Unique Tribes of the World-Tribalogy#10 Surma Tribe of Ethiopia

The Surma or Suri tribe is a group of people living in the Northwestern region of Ethiopia. According to the census carried out towards the end of 2016, the total population of Surma people ranges from 30,000 to 40,000. The Surma people speak a local language called Suri which is a member of the Nilo-Saharan language's family. Some of the historians consider Suri, Me’en and Mursi tribes as a collective entity with a little difference in their outer appearance, however, the Ethiopian government distinguishes them from each other despite huge similarities between these ethnic groups.

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Origin

There is no written history of how the Suri tribe originated but according to most oral traditions, this tribe migrated to their current destination from the Sudan-Ethiopian border areas around 200 years ago. The Suri tribe had to face constant harassment from the imperial troops and other tribes in the region and as a result, some of the Suri sub-tribes have to move out to Boma Plateau in Sudan. The tribal conflict is still going on and the rival tribes upon attack each other to inflict losses and get material benefits. The animosity of Suri tribe with Toposa and Nyangatom tribes has caused huge losses on all sides. To put an end to this conflict, the Ethiopian government has taken some necessary steps like arranging seminars and conferences to spread awareness of how to maintain peace in the region but with little results.

Religion

The Surma tribe is Monotheistic in its religious interpretation i-e it believes in one God. According to their religious belief, the name of their God is Tuma and he resides in the sky. The Sumra people also believe in the presence of good and bad spirits and often go to female divine healers to ward off the bad spirits. The Surma tribe also have a unique religious custom of the transfer of “rainmaking” skill to their younger generations. They believe that when chips from a specific plant are mixed with clay and this mixture is smeared on a person’s body, the Tumu orders the fall of rain to remove the mixture from that person’s body. The capability of “rain making” lies with a particular person in the tribe and this skill is normally transferred by him to his sons and other close relatives.

The Suri Tribe doesn’t have any concept of afterlife and heaven or hell. They are of the view that once a person dies he would never return back to his life again.

Ceremonies

Stick Fighting

The Stick Fighting ceremony is also one of the major parts of the Suri life. The young men have to go through this ritual fighting in order to find their future life partner. The competitors have to fight out other men both one to one and in a group form and the one showing better fighting skills has more chances of getting a much beautiful future wife. However, this tradition sometimes leads to duels and an occasion to settle personal animosities.

Death ceremony

In the Suri tribe the dead body is considered impure and hence it is deemed inappropriate for any member of the tribe to touch the dead body except those who have to see off the dead. There is a customary ritual of taking a bath with the Sheep’s blood after a person touches the deceased person. The deceased is mourned for not more than 5 days and the place where the mourning ceremony is held is washed off with the blood and certain other parts of the Ox or cow.

Clothes

The Surma people don’t wear any proper clothes and remain semi or fully nude. They mostly cover their genitals with the plants and other stuff. The Suri tribe has a tradition in which the members of the tribe paint each other with the clay to form a protective layer against the supernatural bad spirits and to look beautiful. Both men and women wear ear discs as a decoration with women also wearing plants, flowers and skulls etc on their heads.

Music

The Suri tribe has a tradition of dancing on special occasions and a Lamellophone-type instrument is used to produce music rhythms. In this instrument, this is a series of plates of which the one side is attached whereas the other side is free to be depressed. This depression of one side of the instrument causes the loud sound of music.

Code of Conduct

Appointment of Chieftain

Every sub-tribe in the Surma tribe appoint their chieftains to be ceremonial heads. The Chieftains called Kumoru don’t have any executive powers and are just representative of that section. The heads of every sub-tribe command high respect in the Surma society.

Differentiation of responsibilities

In the Surma tribe, most of the decisions are taken with mutual consensus by the community members. The assembly to decide upon a particular is summoned by the community chief and people share their thoughts with each other. On the basis of discussion, a decision is made keeping in the view the benefits repercussions of the decision. Women are allowed to share their opinion before and after the debates but not during the debates.

The responsibilities are also assigned on the basis of the age grade. Those who are not adult are not assigned any heavy responsibility and their major job is only to protect their juniors. These kids when crossing a certain age and become even strong to bear responsibilities are passed through some trials and tests by the elders of the community. The young adults are even whipped with sticks to check whether they have the mettle to bear future responsibilities.

Tribal Traits

Lip plates

The Surma tribe has a unique custom and that is their women wear big plates on their mouth to beautiful themselves. Girls from a very young age remove their lower teeth and stick big plates which can have as long as 18 cm diameter to their jaws. The longer the plate is the more beautiful a girl or woman is considered to be.

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White clay paint

In the Surma tribe, the children body’s are normally painted with clay in the shape of dots.

Slicing the skin

Females slice their skin as a sign of beauty whereas males slice their skin when they kill somebody from an opponent tribe.

Importance of Cows

The Surma tribe keeps cows in a huge esteem. The man’s stature is defined by the number of cows he has. In the Surma tribe, there is a benchmark for every man to have a particular number of cows to be able to marry. The cows are given to the future wife’s family after the initial wedding ceremony as a gift. The Surma tribe even risk their lives if their cows face any danger and mourn the death of the cows by signing sad songs in the remembrance.Everyone in the tribe also has a favorite cow which is also considered a sign of prestige.

Food

As already discussed, the Sumra people are herders so meat is always available to them but these people mostly hesitate to eat meat during normal days. The cows are however slaughtered during ceremonies and eaten with full vigor. The Surma tribe also grows a lot of different kinds of agriculture products like maize, cabbage, peas, beans, pulses, and tobacco etc and use them in their daily diet. Some members of the tribe take part of their natural surroundings and collect honey to eat and sell.