How the Fulanis live — the people who consider themselves the most beautiful on the planet

Imagine a huge, bright red sun setting over the horizon. Despite the early evening, it is still very hot. You are getting ready for bed after a long day of walking through an almost desert landscape. But, despite being extremely tired, you’re happy, because the next day you’ll see the dance of the most handsome men in the world, and done especially for you… That’s how the Fulani live (also known as the Fula or Fulbe) — the greatest people nomad on the Planet, whose representatives of one of their ethnic groups consider themselves the most beautiful people in the world.

We, from awesome.club, we learn more about the Fulanis through the Instagram of Russian travel blogger Arina Shumakova and her channel on the social network Yandex.Zen. With the author’s permission, we are ready to share with you incredible photos of these people and fun facts about their lifestyle, which is so different from ours. Check out!

One of the Fulani ethnic groups — the Wodaabe — has an annual festival called Guerewol. It is so striking and different that many tourists from all over the world come just to watch it. Guerewol is actually very similar to a beauty pageant — young people dress in colorful clothes and choose their accessories carefully to form a perfect look. And the final touch is given by a feather on the head.

During the festival, young people dance and sing to please the girls. And those who are most likely to attract attention to themselves are those who most correspond to local standards of beauty: being tall, having white teeth and having completely white eye sclera. By the way, that’s why the young participants so often goggle their eyes and show their teeth.

Here endurance is also important: men have to dance for hours in the scorching heat to attract the attention of maidens.

And it is thanks to Guerewol that the Fulanis consider themselves the most beautiful people on the planet. The Wodaabe believe in reincarnation and worship beauty. Before the start of the festival, young people spend long hours preparing for the performance and do their best to make everything perfect. This is also why the Wodaabe have earned the title of the most vain tribe in the world.

The Fulanis do not have a strictly defined dress code. Their style of dress varies and depends on each region. For example, the Wodaabe who live in Nigeria and Cameroon usually wear handcrafted embroidered tunics or very colorful and attractive mantles.

Livestock is the main activity of the Fulani peoples. While men take care of livestock and cultivate the land, women are responsible for domestic activities.

Cattle are quite important in this culture. For example, during a wedding ceremony, the bride’s father usually gives one of his herds as a gift to the groom as a way of legalizing the marriage. After that, yet another ceremony called Kabbal may take place, where neither the groom nor the bride must be present.

There is also another form of marriage in this culture—arranged marriage. The families of the bride and groom arrange the marriage of their children when they are still newborns. Babies are betrothed to each other and the marriage takes effect when both reach puberty.

Men are allowed to have up to four wives. And families are usually made up of a man, his wives and all of their children. Incredibly, they all get along well together. The photo below shows the wives and children of a Fulani man. This is a wealthy family, owner of a large herd and a fortune of almost half a million dollars.

In Wodaabe culture, each bride, after marriage, adds a new herd to the family’s possessions. And certainly, the more cattle, the better. The herd is not just a dowry, but a guarantee that the wife can support herself in case problems arise in the marriage and she wants to divorce her husband, as the herd belongs to her. Cattle function as a kind of capital, as, in addition to meat and milk, in extreme cases they can be sold or used as a bargaining chip.

The Fulani believe that marriage should produce many children. They often get married very early and don’t encourage any kind of birth control.

In Wodaabe culture, parents are not allowed to talk directly to their first two children, who are often raised by grandparents. Also, husband and wife cannot hold hands or talk to each other about personal topics during the day.

In Fulani society, women are expected to take care of children. Parents, as a rule, do not participate in this process. When girls grow up, they begin to help their mothers take care of their younger siblings. A very common game among younger girls is carrying dolls on their backs, which end up being replaced by their smaller siblings as they grow up.

The Fulânis try to treat their children with great affection and care, with rare instances of disobedience on their part. Adults try to protect the little ones as much as possible from any emotional instability. The role of the teacher is also played by women. It is believed that they are more patient than men and are always ready to understand and sympathize with each other.

Girls learn from a young age to take care of beauty. At 2 or 3 years old they already have their ears pierced — culturally, six holes are made in each ear. And soon after a girl learns to walk well, she is inserted into the activities of a dance group that begins to teach her how to dance, encouraging her to develop her skills more and more.

The transition to adulthood is usually smooth. Around the age of 5, girls learn all the moral rules and customs of their people. They are taught, for example, that a woman cannot look her fiancé in the eye, must show respect for her elders and never speak of her future husband’s parents.

Could you adapt to the Fulani way of life? Would you be able to dance for hours to attract your beloved during Guerewol? Tell us in the comments section.