Discovery Collection: Bull Jumping #66

Discovery Collection

Piece #66 of 100

Portrait of a Hamer tribesman performing the bull-jumping. Hamer are semi-nomadic, pastoral tribe inhabiting the Omo River (Ethiopia). They have many ceremonies and the most important is the bull-jumping, the final test for young men before moving into adulthood and getting married. The cattle are lined up in a row and the initiate, naked, has to jump from the back of one bull to the other, until the end of the line. He must successfully repeat the test four times without falling for the right to be recognized as a man.

Published by: Civilization