A thread on castration during Adwa:

The practice of genital mutilation in the Oromo culture was done to prove a warrior vanquished his enemy.

The mutilated trophy was placed on the forehead as proof. This practice is still glorified in the cultural attire of the Oromo today.

During the battle of Adwa, Oromo cavalry had achieved quasi-mythical status amongst the Italians who believed that they would not be castrated if they threw down their weapons.

During the Italian retreat the Oromo functioned with grim efficiency castrating the Italians.

Guiseeppe Tedone was castrated during the Italian retreat & referred to Ras Mikael, leader of the Oromo cavalry from Wollo as “the head of the emasculators.”

Castration had military advantages. The fear of being emasculated was a powerful weapon.

The fact that some Oromo soldiers rode horses whose necks were decorated with daisy-chained scrotums only made them more fearsome. These trophies were the proof of past soldiery success.

Eduardo Ximenes who was part of the mission to bury the Italian dead after Adwa observed that of 40 bodies buried in one day, about 20 had been emasculated & a significant number of the wounded returning from Adwa were emasculated.

Giovanni Tedone was billeted upon a family near Harar after being captured.

He writes about Birru, an Oromo warrior who fought in Adwa who boasted “I killed 8 Italians at Adwa & castrated them!” As he revealed to him a necklace which he strung the castrated trophies.

It is important to note that this practice spread amongst other ethnicities, for example Edmond Combes & Maurice Tamisier in 1830 recall a song sung by the enemies of the Oromo at Dher referring to the wives of castrated Oromo soldiers as “widows whose husbands are still alive.”

Menelik addressed this practice on the eve of the Adwa campaign saying “Bring me the man, not the testicles!”

His admonishment was ignored, as the practice was too deeply embedded in the warrior culture of Ethiopia.