Stick Fight!!!!!!!!! in Ethiopia.

This Stick Fight seems to be one of the fiercest competitions in Africa and all over the world, but this event is a kind of scramble for possession of a girl. When their harvest finishes, people greet a period of courtship. During the period, they spend days by the river, and paint designs on their bodies. According to the website, the next stage of the their courtship tradition is violent.

When their bodies are painted and men and women have started courting each other, the violent courtship starts. Once a week, the men from different villages gather together. Sometimes, they walk thirty miles to meet each other to perform the wild sport. The Stick Fight is fought with long, straight poles of about 1.8 meter long made of very hard wood, and men perform these fights to prove their manhood. Some people do to take their revenges, but most important purpose for them is to win wives.The rule of this competition is very simple; you cannot kill your opponent.

The winner of the fighting is carried toward girls who wait on a platform, and one of the girls accepts the man as her husband. Then the girl’s lip is pierced, and her lip’s hole is stretched larger. The size of the final lip plate indicates how many head of cattle must be paid as the marriage portion.

Now........ I have a big question.

Is this a festival??????