The Maasai - East Africa Most Celebrated Indigenous People - Part 2
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1. The Maasai - East Africa's Most
Celebrated Indigeous People
Meat, milk and blood form a
substantial portion of the Maasai diet. They rely on cattle, goats and
sheep for
this. Using a bow, a blunt arrow is shot at a live cow’s jugular to
extract blood. Animal fats, honey, porridge and recently maize meal,
vegetables and
tea are also consumed.
Circumcision - emurata –is the most
significant ceremony in the early years of a Maasai’s life, as it marks
the
transition from childhood to adulthood. The night before the main
ceremony, the boys sing and play their childhood away. Those who undergo
circumcision at
the same time henceforth belong to the same age-set.
An age-set
is formed every seven to ten years, accommodating boys of 7 to 14 years
of age. On
the morning of the ceremony, each boy is bathed in stinging-cold water
to deaden his nerves. He is draped in a purple piece of clothing and is
presented with
a special pair of shoes made from dry cowhide. In a public ceremony, in
the chill of the morning, the foreskin of his penis is knifed off.
During this ritual
the boy must not show the slightest sign of pain, not even the twitch of
a muscle.
Girls undergo an excision of the clitoris –
clitoridectomy,
which is performed when they are much older in the privacy of their
mother’s house. To stop profuse bleeding, a paste of cow dung and milk
fat is
applied on the raw wound. It is believed that this infamous practice
helps keep the girls’ sexual desires in check.
The girl after
healing is
considered eligible for marriage and any worthy suitor may now ask for
her hand. The Maasai bride is usually never part of the dowry
negotiation or wedding
arrangement. Sometimes it is a childhood engagement. After payment of
dowry, at an agreed date, the groom accompanied by his best mate
arranges to pick his
betrothed. After various ceremonies, she is clothed in blue to symbolise
her new status. As a married woman, she will now always walk behind her
husband.
After the boys heal, initiation into junior warriorhood
follows in a colourful ceremony known as emurano. The boys move from
home and set
up warriors’ camps –emanyatta, away from family where they live wild and
begin to grow their hair. The age-set chums are now taught and prepared
to be true warriors- morani. Matters of herd and community security now
rest in their youthful hands.
The morani are eager to justify
their new
status by raiding cattle belonging to non-Maasai communities. It is at
this stage that they also learn the art of lion hunting. The authorities
today take a
very dim view of lion hunting and the Maasai grumble that those caught
in the practice are punished.
During this period, the junior
warrior is
allowed to engage in sexual relations with uncircumcised girls, provided
no pregnancy results. He shares his girlfriends with his age-set mates
as they are
bound by oath for life and share in everything. They are prohibited to
eat in the presence of women or when unaccompanied by their age-set
friends. They also
must carry their weapons at all times; a spear – with a pale coloured
handle, a club and a shield.
Junior warriors must be on the ready
to
fight fearlessly, at any time. If they prove themselves, they are
promoted to senior warrior –ilingeetiani, through a huge ceremony known
as eunoto,
which is performed every ten to fifteen years. The ilingeetiani cease to
be front-liners in battle and prepare for elderhood. They are allowed
to accumulate
wealth, marry and start families. At the transition ceremony, they are
handed new spears with ebony handles to signify their seniority. They
can now eat
outside the camp but still not in the company of women. Here, they
identify and choose their age-set leader.
The warrior graduates
to become a
junior elder at an emotional, meat roasting ceremony -olngeher. Crying
and wailing, he mourns the end of his youthful years. He downs his
weapons and is
honoured with an elders’ chair. The chair becomes his companion till
death or until it breaks. On this chair his eldest wife shaves his head
clean. If
he has no wife, his mother does the honours, and a wife is very soon
found for him.
Days later, the ceremony comes to an end when
there is no more
meat to roast. Now as elders, they must move out of their father’s
homesteads and establish their own. They begin to involve themselves in
deliberating
other concerns of the community. With time they become senior elders-
revered wise men, and assume responsibilities of clan administration.
Death
-
enkeeya is the inevitable end of a Maasai’s life journey. To the horror
of Christian missionaries, Maasai traditionally mourned their dead then
left
the body in the wild for animals to eat. The common practice now is to
hold a small ceremony, after which a grave is dug and the body buried.
Stones are then
piled upon the grave, but without any tombstones or no markers.
Today, an approximately 450,000 Maasai live in Kenya, with a similar number
estimated to be living in Tanzania. You can meet the Maasai, when on a Kenya safari or Tanzania safari: where they live in the neighbourhood of some of leading game reserves. Maasai regions such as Serengeti,
Ngorongoro, Maasai Mara, Amboseli, and Tarangire are abundant with the wild game that makes safari tourism such fun.
In
these areas conflicts
occasionally arise between the interests of the Maasai and those of
wildlife. The Maasai complain that though their animals are sometimes
attacked by
wildlife, any retaliation results in punishment by the authorities.
Though they are allowed to graze animals in game reserves, this is not
allowed in
national parks such as Amboseli, limiting available pasture for their
beloved cattle.
The loss of communal Maasai lands to agricultural
and
commercial utilisation has further piled up pressure on the Maasai
traditional lifestyle. Though they have survived through the last
century, the pressure to
adapt modern lifestyles is relentless. They have stuck to their arguably
antiquated customs with an obstinacy that defies all understanding.
Though some are
yielding, many continue with the ways of the past.
Their way of
life puts them at a severe disadvantage in the modern world that
surrounds them. The
Kenyan and Tanzanian governments - and the colonial administrators
before them, have failed to woo the Maasai away from their traditional
lifestyle. In 1988,
warriorhood customs were banned in Kenya; a few other practices have
also been prohibited but are still practiced in secret. Female
circumcision remains the
greatest battle ahead, which the Maasai – especially the older women
refuse to abandon.
The Maasai appear poor on account of their
simple
lifestyle, so lacking in modern conveniences. Some have however huge
cattle herds worth a substantial amount. But they rarely sell the
cattle, and the
accumulation of cattle wealth is almost an end in itself.
The
Maasai have resisted modern education, and to integrate in the cash
economy. In Kenya,
Maasai literacy rates are below 20%, and fall as low as 5% among clans
pursing a purely nomadic lifestyle. Due to their semi-nomadic ways, it
is not easy to
provide essential services such as safe drinking water, healthcare,
education facilities, electricity and telephones. But some have taken
with relish to
mobile telephony, so well suited to their mobile ways.
In recent
years efforts have been made to accommodate the Maasai in eco-tourism
activities,
including revenue sharing in “group ranches”. With a Maasai guide, you
can tour the villages, meet the people and get to know how they live.
From
their guests, they expect respect for their privacy and environment, and
sensitivity about their culture. Filming and taking pictures without
consent is
considered disrespectful.
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