In Africa, there is a tribe where all the men are covered in scars and adorned with colorful patterns, while the women are even more startling, with large circular plates in their mouths, giving the impression that their lips are about to burst.
Some women not only have a large plate in their mouths but also have two large plates in their ears, which shocks modern onlookers!
Upon learning more, it turns out that from around the age of 10, these girls must undergo this “torture.” However, in this tribe, the larger the plate a woman wears, the higher her status. What’s the story behind this? 
The Process of Lip Plate Formation
These are the fascinating Mursi people, living in a tribe in Ethiopia, Africa, where women wear what appear to be very heavy circular plates, attracting visitors from many countries to come and witness.
When first encountering outsiders, the locals are wary, retreating one by one. Once they understand that the visitors have no ill intentions, they gradually let down their guard and even agree to have their photos taken.
However, some women charge a small fee for photos, which amuses visitors. Here, one can see that the plates in the women’s mouths are larger than others, as the larger the plate, the higher the status in the tribe.
They are known as the “Lip Plate Tribe,” with a population of about five thousand, living by hunting and herding, and still using a barter system for trade, not much different from primitive society.
These women begin their unfortunate fate at the age of 10 when female elders in the family force their children to undergo lip cutting.
They pry open the girls’ mouths, using a needle or stick to separate a small opening at the lower lip and the base of the teeth. Since there are no anesthetics in such primitive tribes, these girls must endure immense pain to fulfill this “mission.”
Initially, the cut is too small to accommodate a plate, so elders place sticks in the wounds to prevent them from healing, making subsequent cuts easier.
As time passes, the wound can no longer heal, and then they start trying to insert smaller plates to stretch the lips.
At this stage, the women endure extreme pain but must tolerate it. Over time, as the plate stays in longer, the wound expands, allowing for larger plates to be worn.
The largest plates can reach a diameter of 25 cm, and some girls, feeling their lip plates are too small, will even pull out their teeth to accommodate larger ones.
The Heart-Wrenching Reason for Lip Plates
Why do these women endure such pain for this so-called decoration? The key is that in the tribe, it is considered beautiful. This distorted aesthetic nearly suffocates visiting tourists.
The reason is that the larger the plate, the higher the bride price. If a woman does not have a lip plate, she faces the prospect of remaining unmarried. A woman without a lip plate here would be absolutely unwanted by men, a harsh reality.
The larger the plate a woman has, the higher her bride price. In this tribe, cows are the most precious property, and the bride price for a man to marry is also paid in cows.
The woman with the largest lip plate can command a bride price of up to 50 cows, a fortune. Women here strive to wear larger plates to prosper, some even decorating their plates with patterns to appear more unique and distinctive.
In 1970, a British anthropologist discovered this tribe, and since then, more and more people have come to visit. The women here have even sensed a business opportunity, demanding money for photos.
One has to admit that these women are quite savvy, despite the fee, many tourists still come to see this unique custom, which greatly piques their curiosity.
However, these women do not wear the plates 24/7; they remove them when sleeping or eating.
Besides their mouths, their ears are also stretched, to the point where modern people might just have a small ear piercing, but the ear holes of these tribal women can accommodate a fist. They also wear circular plates in their ears, which hang down, giving a rather shocking appearance.
The Fundamental Reason for the Lip Plate Tribe
Why do the women wear plates? Is it just for beauty? Actually, no. In the earliest times, this tribe did not wear circular plates, but due to historical developments, for one reason, all the women started wearing them.
Years ago, tribes would clash, and the Arabs had invaded Ethiopia. This was not just a war between men; for the Mursi people, their enemies would take their wives and children, leaving them helpless.
To prevent their wives and children from being taken, they thought that if the women became ugly, they would not be coveted by men from other tribes. Thus, from that time, they devised ways to make the women less attractive, eventually leading to the “birth” of the lip plate tribe.
This custom reflects the backwardness of primitive tribes and the oppression of women, no less severe than foot binding in ancient China, and arguably more so.
Now, more and more women in the tribe are awakening and determined not to continue this harmful tradition, indicating progress. However, examples of lip plates still predominate.
Nowadays, more people come to witness this “beauty,” and one must say, it is a very mysterious and fascinating tribe and ethnicity.
