download (200Mb) of the Mursi tribe:
http://dmc.ohiolink.edu:20080/media/ffhDetails?oid=2791612The Mursi Tribe: The Day of the Donga
Series:
The Last Warriors
Description:
Much has changed in modern Ethiopia, but at least one thing remains the same: the Mursi are still among the fiercest warriors in Africa. This program, a study of life among the Mursi, features footage of a donga, a punishing yet graceful stick fighting competition through which young men display their bravery, establish their status, and perhaps even attract a young woman to marry. Mursi mysticism and faith healing are also considered, as well as customs such as the use of large ceramic lip disks by women as symbols of beauty and wealth. (54 minutes, color)
Date:
2000
Subject:
Social Studies
Length:
54 mins
Copyright:
Films for the Humanities & Sciences
blurb from another site, variation from another tribe:
"It's said to be one of the fiercest competitions on the entire African continent. But here among Ethiopia's Surma tribe, the Donga Stick Fight takes place in the name of love. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. When their harvest season is over, the Surma people observe a period of courtship, spending days by the river, fingerpainting designs on their bodies. And according to photographer Angela Fisher, co-author of the book "African Ceremonies", the next stage of the Surma courtship tradition is not quite so peaceful.
"Once the bodies are painted and men and women have started courting one another, the other side of courtship starts. Once a week, the Surma men from different villages come together, sometimes walking thirty miles on very small grass paths to meet one another to perform the most wild sport we have ever seen on the entire African continent. The donga stick fight is fought with long, straight poles of about eight foot long made of very hard wood, and the Surma men perform these fights to prove their masculinity, to settle personal vendettas, but most importantly, to win wives."
This competition has only one rule: you cannot kill your opponent.
"And at the end of the day, the winner of the day's fighting bouts is carried out of the arena on a wonderful platform of poles, and he's held high in the air, and he's carried towards a group of very beautiful young girls. So as he arrives, the winner is taken by one of the girls."
