Most people try different ways to lose weight but a remote tribe in Ethiopia has an annual competition to crown ‘the fattest man’ in the village.
People of the Bodi tribe drink fresh blood and milk from cows to gain weight.
In addition to their high-calorie consumption, members who want to join the competition are prohibited from leaving their hut or having sex to increase the size of their waistlines.
Each family in the tribe presents a single man to participate in the challenge. Participants then live in isolation for months while women deliver fresh blood and milk every morning.
Before the contest, participants cover themselves in ashes and clay before going out of their hut.
On the ceremony day, they walk around a sacred tree for several hours, showing off their physics while other members of the tribe watch from afar, including unmarried women searching for potential partners.
The winner of the contest is considered a hero for life for the amazing achievement.
Photographer Eric Lafforgue, who spent time with the Bodi tribe many years ago, told the Daily Mail: “The cows are sacred to the Bodi tribe so they are not killed.
“The blood is taken by making a hole in a vein with a spear or an axe, and after that, they will close with clay. The fat men drink milk and blood all day long. The first bowl of blood is drunk at sunrise.
“The man must drink it quickly before it coagulates, but some cannot drink everything and vomit.”
Lafforgue said of the ceremony: “Some fat men are so big that they cannot walk anymore. One asked me if he could use my car to go to the ceremony area.
“Once in the car, he started to drink milk and blood again because he said he wanted to keep trying to be the fattest until the very last moment.”
A few weeks after the event, the next group of participants will be selected to take part in the competition.
“Becoming a fat man is the dream of every Bodi kid,” Lafforgue said. “A few weeks (after the ceremony), he will recover a normal stomach but he will remain a hero for life.”
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