In the traditional culture of the Barabaig tribe, men must have had at least one fierce fight with a lion to be eligible to flirt with the girls in the village.
The Barabaig are a nomadic tribe of the Barabaig people who live in the volcanic highlands north of Mount Hanang in Manyara, Tanzania. They currently have a population of about 50,000 people and mainly speak the Datooga language.
Men of the Barabaig tribe have to fight lions to get the right to attend the courtship festival to find a wife.
Due to the savannah life near Ruaha National Park, the Barabaig tribe subsists mainly by hunting and raising cattle. Therefore, in the culture of this tribe, the wealth of an individual or a family is judged by how many livestock there are. At the same time, the assessment of a man’s strength also depends on how good he is at hunting.
Even in history, the traditional culture of the Barabaig tribe also forced men to fight with lions at least once before having the right to flirt with girls. Thanks to the fights with the “lord of the grasslands” , many men were rewarded with many cattle and the most beautiful women. However, many people also lost their lives.
Until now, because the lion species has been reduced too much as well as influenced by civilization, many people of the Barabaig tribe have abandoned the tradition of “fighting with lions to have the right to flirt with girls”. At the same time, the propaganda of the authorities also helps people realize the danger.
However, in some remote villages, this tradition is still preserved. Even the day before the courtship festival was held, only men who had been recorded as having a bad fight or killed a lion were allowed to attend to find a wife.