In southern Ethiopia, life is difficult

A drought can mean death; a betrayal can cost a village its cows – their lifeblood. With numerous tribes competing to exist in a small area, survival is competitive. People must exist as a team, a tribe

That means tribes need to make sure their people are truly one of them. One way the Hamer people do this is by whipping their women and making their men jump a bull. We saw both

Tribal villages can be structured in many ways: They can have numerous huts in the same area; they can have isolated huts spread over a wide area; or they can have a combination of the two

Here, the huts were isolated and spread over miles. We pulled up to one such hut as hundreds of tribespeople were arriving from the other huts, which collectively make the village

Everyone was dressed the same: The men in t-shirts or faded NBA jerseys with skirts; the women in skirts, shirts, and necklaces, all with their hair in identical braids dipped in clay. As they arrive, they dance, sing, and drink

Then the whipping begins

This ceremony marks a boy’s coming of age

The first step in this involves the boy’s best friend whipping the boy’s female family members. The more a woman is whipped, the more evident is her dedication to her family and tribe

So when the boy’s friend brought out the whip, his mother, aunts, sisters, and cousins lined up

The women jumped up and down, whooped and cheered, pulled on the friend to whip them. And he obliged: Over and over again, he whipped them with a long vine

Once he had started the ceremony, other men joined in: All holding their makeshift whips, they smacked and cracked them on the women’s bare skin. The more they were whipped, the more the women cheered

They pulled on the men, begging them to whip them harder. Their backs were soon ripped up but they were laughing, dancing, smiling, proud

The boy’s relatives thus showed they were loyal to him. Now, it was his turn

Moving as a large crowd, we walk down a hill, over the road, and into the bush

We keep going, for maybe two miles, until we reach a large hilltop clearing. The women are still cheering and dancing, their golden bangles jingling. The men, some carrying rifles and other guns, mill about, while a select group leads in the bulls

The boy, meanwhile, is standing about naked, holding his hands over his groin. He’s probably 15, although birthdays aren’t known here

As he stands there, visibly uncomfortable, the men line up the bulls. One, two, three – people start to gossip – how many bulls will he jump? After all, the more bulls, the more wealth his family has

This boy is wealthy enough for seven bulls, and once the bulls are lined up side-by-side, the crowd forms a large circle around the boy and the bulls

They’re chanting, clapping, preparing. Then the boy drops his hands and sprints at the bulls

Effortlessly – he’s been training for this – he jumps onto the first one and runs onto the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, then jumps down. The crowd cheers on the naked boy, who now – again exposed in front of hundreds of people – turns back to the cows

He again faces the bulls, runs, jumps up again. Once he runs across he jumps down, now looking more confident. Then he runs and does it again. Then again and again

By the end, the boy had made five runs across the bulls. Having done so, he’s a man. He can take a wife and voice his opinion

The crowd moves back to his hut so they can drink and celebrate. This may have been the most important day of his life, and we were there for it

But people sometimes stray from the tribe

What happens when they do? Tomorrow’s installment will document one punishment