One of the main Surma / Suri customs is stick fighting. This ritual and sport is called Donga or Sagenai (Saginay). Donga is both the name of the sport and the stick, whereas sagenai is the name of the stick-fighting session. Stick fighting is basic in Suri culture. In most cases, stick fighting is a way for warriors to find girlfriends, it can also be a way to settle conflicts. On this occasion men  show their courage, their virility and their resistance to pain, to the young women. The fights are held between Suri villages, and begin with 20 to 30 people on each side, and can end up with hundreds of warriors involved. Suri are famous for stick fighting, as their neighbor tribe, the Mursi, also practice these traditional fights. The day before the sagenai, fighters have to purge themselves. They do it by drinking a special drink, called dokai, which is made of the bark of a special tree, which is mixed with water. After consuming it, warriors make themselves vomiting the drink. The water is supposed to bring with it many of the body's impurities. After this ritual they don't eat until the following morning. Warriors walk kilometers for arriving the fighting point at Sagenai, which takes place in an open space. They make a stop when crossing a river in order to wash themselves, before decorating their bodies for the fight. They decorate themselves by sliding the fingers full of clay on the warriors bodies. This dressing up and decoration is meant to  show their beauty and virility and thus catch the women's attention. The phallic shape ending the sticks contributes to that virile demonstration. Fighters  arrive on the Donga field all together, carrying the strongest man,dancing and singing. Some fighters wear colourfoul headdresses sometimes with feathers on it, and also knee-protectors. But most of them use no protection at all and fight completely naked in order to show their bravery. They also wear strings of decorative colour.

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