INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my blog people. I will bring you into the strange world that beyond your expectation. Well, did you know about the vanishing world of tribal people?  This is one of the strangest most fascinating true stories that you can read ever about a people, one that has had no contact at all during 50,000 to 70,000, maybe 80,000 years with the rest of the world and who will kill with a shower of arrows anybody who sets foot on their shores. 

 Tribal people have great respect and deep understanding of the ecosystem they live in. My main focus is towards the last surviving indigenous tribal peoples. It is my view that these people represent an important and invaluable part of our world's cultural diversity and human heritage. In our modern world, with ever advancing globalization sweeping away everything in its path, they are often struggling to preserve their traditional ways of life.  

Lets go beyond people. Happy reading !

The Surma tribe

                                                               The Surma People.

The Surma people also known as Suri are well known for the giant clay plates their women wear in their lower lips, decorative scarification, and also because the men paint their bodies with white clay. Plus, Surma is the tribe of Ethiopia who avoided all western contact. This tribe lived in groups of a few hundred people for centuries. 

                                     

The Giant Lips plate that portrayed the uniquness of Surma's women
     

The Surma tribe is well-known by westerners for their giant lip plates. Lip plates are a strong part of the Surma culture. These traditional adornments are worn by almost all the adult Surma women usually at around the age of 15 to 18. The lip plates have significance in valuing the bride price of the woman. The lip plates have significance in valuing the bride price of the woman. 

   

         Donga Stick fighting is the most famous ritual for Surma tribe.

One of the Surma's main customs is the ritual sport of stick fighting, or Donga.  Donga or stick fighting is sometimes a way to settle conflicts, but very often it's a way for warriors to find girlfriends.  

On this occasion the men are out to demonstrate their courage to attract the most beautiful girl in the area who comes hoping to be chosen by the champions. 

The Decoration ritual is a must before Donga stick fighting.

Before preparing for Donga, they begin decorating their bodies for the fight which making intricate patterns on their skin with fingers dipped in clay body paintings they make are informal and playful. Furthermore, this decoration is meant to show their beauty and thus to catch the women’s attention.  

Blood meal ritual

Before a Donga, some Surma drink the fresh blood of their cattle in a ritual known as the "blood meal ritual". The warrior must drink the entire contents of the calabash in one go, because blood coagulates quickly. Sometimes they don't manage to down the lot, and vomit it up instead. The Surma people believe that the cattle’s blood is full of vitamins those able warriors to be fit. 

What is Surmas' future going to be? The main threat to the Surma's traditional way of life remains a government whose tourism and economic projects aren't always planned with a view to their impact on traditional life. 

The Yali tribe

The Yali people.

The Yali are the well-known tribe, living in the pretty inaccessible Jayawijaya Mountains east of the Baliem Valley.  For the outside world they were only discovered in the second half of the 20th century.  Yali men are less than 150 cm tall, which makes them probably the smallest people in Papua. But nevertheless they are incredibly strong and resilient. Magic and sorcery traditionally play a very important role in their spiritual culture.

The Yali wooden huts/houses.

 The Yali tribe live in wooden huts with roofs constructed of tree bark or palm leaves.  Some 30,000 Yali live off the land, hunting animals in the jungle and growing vegetables on the surrounding land.They usually make their fields of sweet potatoes on slopes so steep that we have troubles to even stand on them.  

 Moreover, Yali tools are stone axes, simple nets as carrying bags the one that they carried from the forehead, bows and arrows with carved arrowheads are still the major tools.

Typically, the Yali men wear many rattan hoops around their waists and hips, at the front the hoops are supported by the ’koteka’ or penis gourd.  

Meanwhile, women wear a small grass skirt covering only their fronts, and also an indispensable ’bilum’ which is a net-like bag, made of orchid fibres, hanging from their heads down their backs and covering their buttocks. 

 In a nut shell, even though the Yali were the last tribe who were 

cannibals, the people are very friendly and hospitable today.

The Vietnamese Ruc tribe

  “That’s a sacred and forbidden thing that belongs to the Ruc                       only. Others are not allowed to know.” 

During The Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese soldiers were shocked to see a group of tribesmen emerge from the jungle. They still live in caves in the eastern Quang Binh. The cave is where they were born, grew up and matured. Their life was completely natural. But due to the jungle damage, the Vietnamese Ruc tribe decided to join in modern life of Vietnam rather than return to their traditional homes but they still practicing their basic traditional which caused a clashed with the government.

Different from others tribes, The Ruc people believes in curse. If someone is bitten by a tiger, bear or snake the Ruc believe them to be cursed. During the curse, they are not allowed to return to their village for two or three months. The person must live deep within the forest for this time and cannot be visited by friends or relatives.  

The Ruc also believe in a hierarchy of spirits, of which the spirits of the earth, humans, animals and the forest are considered the most powerful. In other hands, Ruc tribe believes that the genie of the agriculture that protects crops reigns supreme. The mysterious of The Ruc tribe has made The Vietnamese government did many attempts to relocate them.