Beauty is the mother of lust, and lust, according to Plato, is “the fiercest and most despotic” of all urges, driving men “most powerfully to all kinds of lunacy”. The power of beauty to disturb is universally acknowledged, and as a consequence many cultures have evolved philosophies to reduce its influence, usually by depicting it as decorative and thereby intrinsically worthless. In certain societies, however, beauty is accepted as something wonderful in itself and is celebrated accordingly.

The Wodaabe, a tribe of West African nomads, belong to this latter category, and value mortal beauty so highly that its recognition and praise form an important part of their rituals. Every year they gather together to identify the most attractive of their youth, and to acclaim their good looks in a festival known as Gerewol.

Gerewol takes the form of a series of dances, in which young Wodaabe men parade their beauty before the women of the tribe, who select the most appealing, judging them on their looks alone. The winners are rewarded with a night of love with the judges, and honour among the rest of their kindred.

According to the Wodaabe, the perfect man should be tall, slim yet well muscled, he should be able to dress in style and to dance well. He must be creative in the manner in which he decorates himself, and his stamina be beyond criticism. The features of his face should be symmetrical, his eyes large and round, his nose fine and long, and his teeth white and even. These are the attributes that are tested at the Gerewol festival.

One of the principal celebrations of Gerewol takes place in September in the vicinity of InGall, an oasis town in a semi-desert zone that forms the gateway to the Sahara. InGall is a conglomeration of mud houses, whose gardens, in contrast to the barren landscape in which the town is set, are filled with fruit trees and vegetable patches. It is dominated by its mosque, whose pyramidal tower, built from mud and stones and spiked with the projecting ends of wooden beams, is the tallest build ing for a thousand miles around.

There is an audience of non-Wodaabe at InGall during Gerewol, for the Tuareg, a Berber tribe of nomads, also gather around the oasis at the same time of year. The government of Niger takes advantage of this concentration of its wandering subjects and sends officials to broadcast health messages over a tannoy. As a consequence of all these converging people, InGall becomes a party town for the month of September. The masses of nomads in exotic clothing, the long-horned cattle of the Wodaabe, the thoroughbred camels of the Tuareg, and the government officials, are supplemented by the Land Rovers of foreign spectators and also, finally, by the inhabitants of the town itself, who live a life more lonely than their visitors, marooned in their oasis on the edge of the Sahara.

THERE IS a mounting sense of anticipation as the various kin groups assemble around InGall and set up camp. In some years up to 1,000 members of the tribe can gather for Gerewol. The festival is an inter-clan affair, in which women of two separate lineages will judge the beauty of the men from opposite clans, and everyone is curious to sneak a look at the competition before the celebrations commence.

At the break of dawn on the day that has been fixed for the festival to commence, a woman sings out in the Wodaabe encampment, encouraging the young to rise in readiness for the dancing ahead: “The morning star has arisen! Beautiful girls! Handsome boys! Get up before the day begins!” The young men commence their beauty preparations at once, while the girls inquire of one another “Where will the sun rise today?”: a veiled reference to which of the men will be chosen as the most attractive at the forthcoming contest.

The principal competitive dance performed at the fest- ival is called the yaake. This is intended to allow its participants to demonstrate their overall physical presence, their poise and sense of rhythm, and the particular beauty of their facial features. As a spectacle, it is a cross between opera, ballet and a drag show, performed without props in the middle of a semi-desert.

The young men who will participate in the yaake spend hours at their toilet. They shave their hairline to elongate their foreheads, and make up their faces with the aid of a hand mirror, the indispensable accessory of a Wodaabe male. They begin with the application of a yellow foundation to their entire face, whose purpose is to isolate it against their darker bodies. Next, they outline their eyes and lips in black, to emphasise through contrast the milky whiteness of their eyes and teeth. A single white line is drawn on their forehead, nose and chin to divide their faces perpendicularly, and a circle composed of white dots, like a daisy, is created on each cheek. These circles are a tribal pattern and represent suura, or camps.

The preparations are communal: members of each clan assist one another with their toilet, and share cosmetics among themselves. Both the foundation and the lipstick worn at the festival are composed of rare ingredients that are considered to have magical properties. The face powder, for example, is only to be found beside a special mountain near Jongooria in central Niger, and some clans of Wodaabe must undertake a 1,400km round trip on foot in order to secure a supply.

Once their faces are ready, the participants tie amulet bags, necklaces and crosses around their necks, then dress in tunics that hang to their ankles, the fronts of which are embroidered with coloured beads and thread in linear patterns — slender trails of scarlet, of canary yellow and of emerald, interspersed with cowrie shells. Their heads are wrapped in white turbans, surmounted with a single ostrich feather.

The overall effect is startling, not to say ambiguous, for the yaake look is very feminine. In many other cultures the participants would be accused of cross-dressing. Although the overall form of costume is traditional, competitors are happy to augment their decorations with any new technology to hand, and will include zips in their embroidery, whose steel is burnished until it gleams, or hang plastic watches on their necklaces. Invention in ornamentation is valued by the tribe, who believe that it demonstrates a creative spirit in its wearer.

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