Tribal rituals. Know when to say when....

We were watching a show last night about "Stick Fights and Lip Plates". Seriously that's what it was called. In a remote part of South West Ethiopia live the Surma. They've kept their traditional way of life, remaining almost untouched by the outside world. For the men, this means stick-fighting which can lead to serious injury, and in some cases death. For the women, lip plates, and true and complete obedience to their men.

Anyway, there were these tribal rituals going on, all pertaining to those two events. The men would fight with sticks, and the winner would win the woman in question, always the woman in the tribe with the biggest lip plate. The men were so proud of their wives with the biggest lip plates. They interviewed several women, who talked about how they got their lip plates so big, and how important it is. One woman was an outcast and a complete shut in because she had tried to stretch her lip too fast and it had broke. Now she was unmarry-able. A travesty. Her lips were hanging in long tendrils down the side of her mouth.

We laughed so hard at one point..the tribe was getting ready to pierce a girl's lip for the first time, and of course it started out with much chanting and dancing. It looked to be around dusk. The night wore on and soon they were singing a song that translated into "we'll dance and sing all night and into the day".

I just kept thinking... Aren't there some folks in the tribe that are just tired? Isn't there some that just want to go home and go to bed? When one person started that song, did others turn to each other and say "What did he say? All night and into the day?"

What if you don't want to sing and dance all night? They've already had a long day of hunting, weaving, rock bashing, swatting flies out of their eyes, etc. Does anyone ever speak up and say "oh man...all night? Tonight??"

Soon it was morning, then midday and they were still singing and dancing. Then they started singing "We will dance till we die!" I could just picture some tribesman turning to another and saying.."You know what...Im outta here. I sang and danced all night and into the day, like he said...and now I need a nap."

I almost choked on my food, seriously. We were laffing out of control.

Dance on, people.