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Hamar is one of the tribes inhabiting the southwestern Ethiopia. Hamar (also spelled Hammer) an Omotic community. They live in Hammer woreda (or district), a fertile part of the Omo River valley, in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). Hammer is an isolated people whose traditional lifestyle have been untouched and are largely pastoralists, so their culture places a high value on cattle. The Hammer are known for their unique custom of "bull jumping," which initiates a boy into manhood. First, female relatives dance and invite whipping from men who have recently been initiated; this shows their support of the initiate, and their scars give them a say on who they marry. The boy must run back and forth twice across the backs of about 15 cattle lined side by side, one holding the head and another tail. These cattle are cows and castrated oxen, which represent the women and children of the tribe. The lined cattle are smeared with dung to make them slippery, to make the jumping very challenging and is ridiculed if he fails.