Ethiopia’s Omo Valley | Africa’s Last Frontier, National Geographic Magazine: Karo Tribesman Prepares to Jump Bulls and Become a Man

This is the thirteenth child of Muko Balguda, the woman in the previous photograph, who killed twelve of her children by Mingi ritual. Today is his day to go through the bull jumping ceremony. He has been segregated off in a blue tarp hut and the elders come storming in for him periodically and bring him naked into the middle of the courtyard. He is ashamed of being naked in front of others and me and tucks his penis in between his legs—most men in this area do not act this way. A relative pulls his head back and puts a knife on top of his head—ostensibly to cut his hair—and that kicks in the very simple gifts-thrown-on-a-blanket-ceremony. A few bir, tattered clothing, and a ball cap that contains a quart of oily substance are thrown onto the blanket. This goes on with sporadic raids of elders coming down from their meetinghouse on the hill.