The Surma used to be nomadic pastoralists, but now depend on substance cultivation of sorghum and maize. The most famous tradition the Surma is ‘Donga’ or stick fighting. At a certain age, they must face each other with long wooden clubs (donga), around two meters in length and whose ends have phallic form. Each contestant wears a dueling kit which both protective and decorative.

Donga: is a stick fighting festival of the Surma young men. At a fight, each challenger is armed with a hardwood stick. Each player beats his opponent with his stick as many times as possible with the intention of knocking him down, and eliminating him from the game. Players are usually unmarried men. The winner will be carried on a platform of poles to a group of girls waiting at the open field. The winner holds the privilege to ask among those girls for his own wife. The young Surma men & girls paint their bodies with a mixture of varied chalks - prepared by them. The Surma women are well-known for piercing their lips and inserting a large wooden and clay plate into it. Surma ethnic’s culture is beyond what we are experiencing in the current civilized world. Surma and Mursi ethnics exercise the same culture. Donga - stick fighting is often in every September.