Suri woman with lipplate
Suri woman with lipplate and child in Kibish, Omo Valley, Ethiopia.
Among the Suri people in Ethiopia a girl's lower lip is cut when she reaches the age 15 or 16. The girl's lip is pierced by her mother or another woman of her village and a simple wooden plug is inserted. The cut is held open by the wooden plug until the wound heals. After that the plug is replaced by a bigger one. The stretching of the lip continues by inserting progressively larger plugs over a period of several months. At a diameter of about 4 cm the first lip plate made of clay can be inserted, the final diameter ranges from about 8 cm to over 20 cm.
Nowadays the girls in some Suri villages decide for themselves whether to wear a lip plate or not. However, wearing a lip plate is still an expression of social adulthood and self-esteem for a Suri woman and demonstrates respect for the Suri men.
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