The lip plate, also known as a lip plug, lip disc, or mouth plate, is a form of body modification where increasingly large discs, usually circular and made from clay or wood, are inserted into a pierced hole in either the upper or lower lip, or both, thereby stretching it.
The Mursi, Chai, and Tirma are probably the last groups in Africa amongst whom it is still the norm for women to wear large pottery or wooden discs or ‘plates’ in their lower lips.
A Mursi woman with a lip plate. Source: Wikipedia
Cultural Significance
Among the Surma and Mursi people of the lower Omo River valley in Ethiopia, the lip-plate (dhebi a tugoin) has become the chief visible distinguishing characteristic of the Mursi and made them a prime attraction for tourists.
According to oral tradition among the Surma, the practice of wearing lip plates was started to discourage slave traders from stealing their women. However, many Surma natives say they do not know when the practice actually originated.
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Now, the lip plate is seen as a sign of beauty, fertility, strength, and steadfastness within the Surma community.
Suri Tribe women with lip plates. Source: Pinterest
It is often claimed that the size of the lip plate is correlated with the size of a woman’s bridewealth. However, David Turton has shown this not to be the case.
Like other forms of body decoration and alteration found the world over (like ear piercing, tattooing, and circumcision), the lip plate worn by Mursi women is best seen as an expression of social adulthood and reproductive potential.
On what the lip-plate means to Mursi women, and how it functions as a symbol of pride and identity, see: Shauna Latosky, ‘Reflections on the lip-plates of Mursi women as a source of stigma and self-esteem’, in Ivo Strecker and Jean Lydall (eds.) The perils of face: Essays on cultural contact, respect and self-esteem in southern Ethiopia, Mainzer Beiträge zur Afrika-Forschung, Lit Verlag, Berlin, 2006.
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In some African countries, a lower lip plate is usually combined with the dental extraction of two lower front teeth, sometimes all four. Among the Sara people and Lobi of Chad, a plate is also inserted into the upper lip.
The Process
Discover the Mursi Tribe: Unveiling the Unique Lip Plate Tradition of Ethiopia
Among the Surma and Mursi people, about 6 to 12 months before marriage, a young woman has her lip pierced by her mother or one of her kinswomen, usually at around the age of 15 to 18.
A girl’s lower lip is cut, by her mother or by another woman of her settlement, when she reaches the age of 15 or 16. The cut is held open by a wooden plug until the wound heals, which can take around 3 months.
The initial piercing is done as an incision of the lower lip of 1 to 2 cm length, and a simple wooden peg is inserted.
After the wound has healed, which usually takes between two and three weeks, the peg is replaced with a slightly bigger one. At a diameter of about 4 cm, the first lip plate made of clay is inserted. Every woman crafts her own plate and takes pride in including some ornamentation.
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It appears to be up to the individual girl to decide how far to stretch the lip, by inserting progressively larger plugs over a period of several months. Some, but by no means all, girls persevere until their lips can take plates of 12 centimetres or more in diameter.
Care has to be taken so that the lip does not get infected or break from getting stretched too quickly. The girl’s lip is left to heal for a period of about two weeks before inserting a bigger lip plate. To aid the healing process, the women usually apply a white or black paste made from a tree- and plant-based substance, called ‘lommai’.
After the lower lip has healed, the process of stretching it further does not hurt significantly and so the lip can be stretched to accommodate plates as wide as 25 cm in diameter.
It is said that the larger the plate a woman has, the higher her dowry is. The dowry is typically paid in cattle, and a woman with a very large lip plate can get up to 60 cattle as her dowry.
The lip plates can be removed, leaving a long dangling lower lip. However, they must be worn on special occasions like weddings or donga, a contest in which men duel with long wooden poles. The women must also wear the lip plates when they are serving men food.
Lip plates are worn more frequently by young ladies and newly married women than older married women. Additionally, when a woman is widowed, the lip plate is removed as it is believed that a woman’s external beauty passes on along with her husband.
A Mursi Tribe Village. Source: Tripadvisor
Modern Perspectives and Challenges
In contemporary culture, most girls of age 13 to 18 appear to decide whether or not to wear a lip plate. The Mursi are a very egalitarian community in many ways, and it is the choice of the teenage girls to have their lips pierced, and not something older women or men force upon them.
Obviously, like all teenagers, they feel some degree of peer pressure, but many girls marry happily without piercing their lips, even if they sometimes change their minds and decide to go ahead with the process after they have had one or two children.
The wearing of lip plates is a voluntary practice which many Surma women take pride in. However, the younger generation are increasingly opting out of the practice by choosing not to perforate their lips in the first place. Some even go as far as sewing their lower lip back up to have a more conventional appearance, especially when they want to leave their homelands.
The Ethiopian government is also putting pressure on the Surma to stop, tagging it as a harmful traditional practice. Moreso, according to a study by Shauna LaTosky, there are some men who believe women should stop the practice if they are not going to adhere to the wearing of the plates. This is because without the plates, the women tend to drool and the men find this unattractive.
Nonetheless, the wearing of lip plates is still prominent among the Surma people, and there seems to little resistance to this practice.
The largest lip plate recorded was in Ethiopia, measuring 59.5 cm (23.4 in) in circumference and 19.5 cm (7.6 in) wide, in 2014.
The tribal tradition of the lip plate is a girls choice and many of the younger generation are choosing to discontinue this practice. The government has also put pressure on stopping this practise as it can lead to infections which can cause serious health issues.
With this change it is only a matter of time until there will be no more lip plates in the Omo Valley tribes. Most of the teenagers are now choosing not to continue with the lip plate tradition.
It is not uncommon in a Surma tribe village to see women who have their lower stretched lip broken with both sections dangling and pointing towards the ground.
Other Regions and Similar Practices
In South America among some Amazonian tribes, young males traditionally have their lips pierced and begin to wear plates when they enter the men's house and leave the world of women. Lip plates there are associated with oration and singing.
The largest plates are worn by the greatest orators and war chiefs, such as Chief Raoni of the Kayapo tribe, a well known environmental campaigner.
In the Pacific Northwest of North America, labrets have a long history of use, dating back at least five thousand years. At times they were used by both men and women, but in more recent times (e.g. Among the Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit, they were once used by women to symbolize social maturity by indicating a girl's eligibility to be a wife.
Another African ethnic group that has historically been known to wear lip plates is the Makonde people, of Northern Mozambique and Southeast Tanzania. Unlike the Surma, they would wear their own lip plates on the top lip. The plates, which were made from ebony, a dense, dark hardwood that is highly prized for its deep black color and fine texture, were used as a distinguishing sign of social status. However, the lip plate tradition among the Makonde died out decades ago.
Health and Practical Considerations
People might also be interested to know that although the initial 3-6 months are no doubt painful for a girl, once the lip has healed (and the Mursi have very good plant based ointments to heal these wounds), there is no pain involved.
It somewhat effects a woman's speech, changing an 's' sound to a softer 'th' sound for example, but certainly not her ability to sing or communicate. It is even possible to see girls dancing energetically while wearing their lip plates.
In western nations, some young people, including some members of the Modern Primitive movement, have adopted larger-gauge lip piercings, a few large enough for them to wear proper lip plates. This practice can lead to infections, especially during the process of perforation. It also complicates normal mouth functions such as salivating and eating.
Gum irritation can also arise as consequence from plate rubbing, leading to related gum diseases and infections.
The lip plates are not permanent and can be removed to eat and drink. The majority of the day they are not worn with the women choosing when to wear it. They stretch their lower lip around the outside of the clay disk/plate to insert it and can remove it quickly too.
Some of the lip plates are quite big and heavy and the women might support the plate with their hand for stability and comfort. Some of the lips without the plate inserted dangle very low below the mouth, but the women with the smaller lip plates can have lower lips that look quite enlarged with bulk and bumps that don’t droop.
Historical Exploitation
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, African women wearing lip plates were brought to Europe and North America for exhibit in circuses and sideshows. Around 1930, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey promoted such women from the French Congo as members of the "Ubangi" tribe; the Ringling press agent admitted that he picked that name from a map for its exotic sound. The word was used in this way in the 1937 Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races.
Visiting the Tribes
Every year, at least hundreds of tourists journey down to Omo Valley in southwestern Ethiopia to observe the Mursi and Suri peoples, two Surma tribes with the most intriguing of appearances.
The Suri live in the Upper Omo Valley (close to the border of South Sudan) while the Mursi live in the Lower Omo Valley. Though both tribes are very closely related in both language and culture, they are quite isolated from each other due to the mountainous terrains of the region.
The Mursi Tribe are visited more frequently by tourists due to their location close to the Omo Valley town of Jinka.
Much like if we get visitors to our home we can change our earrings, put on some nicer clothes or put on some make up, the Mursi and Suri tribal women act in a similar way. When tourists come to their villages they may insert their Lip plates and add some accessories or touch up some face/body paint.
Lip plates attract tourists to the Mursi Tribe inparticular and due to most of the Mursi villages having a “pay per click” method of payment it is a good way for them to get the attention and payment from those visiting.
On an Omo Valley photo tour or any cultural tour remain mindful of the impact of your stay, your actions and those that have visited before you.
When considering extreme forms of beautification among African peoples, it's easy to dismiss them as primitive or unappealing. However, it's essential to recognize and question the influence of a Western lens on our perceptions. While concerns about health risks may be valid, who’s to say that practices like lip plates, scarification, or head elongation are any less dignified than the West’s own body modification traditions?
The Mursi tribe villages are full of large guns, body scarring and lip plates. Visitors often tell a story of them being a “dangerous” tribe with photos to match. However, like the other unique tribes in the Omo Valley, the Mursi tribe live by tribal laws, so if you don’t hurt them they don’t usually hurt you.
Another reason people can become a bit scared or anxious of visiting the Mursi tribe is they are the only tribe in the lower Omo Valley that you need an armed escort to be with you when you visit them.
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