Standards and criteria of beauty are different in all parts of the world, except in the nomadic tribe Wodaabe, inhabited in the Saharan region of the state of Niger, where women and girls judge men based on their appearance.
This nomadic tribe is another in a series of (for some) strange customs that are cultivated throughout the Sahara desert. Last year, we brought you the story of the Touareg Muslims, also a nomadic tribe from the Sahara.
With them, the men are covered, and the woman owns all the property, while with the Wodaabe tribe - the emphasis is on beauty.
If you ever thought that women spend too much time putting on make-up and grooming - think again, after hearing that Wodaabe men dress, store and put on make-up for more than three hours.
Costumes for the special beauty contest that is held every year are prepared for 365 days, and they must be colorful, clean, beautiful, with many accessories, and the colors of yellow and various shades of blue mostly dominate.
The lips and nose of men must be especially emphasized, and after all the processes are over - the men of the Wodaabe tribe are ready to choose beauty. It is part of their warrior tradition. First a parade, dancing, singing in the desert - all to impress the female population - which in this case is the jury and the judge.
The women on those men are looking for the one with the most beautiful face, the most striking, the tallest and the most graceful. He must be well-dressed, with a long smile and shining eyes.
And yes, these men line up - and try to impress the female jury.
In the Wodaabe tribe, three things in life are valued:
1. Beauty;
2. Livestock;
3. Family.
As a tribe, their basic characteristic is loyalty. They make a living by trading in cattle and meat, thus supplying hundreds of villages from the shores of Lake Chad to the Atlantic coast of Senegal, and in addition they must be obsessively vain. Men and women of this tribe in Africa are known for their beauty, and Bororo - as they are often called, prefer tall women and men, with strong muscles and straight noses, and skin "without flaws".
Hallucinogenic cocktails and homemade brandy
After the September rains, before the beginning of the annual migration - nomadic clans unite in the desert, together with the cattle they own in order to celebrate the migration, but also to compete in beauty. This caravan festival lasts up to several weeks and is called Gervol. It is a rich cultural ceremony that includes clan meetings, camel races, dancing, singing, arranging marriages.
However, the most important competition of the Gervol Festival is the competition for the most beautiful man of all tribes.
Wodaabe women are considered the most impressive in West Africa, and they are on the jury because of it. They watch, judge and comment from a distance, pretending to be ashamed - and in fact they are all the opposite. The winner is symbolically called "Mr. Wodaabe".
The competition is open to all married and unmarried men, and in case the winner is a single… unmarried women from the jury can invite him to a "closer acquaintance".
The winners of the Gervol beauty contest are ritually remembered years later.
The ceremony of "showing" the contestants is not much of a well-known competition for Miss World. The contestants walk in front of the jury, wanting to leave the best impression.
However, it is a bit harder for them, since they have to stand in the strong sun all day, under the influence of the Sahara sun and a special cocktail made of fermented wood, which has hallucinogenic agents. During the Yaake dance part - most of them, while trying to stay graceful, are actually just drunk on cocktails and local homemade brandy.
However, this competition is taken very seriously in the community, and some competitors go so far - that it is difficult to distinguish them from women from the tribe.
The nomadic tribe Wodaabe is the majority of the Islamic religion, and just like the previously mentioned Touareg tribe, it is quite at odds with the "traditional" understanding of Islam and values in society, but also the standard of beauty.
Even more interesting, when Wodaabe is translated from the traditional language to those known to us, it means "tribe without taboos."