The Painful Process Behind Making a Suri Lip Plate

The Suri lip plate is one of the most recognized forms of body adornment in southwestern Ethiopia. But the plate does not appear all at once. It is made possible through a slow process: the lower lip is cut, held open, healed, and then stretched gradually with larger plugs until it can hold a clay or wooden plate.

The most precise academic language sources identify Suri as the Chai and Tirmaga dialects of the Chai-Tirmaga-Mursi cluster. Meaghan E. Smith’s Dallas International University thesis on Suri notes that Chai and Tirmaga share the ISO code [suq], while Mursi is closely related but usually treated separately in current language use (Smith, 2018, pp. 2–4 pdf). This distinction matters because many public sources group Suri, Surma, Chai, Tirma, and Mursi together.

For the actual lip-plate process, the strongest available evidence comes from sources that name Mursi, Chai, and Tirma together, especially Mursi Online’s Durham University-hosted page on lip plates, and from Shauna LaTosky’s academic essay, “Reflections on the lip-plates of Mursi women”. These sources should be used carefully: Mursi evidence is closely related and useful, but it should not be carelessly presented as if every Suri community follows the process in exactly the same way.

Quick Facts

• The lip plate is worn in the lower lip.

• The process usually begins around puberty.

• The first cut is commonly reported at about age 15 or 16.

• A small wooden stick or plug is inserted first.

• The lip is stretched slowly with larger plugs.

• The stretching process can take several months to about one year.