LIFE
by
Katherine Barnaby

The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well known of African ethnic groups. They speak Maa, a member of the Nilo-Saharan language family that is related to Dinka and Nuer, and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania: Swahili and English.

Culture - Maasai society is strongly patriarchal in nature with elder men, sometimes joined by retired elders, deciding most major matters for each Maasai group. A full body of oral law covers many aspects of behaviour. Formal execution is unknown, and normally payment in cattle will settle matters.

Maasai people and huts with Enkang barrier in foreground

A high infant mortality rate among the Maasai has led to babies not truly being recognized until they reach an age of 3 moons, ilapaitin.  For Maasai living a traditional life, the end of life is virtually without ceremony, and the dead are left out for scavengers. Burial has in the past been reserved for great chiefs, since it is believed to be harmful to the soil.

Traditional Maasai lifestyle centers around their cattle which constitutes the primary source of food. The measure of a man's wealth is in terms of cattle and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more children the better. A man who has plenty of one but not the other is considered to be poor.

Social Organization - The central unit of Maasai society is the age-set. Although young boys are sent out with the calves and lambs as soon as they can toddle, childhood for boys is mostly playtime, with the exception of ritual beatings to test courage and endurance. Girls are responsible for chores such as cooking and milking, skills which they learn from their mothers at an early age. One rite of passage from boyhood to the status of junior warrior is a painful circumcision ceremony, which is performed without anaesthetic. This ritual is typically performed by the elders, who use a sharpened knife and makeshift cattle hide bandages for the procedure. The Maa word for circumcision is emorata.^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai - cite_note-18#cite_note-18} The boy must endure the operation in silence. Expressions of pain bring dishonor, albeit temporarily. Any exclamations can cause a mistake in the delicate and tedious process, which can result in life-long scarring, dysfunction, and pain. The healing process will take 3-4 months, during which urination is painful and nearly impossible at times, and boys must remain in black cloths for a period of 4-8 months.

A junior Moran with head-dress and markings.

During this period, the newly circumcised young men will live in a "manyatta", a "village" built by their mothers. The manyatta has no encircling barricade for protection, emphasizing the warrior role of protecting the community. No inner krall is built, since warriors neither own cattle or undertake stock duties. When a new generation of warriors is initiated, the existing ilmoran will graduate to become junior elders, who are responsible for political decisions until they in turn become senior elders.

Young women also undergo excision ("female circumcision" or emorata) as part of an elaborate rite of passage ritual in which they are given instructions and advice pertaining to their new role, as they are then said to have come of age and become women, ready for marriage. In Kenya female circumcision is practiced by 38% of the population. The most common form is clitorectomy. These circumcisions are usually performed by an invited 'practitioner' who is often not Maasai, usually from a Dorobo group. The knives and blades which make the cut are fashioned by blacksmiths, il-kunono, who are avoided by the Maasai because they make weapons of death (knives, short swords (ol alem), spears, etc). Similar to the young men, women who will be circumcised women wear dark clothing, paint their faces with markings, and then cover their faces on completion of the ceremony.

A Maasai traditional dance, Adumu.

The Maasai are traditionally polygamous; this is thought to be a long standing and practical adaptation to high infant and warrior mortality rates. Polyandry is also practiced. A woman marries not just her husband, but the entire age group. Men are expected to give up their bed to a visiting age-mate guest. The woman decides strictly on her own if she will join the visiting male. Any child who may result is the husband's child and his descendant in the patrilineal order of Maasai society.

Diet - Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of meat, milk, and blood from cattle. Animal fats or butter are used in cooking, primarily of porridge, maize, and beans. Butter is also an important infant food. Blood is rarely drunk.”

The Maasai herd goats and sheep, including the Red Maasai sheep, as well as the more prized cattle.  Electrocardiogram tests applied to 400 young adult male Maasai found no evidence whatsoever of heart disease, abnormalities or malfunction. Further study with carbon-14 tracers showed that the average cholesterol level was about 50 percent of that of an average American. These findings were ascribed to the amazing fitness of morans, which was evaluated as "Olympic standard".

RELIGION

By

Greg Ryan

The Maasai and their religion has often been disputed in journal articles because of the confusion of the many names associated with their God. I found at first to be a little confused when reading about the Maasai and their religion as well, but after reading about the story of the Maasai creator and how they came to possess their valued cattle it all became clearer.

Their God called Ngai can also be called Enkai or Engai and has both a kind and benevolent side and also violent and vengeful manifestations these can be expressed through the two different names for Ngai; one is Ngai Narok which is the deities kind and gracious side is the color of black and Ngai Na-Nyokie who is the color of red and is angry. In their creation story it is said that Ngai once encompassed all land and sky but eventually the sky and earth separated leading Ngai to leave the Maasai but he did not want them to die so he made an anchor to the ground of fig tree root which makes a bark cloth and from this he sent down all the cattle to the Maasai, this is why even though some of the cattle are not in Maasai control they believe since they own all cattle they are entitled to other tribes cattle’s as well which gives them excuse to go on raids in neighboring tribes.

An important figure in the lives of Maasai is the Laibon who is the medicine man for their people who along with shamanistic helaing also performed divination duties and prophecy. These Laibon even today continue to prescribe traditional remedies and are known as some of the best healers in Tanzania and Kenya. The Maasai and their religion seem to be in harmony with each other as their God reflects both the life giving qualities of nature such as the black clouds of rain represented by Ngai Narok and the red clouds of lightning in Ngai Na-nyokie and even the cattle which plays an important part in their religious story also mirrors that in real life as the cattle are their
lifeblood.

BIRTH RITES & RITUAL
by
Chelsey Merrithew

Birth in the people of the Maasai is interesting. First off, a little history of women; they are believed to be innately dependant on men and are held to be constricted  in their outlook and abilities, and above all, responsible for bringing forth life.

            In all matters associated with birth and infancy, there is an element of providence expressed as the prerogative of God. This notion, it is interesting to note, extends to all living things. Lions, for example, are enemies in a formidable and ritualized sense, but to kill a lioness still suckling cubs and leave them as orphans would be a terrible thing to do. Similarly, a column of marching ants might be disturbed with impunity, but if they are carrying their eggs they should be left alone or misfortune would surely follow.      

            A man may approach  a pregnant woman and beg for her unborn “daughter” with the gift of the anointment by smearing butter across her womb. The child might of course be male or die young, however, the suitor has taken his chance and if the child is born a girl and survives the age of marriage, it is as if God has shown favour towards the suit and it would be dangerous to offer her to any other man.

            When a woman is pregnant she is to abstain from sex as a way to protect her unborn child because it is thought to cause a miscarriage. The birth itself is in the hands of the women who stay with the mother constantly for some days after the event. They prepare food, taking turns to give affection to the baby, singing and sleeping in the mothers hut while her husband sleeps elsewhere. There is hope and uncertainty and these mixed feelings associated with the various restrictions placed on the mother at this time. It is a closely regulated period with a sequence of minor ceremonies and slaughtering to build up the mothers strength over a period of about six weeks. On this occasion her food is rigidly prescribed and she is allowed no special fancies. Following the birth of a boy, four feints are made at bleeding a heifer and then the blood is taken from an ox; and vice versa for a girl. A mixture of this blood and fresh milk “enkalipeta” is fed to the mother. The next day, a sheep may be killed if there is not fat available to feed her; this is called “olkpuket”. Then she has unsweetened tea and cereal for two days; on the fourth day a fat goat is killed and named after the “loluai” tree whose bark is added to soup to make her pee and settle her stomach. It is about this time that she is expected  to resume her normal domestic duties and her husband may once again sleep in hut. Finally an ox is killed for more soup and other cuts; and the infant will be encouraged to take small bits of the rib fat.

            During the months that follow the childbirth, mother and infant are ritual dependants. This term implies a certain pollution because they must not wash with water and also a distinctive appearance because their hair becomes olmas; ritual hair that must not be cut. Mother and baby are also virtually confined to their village; others are dangerous.

Work Cited

Spencer, Paul. The Maasai of Matapato: A Study of Rituals and Rebellion. Indiana University Press,         

            1988. 39-42.

INITIATION RITUALS
by
Erin Kimball

Iniation in Maasai culture is much more complex than anything in Western culture, even today, when their rituals have eroded somewhat due to outside modern influences. There are many ceremonies in Maasai society including, but not limited to, Enkipaata (pre-circumcision ceremony,

Emuratare (circumcision), Enkiama (marriage), Eunoto (warrior ceremony), Enkang oo-nkiri (meat-eating ceremony), Orngesherr (junior elder ceremony).

There are also ceremonies in the society in which younger boys and girls may participate, including Eudoto/Enkigerunoto oo-inkiyiaa (earlobe

and Ilkipirat (leg fire marks). Traditionally, boys and girls must go through these initiations prior to being circumcised. Most of these initiation ceremonies, however, revolve around men. “Traditionally, girls are encouraged to master housework and boys are encouraged to know how to care for and manage livestock, including how to slit their ears, remove thorns from their hoofs, and even slaughter them.”[1] As such, women’s initiations tend to focus primarily on marriage. Also, women in Maasai society traditionally went through, and in many cases, continue to go through circumcision, and are even eager for it, though a great deal of pressure from outside cultures and the governments of Kenya and Tanzania has caused this tradition to slowly diminish.[2]

Young men in Maasai culture will form into “age-sets” while undergoing their variations rites of passage. Young women do not form age-sets, but will come to be recognized by that of their husbands. All children in Maasai society greatly anticipate the day when they can take part in the initiation rituals.

Though each of the Maasai’s rituals plays a big role in their culture, the most important of them is the Emuratare ceremony. Circumcision is the most vital kind of initiation in any of the rites of passage in Maasai culture. Young men are eager to undergo it, because it means that they have taken the first step in becoming a warrior, they take on responsibilities for the security of their territory, and they receive many gifts, generally in the form of livestock. Circumcision is the difference between a child and a man. In order for the boy to be initiated in Emuratare, he must first prove himself to be a grown man to the community. He must show that he is capable of carrying a heavy spear and properly caring for livestock.

Prior to his circumcision, a young man must herd and tend to cattle for seven days. The operation takes place on the eighth day. As he heads towards the location where the operation will take place, the young Maasai’s male friends and family shout both encouragement and threats. For example: “If you kick the knife, you will be in trouble!” or “If you kick the circumciser, do it well!”[3] It should be noted, however, that when young women undergo circumcision, they are spared from these traditional taunts.[4]

Maasai circumsion is not pleasant. The person undergoing it is traditionally around 14 to 16 years of age, though it can vary. No pain relief drugs are permitted, and you are not to flinch or show that you are in pain, for fear of being branded a coward. “You must not budge; don’t move a muscle or even blink. You can face only one direction until the operation is completed. The slightest movement on your part will mean you are a coward, incompetent and unworthy to be a Maasai man.”[5] In spite of this, however, the ceremony means a great deal to every Maasai.

Following their circumcision, the ceremony which appears to be most anticipated by young Maasai men is Eunoto. This is when boys become junior warriors, junior warriors become senior warriors, and senior warriors become elders. Becoming an elder means that a Maasai may take a wife and begin to raise a family. Eunoto only occurs about once every 15 years, so it is a very important event, involving hundreds of people at a time. It takes place at a specially chosen site and many Maasai need to travel some distance to participate.

 There are many parts of Eunoto, including the ritual slaughter, skinning and blood-drinking of an ox by the new junior warriors

the first imbibing of alcohol by the senior warriors

dancing and telling stories. At the conclusion, each level of the society has risen to the next level, meaning that they have new responsibilities to their communities, but they have new privileges as well.

“As long as I live I will never forget the day… I emerged a man, a Maasai warrior. I felt a sense of control over my destiny so great that no words can accurately describe it. I now stood with confidence, pride, and happiness of being, for all around me I was desired and loved by beautiful, sensuous Maasai maidens. I could now interact with women and even have sex with them, which I had not been allowed before. I was now regarded as a responsible person.”[6]