The Mursis' are living within the same region of the Omo valley, which is south west of Ethiopia bordering Kenya in the South, Omo River in the East and Mago in the west. They are cattle herders and land cultivators with a number of 7000 to 8000 people. They are grouped under the Nilo Saharan language family.

The Mursi shares some cultures of ritual ceremonies form the neighboring Surma tribes living west of the omo valley.

The stick fighting ceremony known, as Dueling is an important social practice between both the Mursi and Surma tribes before they engaged in a marriage. This is a form of ritualized male fierceness battle in which men from different local groups are joined together and fight one from the other using a two metters long wooden sticks called Donga. According to their tradition, a dwelling entrants are not coming from the same clan, this is because of that a man can only duel with men whose sisters he is going to marry.

Lip-mutilation or lip-plate insertion

It is another important cultural practice of the Mursi and Surma tribes applied by women who are ready for a marriage. When a girl comes to her puberty, the mother began to control for the beauty of her daughter. In this case, the lower lip of the young girl is pierced with sharp staffs like blade or knifes then a small clay or wooden discs is inserted in to the newly pierced-lip. When the diameter of the lip is getting enlarging, the size of the disc is also changed from time after time to fit with the lip. This is because the people consider as the girl's lip becomes wide or large she is the most beautiful; as a result her family earns a large number of cattle as a dowry during marriage,

No one is sure about Why, How and When this custom has had started, but hypothetically, it was to escape from slavery attack by disfiguring their physical appearance or as it is a sign of one's beauty among the society.