Men of the Ethiopian tribe drink blood with milk to get the title of the fattest inhabitant of the village

More is better. This is exactly what the people of the Bodi, or Me'en, people think.

A tribe living in a remote region of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia practices an unusual ritual in which young people drink milk with cow's blood to become as fat as possible. They live in isolation for six months, and then they come out of their huts to proudly demonstrate their bloated belly and compete with others for the right to be called the fattest inhabitant of the village. The winner will be considered a hero for the rest of his life.

French photographer Eric Lafforgue decided to tell the rest of the world about this ritual.

Southern Ethiopia. Omo River Valley. UNESCO World Heritage Site. The territory, which was not touched by civilization until recently, is now crossed by roads. Warriors of indigenous tribes come out with sticks instead of machine guns to defend the right to live on the land of their fathers. "Leave us and our cows alone," they say.

It all started a few years ago with the construction of a cascade of dams on the Omo River. One of the hydroelectric power plants under construction — Gibe III — should become the largest in Africa, double the energy potential of Ethiopia, and also bring considerable income to the state treasury. Part of the fields that for centuries belonged to local tribes - Bodi, Mursi, Suri, Dasanech, Hamer, Karo and others, will be flooded, the other part will dry up. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, human rights and environmental organizations around the world oppose the launch of a power plant that threatens to destroy the ecosystem in the lower reaches of the Omo River, lead to climate change and the lifestyle of 200,000 indigenous people.

They are different from ordinary Ethiopians. The city considers them savages, because members of the tribes still disfigure their skin with scars, smear their bodies with clay, insert discs into the lip, removing the front teeth. They maintain the tradition of blood feud, their boys become real men only after killing the enemy. Their men, naked, fight with rare cruelty on long poles. They buy wives for 25 cows and a Kalashnikov assault rifle…

Preparing for the celebration of the New Year in June, the men of the Bodi tribe drink a lot of cow's blood and milk to get fat.

Each family can put up one unmarried candidate for the traditional competition. The fattest becomes the winner and wins the recognition of the tribe for a year.

The competition for the fattest resident of the tribe begins six months before the ceremony.

Each family can imagine an unmarried man who, after selection, returns to his hut and does not have to leave there or have sex for six months.

Women from the village regularly bring a mixture of cow's milk and cow's blood to the participants of the competition — this is their food.

Cows are sacred to the Bodi tribe, so they are not usually killed.

Blood from cows is taken through a small hole in the vein, which is made with a spear or an axe, and then covered with clay.

Because of the searing heat, men should drink a 2-liter bowl of blood with milk as quickly as possible before the blood clots. But, as you know, not everyone can do it.

Men drink blood with milk all day.

The first bowl is drunk at dawn.

Flies are flying everywhere.

Not all participants can swallow milk with blood so quickly. Many people feel sick.

On the day of the contest, the men smear themselves with clay and ashes, then leave the huts and go to the place where the ceremony will take place.

Because of the weight gained and the immobile lifestyle, it turns out to be an almost impossible task for many to overcome such a short distance.

Many simply cannot walk.

One of them even asked the photographer to take him by car, and in the van he continued to drink blood with milk.

The ceremony itself consists of fat men walking around the sacred tree for hours. The rest of the men are watching them closely, and the women are giving them alcohol and wiping their sweat.

As soon as the fattest man is chosen, the ceremony ends with the killing of a cow with the help of a huge sacred stone.

The village elders then examine her stomach and blood to determine if there will be a bright future or not.

After the ceremony, the men's lives return to normal. Most of them soon lose their bellies.

But after a few weeks, the next generation of "contestants" is selected to participate in a new ritual.

Becoming the fattest in the village is the dream of every child from the Bodi tribe.

A few weeks after the ceremony, the winner returns to normal, but remains a hero for the rest of his life.

Women look at this ritual as an opportunity to choose a potential husband.

In the bodie tribe, fat means beautiful.

But today the traditions and customs of the Bodi tribe are in danger.

A woman from the Bodi tribe from the remote village of Khan Mursi.

For women, the ceremony of choosing the fattest inhabitant of the village is not only an occasion to find a potential groom…

...but also a reason to show off in your best outfits.