Masai

Masai in Kenya

Maasai in Tanzania

Who are they?

The Masai people are a Nilotic tribe who live in a large region of savannah known as Masailand, that stretches across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Masai are semi-nomadic cattle herders and warriors who have managed to retain their traditional lifestyle despite industrialization, and are permitted to pass freely between Kenya and Tanzania without documents. They are easily recognizable due to their distinctive and colourful dress, while their wealth is measured in cattle. The Masai are probably most famous around the world for their traditional high jumping dance (which can be seen in the unspeakably beautiful film Baraka), and more recently for their generous gift of 14 blessed cows to the USA following the events of September 11, 2001.

Points on traditional Masai culture

• They believe that all cattle on Earth belong to them, even though some may be temporarily in the possession of others.


• Their sun god is named Ruwa and lives on Mount Kilimanjaro.


• Their language is called Maa.


• They are semi-nomadic and live almost exclusively off their cattle.


• Growing food is generally frowned upon and they seldomly eat vegetables.


• They eat a type of custard made from the blood of their cattle by curdling a mixture of blood and milk.


• They walk a lot; even children walk up to 100 km every day with their cattle.


• It's thought that the Masai are very slim not only because of the extreme amount of walking, but also because of their traditional acacia soup, which is a sort of bitter digestive that plays a major role in the reduction of cholesterol.


• They like to make sandals from old tires. The Masai claim that Bridgestone-based sandals are the most comfortable and durable, followed by Michelin, with Firestone in last place.


• Their sense of distance is far different from that of most people; if asked directions, a Masai would simply point in the right direction and say "here", but he would most likely be referring to a place up to 100 km away!


• They have a reputation as fierce warriors; lion prides in the area have learned to recognize and fear distant red-robed Masai over the centuries even if vehicles full of non-Masai people are much closer.


• When a Masai boy leaves boyhood, he enters the morani or warrior class. He is expected to be brave enough to spear a lion, and if a warrior holds the tail of a lion as it dies, he is awarded that lion's mane and gains great honour in his tribe. The ceremony for boys entering the morani is held every seven years.


• Before becoming a moran (warrior), boys must undergo a "coming of age" ceremony that involves circumcision in front of the whole village. If he flinches, he brands himself a coward and disgraces his family. (No pressure!)


• When a moran has proven himself, he can become an elder. Women can also become elders once they have given birth to four healthy children.


• Men may have more than one wife.


• Houses are built from sticks and grass, then covered with a mixture of cow dung and mud.


• A Masai village is called an enkang.


• Men put a thick wall of dried thorn-tree branches around circles of houses to prevent wild animals from coming into the village.


• Women do a lot of beading in their spare time, making necklaces, headdresses, gourds, and dresses.


• Young children sometimes play a game where they place rocks on a sleeping rhinoceros, and the last one to place a rock on it before it wakes up is the winner. This, of course, is a dangerous game.


• Women and children keep their heads shaved, while the morani wear their hair in long braids dyed with red clay.


• Both males and females pierce and stretch their earlobes and wear large metal hoops at the tops of their ears.


• It is a sign of beauty for women to have long, stretched earlobes. Decorative cuts are also made on female faces for beauty.

Masai Photos

A few photo galleries you really shouldn't miss:

http://www.harkphoto.com/masai.html
http://www.vrbo.com/wwkenya2002/masai.htm
http://www.eskimo.com/~triesch/africa/kenya5b.html