Owning a giant bust is always the dream of every child in the Bodi tribe and the person with the biggest belly will be respected by the villagers for the rest of their lives.
Men living in the Bodi (also known as Me’en) tribe of the Omo valley, southern Ethiopia, compete to be the fattest person during the Ka’el festival.
The Bodi are a tribe living in a remote valley in Ethiopia. Every year, the tribe will hold a festival named Kael as a New Year celebration. Accordingly, each family appoints an unmarried man to participate in the challenge of “feeding a belly” lasting 6 months. During this time, they will have to fatten up with cow’s blood, fresh milk and completely abstain from sex . The man with the largest belly will receive the title of the sexiest person, attracting all women in the tribe.
French photographer Eric Lafforgue reached out to the Bodi tribe to capture this refreshing experience. He said: “Cow is a sacred animal to the people, so they will not be killed. The cow is only slightly slit in the vein to draw blood, then covered with clay.”
Young people participating in the festival will stay in their own huts. Women in the tribe take care of the boys by bringing wine, milk and cow blood in pots or bamboo tubes every day. They had to drink quickly before the mixture of milk and secretions froze. Some people even vomit and can’t drink this “special” water.
Bodi women are attracted to fat men. So, even though there is no prize for “the man with the biggest bust” , the festival still attracts a lot of participants hoping to capture the attention of the women.
On holidays, men will cover their bodies with clay and ashes before coming out of their huts.
Becoming a man with a big belly is the dream of every kid in the tribe. On this day, Kael festival is still celebrated every year in June.
However, the traditional life of the tribe is under threat as the Ethiopian government plans to resettle 300,000 people from all parts of the country to the valley where the Bodi live.
“Big fat men drink milk and blood all day long. The first bowl of blood is drunk at dawn. However, because flies swarm their huts, the Bodi men have to finish drinking the blood bowl before the blood clots. While many people can drink it all, there are people who vomit it all up,” the French photographer added.