Safari Tour To the Bodi Tribe of Ethiopia, where big is beautiful!
You are beautiful/cute just that you are in the wrong Country, Hello Meet the Bodi or Me’en tribe in Ethiopia, the tribe where big is beautiful: Bodi men compete to be the fattest in the village by drinking a gruesome mixture of blood and milk while living in isolation for 6 months.
In the Bodi Tribe, the bigger the belly, the more desirable man you are the men with the biggest belly are most craved.
Ethiopia is a land of many cultures that have been preserved despite Western civilization. Along the Lower Omo Valley River in Southern Ethiopia resides one of these kinds: the Bodi Tribe. The Bodi people are neighbors of the Mursi tribe. The Bodi people are agriculturalists who still engage in trade by barter system.
Obesity and big bellies are usually seen as banes of modern life that not only harm health but are also considered generally inesthetic. However, in a remote area of Omo Valley, southern Ethiopia, big bellies in men are considered impressive, even attractive. The Bodi, a tribe of agriculturists and cattle herders, celebrate their love of big bellies during a yearly festival called Ka’el, in which the man with the biggest belly is crowned ‘fat man of the year’ and earns the respect of the entire tribe for life. But to earn this honor, the men must go on a fattening diet of cow’s milk or yogurt, raw blood, and honey for several months before the festival.
Men from the Bodi tribe compete to become the fattest during the new year or Ka'el ceremony. They spend six months guzzling a mixture of blood and milk in a bid to fatten up as fast as they can. The winning fat man doesn't get a prize but is feted as a hero for life by the rest of the tribe
Six months after starting the regime, the men emerge to show off their newly engorged physiques and for a winner to be chosen. The champion fat man is then feted as a hero for the rest of his life.
The contest begins six months before the ceremony. Every family is allowed to present an unmarried man for the challenge, who, after being chosen, retires to his hut and must not move or have sex for the duration.
Food comes in the form of a cow's blood and milk mixture, served regularly to the men by women from the village. 'The cows are sacred to the Bodi tribe so they are not killed.
The blood is taken by making a hole in a vein with a spear or an axe, and after that, they close it with clay. Because of the scorching temperatures, the men have to drink the two-litre bowl of blood and milk quickly before it coagulates but, not everyone can handle drinking so much at speed.
The fat men drink milk and blood all day long. The first bowl of blood is drunk at sunrise. On the day itself, the men cover their bodies with clay and ashes before emerging from their huts for the walk to the spot where the ceremony will take place.
The ceremony itself involves spending hours walking in a circle around a sacred tree, watched by the other men and helped by the women who ply them with alcohol and wipe away their sweat. Once the fattest man has been chosen, the ceremony ends with the slaughter of a cow using a huge sacred stone. Village elders will then inspect the stomach and the blood to see whether the future will be a bright one or not.
The tribesmen vote for the one with the most protruding belly, and the winner is named ‘fat man of the year'. After the festival, the men’s stomachs shrink back to their normal size within a few weeks. The only prize for winning the fattening contest is fame and respect, but this is such a high honor for the Bodi that winners are usually considered local heroes for the rest of their lives.
A few weeks later, the next generation of competitively fat Bodi men will be chosen and the cycle will begin again. Becoming a fat man is the dream of every Bodi kid. A few weeks after the ceremony, the Bodi ceremony winner will recover a normal stomach but he will remain a hero for life.
Sadly, Bodi’s traditional way of life is under threat from the Ethiopian government which plans to resettle 300,000 people from all over the country on their lands. For now, the tribe continues as they always have, and still celebrate the Ka’el in a traditional style each June.
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