The ‘Donga’, or stick fight, is usually practised by the tribesmen at the end of each harvest. It is a tribe stick fighting tournament that takes place once a year.
Here are lists of fascinating photos taken in remote Ethiopia tribes where tribesmen fighting each other with sticks and even using gunfire in a bid to impress women.
Sometimes participants will show off their gunfire to their opponents, see below:
Every local village sends their top male fighters to an undisclosed location to fight for village honour. Tribesmen who triumph in brutal and bloody donga fights are considered heroes by the rest of the village and wider tribe .
Before a Donga, some warriors will drink the fresh blood of their cattle, to which they believe it will give fighters strength.
See below: Tribeswoman with a lip plate wearing a skinned animal carcass on her head.
The battles can be vicious and some warriors can be killed. If a fighter dies during battle his family will be compensated. However in accordance with tribal custom the men refuse to show pain – even while bearing deep flesh wounds.
A victorious fighter points his stick towards the woman of his choice. Throughout the day men are also drinking millet beer to give themselves some liquid courage. This means that fights have a tendency to get even more violent as the day goes on.
The fighting can leave many participants with scars. Scarification is a sign of beauty in Sumi culture and see with both men and women – who often go through elaborate scarification processes
Tribeswomen often go through elaborate beauty processes including intricate scarification and hair dying.
See below: A tribesman helps a warrior armour up before a battle.
A man is knocked down during a fight while the referee looks on. Iy forbiddto hit a downed fighter
