi clans tightly bound, but the relationship with family is also very close. A husband and wife are not only married by name, but they become a part of each others' families and clans. A husband becomes like a son to his mother-in-law and vice versa. Clans become intertwined through marriage, which only adds to the tight bonds between the Mursi people across the different clans and family names.

          Polygamy is a normal thing that is found in Mursi marriage. Men are allowed to wed multiple women, however, it is scarcely seen in the average Mursi's life. This is because the concept of marriage, to a Mursi man, is something of a great debt to his wife's family. The Mursi use something called Bridewealth-a sort of alternative to dowry. The husband must give the wife's family compensation for taking their daughter's labor and fertility. When getting married, a Mursi man is indebted to the wife and her family for the next three generations.

Lise Jorgenson, Stine 2011Ethnographic Reflections On Marriage In Mursi. Ebook. 1st edition. Trondheim: NTNU. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:442482/FULLTEXT01.pdf, accessed June 3 , 2015.

Age and Age Sets

           In the Mursi Tribe, men are put into ‘age sets’ and they go through several different ‘age grades’ throughout their life. In marriages, the women is in the same age grade as their husband. This is something that sets the Mursi tribe apart from other indigenous tribes, men and women marrying in the same age range, whereas other tribes let young girls marry older men. When a man officially becomes a member of an age set, which is also called teny, they enter full social adulthood. Sometimes, this can happen way before or after men are physically mature.

           The most current age set is called the ‘rora’, which would be the junior elders. As a new rora is being created, the previous rora now becomes the ‘bara’, which is now the senior elders. This being said, the previous rora now becomes the ‘karui’, which are the retired elders. The age set that are supposed to make all the decisions that deal with the public are the bara. They’re also the people that participate and lead the most in the public meetings. Just like other societies, "out with the old, in with the new!"

           There are several baras that want to be much more involved and lead the people; however, they can’t make any decisions on their own. Everything is pretty much determined by the rules of society. The youngest age set of the three groups, the rora, have duties to act as the Ethiopian police or army. It’s the rora’s duties to keep their land and people safe, while also making sure the operations of the community run smoothly and successfully. Tourists often don't realize the intricacies within this community, they are a fairly sophisticated people. 

            The last set created was in 1991 and is called the Geleba. The members of this set has a wide age span, ranging from 30 to 60 years old. Since some of the members are elderly, they are allowed to participate in decision-making for the public. All of the local groups have their own ceremonies, which all happen in the same year. Depending on a man's age, he could have much responsibility is allowed to do much more as they age. For example, being able to marry or being in charge of making vital decisions.  

Oxford Department of International Development,

   2015  Age And Age Sets — Mursi Online. Electronic Document,

         http://www.mursi.org/introducing-the-mursi/age-and-age-sets, accessed June 3, 2015.

Traditions of the Mursi Tribe

          The Mursi tribe is comprised of about 47000 people, who live in the Omo valley in the southwest of Ethiopia. They are traveling cow herders that move around looking for food and water for their cows, but when they can they raise sorghum and corn. They follow the resources around the Omo valley since they don’t have access to outside trade. Nowadays the Mursi tribe depends on sustenance depends on money from tourists, they dress up in body paint and head ornaments to make sure their pictures get taken. They charge tourist for every picture they take and whenever someone comes through their area they are forced to pay them.

           Their most popular tradition is the lip plate, "dhebi a tugoin," that a Mursi woman wears in her lower lip. Some lip plates are made from mud or from clay. Traditionally, a lady isn’t allowed to wear one until the age of 15 years old. Each young lady chooses how far to extend the lip. This is done by putting bigger and bigger pieces of wood in the lip to let it stretch over time. The width of a plate can be up to 12 centimeters. Plates are removed from the lip when eating. Everyone always wonders why the ladies wear such a strange adornment. While they have reasons dating back to slavery, today they are do it as an articulation of becoming a grown-up in both social and organic senses.

            Another tradition among the Mursi is when men, particularly those single ones, conduct stylized dueling or thagine which is exceptionally essential. The thagine is a slightly combative technique utilizing wooden shafts and customary defensive attire. Thagine occasions can last for a few days. Mursi individuals here and there discuss the thagine as war, or kama. The wooden pole or donga that is used in duels is roughly two meters long. The pole is cut from the kalochi tree that belongs to the genus Grewia. Attacking, a man holds donga at its base with both hands. He can hit any part of the opponent's body but only with the shaft of donga, never with the point. Each fighter wears special clothing called tumoga that is both protective and decorative. For the fight not to go over the limit there is one or more referees or kwethani surverying the technicalities of the fight. The fight ends when one of the opponents fall or forfeit because of injury.

            If a victory is achieved by knocking down the opponent, the winner incurs a huge celebration. He is carried around the field on the shoulders of local men of the same age. Age groups represent an important factor in Mursi society. After that, single girls belonging to his mother's clan, who are called girl mothers, or “dole juge,” surround him. They put goatskins on the ground so he can sit. Girls also prepare cotton cloth for the winner. They stretch it on dueling poles above the winner to provide him with shade. There is a symbolic meaning in everything, in this case, the goatskins represent a mother protects her baby from the sun.

Mislav Popovic
   2012  Mursi Traditions. Electronic Document,
         http://traditionscustoms.com/people/mursi, accessed June 2, 2015.

Women of the Mursi Tribe

The Mursi women are an easily recognized group because they are the last African indigenous group to wear lip plates. Lip plates are wooden or pottery plates that are placed in a woman’s lower lip after turning fifteen years old. In order to wear one, the women must have her lip cut and extended over a period of time, usually ranging from several months to a few years. The cutting of the lip is usually done by an aunt in the family, and although a very painful process, now holds a Mursi woman to tremendous prestige. Wooden lip plates are made primarily by males, these are the largest and most beautiful only worn by unmarried young girls and women. The practice of cutting their lower lip began when Mursi wanted to make themselves less attractive to slave traders. 

Although the lip plates weren't always for style, it now represents a woman’s aging, entrance into womanhood, and their ability to reproduce. For many women of the Mursi Tribe, the lip plate size is related to her worth. The bigger the stretched out lip, the bigger the plate, and the more cattle a man’s family will give for her. The women are arranged to marry a man prior to the cutting of the lip, the arrangement is set between the girl’s parents as well as the male she is going to marry. An exchange between the female’s families consists of giving the girl away for severance fees.

If a Mursi girl does not wear a lip plate she is seen as lazy or not living up to the duties set forth by her husband. The husband of a Mursi women can hit her if he sees her without a lip plate. The lip plates are to be worn at four specific times; when serving their husbands food, during dueling ceremonies, weddings, and dances. When a Mursi women’s husband dies, she must throw out her lip plate, never to be worn again. In a sense, the lip plate is more for the enjoyment and boasting of the husband.

The Mursi women’s life is structured around her strengths and weaknesses. She is a woman when she serves her husband food and has an abundance of healthy cattle. As the Mursi tribe have more contact with the outside world, their lives are being altered dramatically, many women do not want to have their lip cut and stretched. This may cause conflict throughout the Mursi tribe between husband and wife as it is a sign of respect to the husband when the women wear it, and an old tradition. Women’s lives are based around their appearance with their lip plates as well as pleasing their husbands once they are wed. 

Oxford Department of International Develoment

  2006-2013 Body Art. Electronic Document,

            http://www.mursi.org/introducing-the-mursi/BodyArt/lip-plates, accessed June 1, 2015

People of Tumwi (Religion and Healing)

           The Mursi tribe is widely popular for their lip plates, however this has nothing to with their religious beliefs. Over centuries this unique group has concocted a mixture of animism; the belief that all objects have spirits, and Muslim beliefs; that spirits can manifest in the form of certain objects or animals with supernatural powers. Contact with Christian missionaries has done little to impact their beliefs, however their mixture of monotheism and animism has transitioned their religion to polytheistic. They carry strong beliefs that illnesses are caused by bad interactions with their social and natural environments, not to say that believe in sin, but their philosophy does support the modern idea of “everything happens for a reason.”

            As with most religion, they believe in a greater force than themselves. In their world, this greater force is called Tumwi and lives in the sky. Tumwi sometimes manifests itself as “ahi a tumwin,” a thing in the sky such as a rainbow or a bird. Their religious belief system has a hierarchy where priests, or Kômoru, are at the top. This is a position that can only be obtained by inheritance, so Kômoru will continue to come from the same couple of families forever. They can’t even leave Mursiland or their local group, referred to as bhruan, which preserves their lineage and connection with Tumwi. Current priests in office are Dola in Mursiland, Ulikoro Bule in the south, and Garikuli, and Bumai.

            The elite group is known as Kômorte; the priestly clan. The priests act as intercessors between the people and Tumwi, and conduct public rituals to bring about rain, protection of the tribe, and fertility for the soil, people, and cattle. Under the Kômoru are individuals who have a reputation for specific healings, called nana and the ngerre. Some nanas, the male healers, can heal open wounds act as surgeons to heal those hurt in battle or by wild animals. But the ngerre, the woman healers also known as the women of Tumwi, are more popular. People visit them when they have an internal illness. The way of the ngerre is to pat and “shhh,” to literally pull the sickness out of the body. This practice is known as leto.

            Of course, natural remedies are used to heal since other resources aren’t readily available. Medicines are limited to herbs. The ngerre are skilled at healing, they can pick up a herb without looking at it and know what it is by the smell. Although a visit to the ngerre is very common, in order to be healed the sick must pay them. Beer, coffee, and cattle are some of the common things given as payment. As you can see, healing and religion are intertwined because if someone needs to get healed they go visit a priest or lesser ritual family, e’wu. They consider the internal illnesses afflictions associated with Tumwi.

Oxford Department of International Development

  2006-2013 Religion and Healing.  Electronic Document,

        http://www.mursi.org/introducing-the-mursi/copy_of_duelling, accessed May 27, 2015.

Hannelore Vandelbussche 
   2011  Before They Pass Away.