Uklì Bulà - Bull jumping

• Prize
• Photographer
  Born in Rome, lives and works in his native town. He started his photography passion at 18 years old first as assistance and studio photographer then going in for ethnological and social reportage., Italy
• Website
  http://www.faustopodavini.eu

The bull jumping ceremony is one of the most spectacular ceremonies in Southern Ethiopia. It is
celebrated by Hamer community, one of the 82 Ethiopian ethnic groups. The leaping over the bulls is
a ceremony to determine whether a young Hamer male is ready to make the social jump from youth to adulthood. The bull-jumper
is the main actor of the ceremony but he is not the only one, also women and Mazha are protagonists. Women are whipped by
Mazha, men who have recently bull-jumped; the whipping causes bleeding and intense pain but the women look upon it as a sign
of strength, loyalty and obligation toward the bull-jumper and the future family, scars on their back always will attest their loyalty.