Maasai - The Red Warriors of Africa

Culture & Adaption
    The Maasai live in Eastern Africa in Kenya and northern Tanzania along the Great Rift Valley, where the land is between semi-dry and dry lands due to little rain fall. The climate in Kenya is hot and humid along the coast and extremely dry in the in lands, with the capital of Nairobi being about 13-25 C on average. All year round the sun shines but through April-June there are long rains and short rains in October-December, with the hottest months being February-March and the coldest in July-August.

    Their population is rural and compromised of sixteen sections, which live in Kraals arranged in a circular shape surrounded by a fence to protect them and their cattle from predators like lions. Each section is in charge of it's own territory, however, with a communal land system they all are able to utilize their resources in a sustainable way. As well, the Maasai believe that no one should be denied access to natural resources, such as land or water.

    In their surroundings there are eighty major species of animals and in that category, there are over a thousand species of birds. The plants are dry yellow grasses but during the rain seasons the yellow grasses turn a bright green and turn into fields of flowers. The rivers have the most plant life around them and forests cover the mountains. There are thousands of plant species with some native and others have been introduced. Plants include: Acacia trees, Doum Palm, Sisel, Orchids, and Bamboo. Animals include: Antelope, Baboon, Water Buffalo, Cheetah, Crocodile, Elephant, Giraffe, Hippopotamus, Hyena, Leopard, Lion, Mongoose, Rhinoceros, and the Zebra.

    Their environment has put certain stresses on them, such as having a high infant mortality rate and the local government intervening with the tribe. Policy makers wanted to remove all of the Maasai from the Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Maasai lost many of their cattle due to disease, there was not a lot of land, and they were forced to change their ways in order to sustain themselves (moving from cattle people to agriculture people). However, in 1975 the NCA made it illegal to cultivate within the Conservation, which forced many of the Maasai to join the monetary world. In 1992 the ban was lifted and some began cultivating again, while others stayed in the monetary economy.

    Due to their environment, the Maasai people have dark skin due to being exposed to sun all year long and are usually very tall and slender people. Their health has been a perplexing concern to many studying the tribe; their diet is high in fat but they consistently have low levels of cholesterol and lipoprotein with no indication of atherosclerosis. Which leads some to think that they may have cholesterol-absorption control from the hundreds of years of being on a high fat diet. Culturally, their food is produced from being forced to cultivate the land, in which they grow maize, rice, potatoes, cabbage, and other foods, which they have become dependent on.

Language

 
    The language the Maasai speak is called Maa but they also speak English and Swahili. The language is apart of the Eastern Nilotic family and come from the Ongamo-Maa language. Their language requires them to have an advanced tongue root vowel harmony and tone, which  is extremely important for conveying correct meaning. They also have only two fully grammatical propositions, but can use “relational nouns” along with the most general preposition to designate specific locative ideas. As well, they have no written language, which often causes the misspelling of their tribe name.

Gender Roles

    In the Maasai culture there are only two genders, male and female.

    For the men, the biggest influence in in their lives is their age; as they aged the gained more responsibility but the elders responsibilities were limited. The ilayiok (uncircumcised men) have a harder life than most, they herd the caves then cattle and must deal with hunger, physical hardships, and an embarrassment to them and their family. The boys are constantly tested and any faltering brings shame to them; they needed to be ready to be circumcised and they must go through hardships in order to go through the circumcision. After they are circumcised they become illmuran (warriors) and protect the village, messengers for the elders, and go on raids. They live in warrior villages with their girlfriends and mothers, it's a communal living where every possession is shared, and they believe in freedom of action are sexually active and open.

    For the women, there are only married and non-married women. The intoyie (uncircumcised) women are the girlfriends and sexual partners of the warriors; even though they are sexually active and open they remain loyal to their parents and help their mothers with household chores and care for the younger children. However, once the woman is circumcised they are supposed to immediately marry an elder and begin their family. She is forbidden from having sex with anyone but the elders and if she was caught cheating, her and her partner would be beaten. They gained rank when their son becomes a warrior and his mother will now wear special earrings to show her new rank. Women do have less rights than men in the tribe, they are looked at as an extremely important part of the tribe.

    Incest in the tribe is taken seriously and is restricted. The women express their feelings about the men in the tribe through song and gather into a mob like group to slaughter cattle and beat the elders who break the incest rule. It is Maasai custom for the men to not have sex with their daughters and as stated above, will be beaten if they break this rule.

    Although they only acknowledge two genders, they realize that sometimes there will be those who do not belong to one gender specifically. They call this androgynous person an ani-malwill, which ever gender is stronger is given to that individual and is done so quickly to keep order within the group. Each gender is marked by dress, ornaments, and hairstyle.

    As soon as the child is born their gendering beings. When the child is between four and six, their socialization practices become more clear by having boys tend to the cattle and endure hunger, while the girls are expected to work at home and take care of the children. Both girls and boys are expected to go through painful tasks in order to go through circumcision, this includes scarification, shave their lower incisors, and ears pierced around age 10.

   The child in the Blessed Curse by R.K. Williamson, who was born intersexed, would not be shunned or negatively thought of within the Maasai tribe. As stated earlier, although they only acknowledge two genders, they realize that others can exist, however, they will be put in to whichever gender is stronger within them. Although the Native Americans acknowledge the fact that there are more than two genders, while the Maasai do not, they still treat them with respect and aid them to fit into their society better. I believe the Native American way is less emotionally and psychologically damaging since they are not forced into a box but allowed to come to their own conclusion.

Economy of Culture

  Their subsistence pattern is pastoralism, which is where people make their living by tending to large animals, such as cattle for the Maasai. Livestock is the important factor in their economy and are traded for other livestock, cash, and other products. Their cattle and their children are the most important thing to the Maasai people.

   As said earlier, the Maasai's diet is has an extremely high fat content and has confused many people. The Maasai eat meat, milk, and blood from cattle; the blood is drunk on special occasions, such as circumcised children, after childbirth, and when someone is sick. However, due to being moved, their diet now consists of food production, such as maize meal more than in the past. Due to the Maasai's story of creation, they believe breaking the earth is not only disrespectful to their God but frowned upon, since the land cannot be used for both livestock and farming, but many have no choice.

   Being a pastoral society, they have a patriarchy system since men do most of the work with the cattle, which is the main source for the Maasai people. Men are the ones who make the decisions and herd the animals, while the women stay home and take care of the children. Their division of labor is based on gender and age for their society.

    Back to their nutrition, meat is eaten for energy and protein, blood is for special occasions, soup is prepared with herbs, meat, and bones, and milk and milk products are consumed by everyone at any time of day, but mostly young children. Milk products include fresh milk, which is not boiled and from the cattle, sour milk, which is made by fermenting fresh milk over night and is mostly drunk by uncircumcised boys, yogurt, which is milk that has been fermented for four days and is stored in airtight containers, much like yogurt sold in stores here, and cow colostrum, which is thick and yellow milk but usually only eaten by the children, mainly boys.

    They rarely have any surplus in their food items since they only take what they need and use every part of the plant or animal, specifically so nothing will go to waste. The men mainly do all the work, since it is believed that the men are stronger than the women and they are required to work days with the cattle, which they believe women would not be able to endure. Everything is distributed equally between the members of the tribe because they believe no one should be without the necessities for life, such as land and water. As well, there is no currency among the tribe except for cattle, which are used to show how powerful a man or tribe isl the more cattle, the more power. They also trade, usually within their own tribe but since the cities are getting closer to them, some are forced to trade with the outside world and many trade their artwork, such as beadwork for money or necessities.

Marriage & Kinship

     Marriages are arranged by the elders, without telling the bride or her mother. Polygyny is an wanted and usually achieved by the elders, which results in the women being younger than the men so, most women become widows, and they will not be marry again. As soon as the men and women are circumcised they must marry quickly, however, the spouses are usually put together by knowing another family who has a son or daughter, etc. the fathers figure out the date and details of the wedding before letting either party know who they will even be marrying but because they are an endogamy  culture, the couple will most likely already have met and know each other.

    When they are married, the bride brings a herd of cattle (for her future sons), which will be overlooked by her husband. As well, when the parents die the eldest son will inherit all of his late father's herd, while the youngest inherits his late mother's herd, and daughters inherit nothing.

    Their residence pattern is a patriarchy, meaning the father is the head of the household and as long as he is alive, his sons cannot have control of cattle or choose whom they will marry when the time comes, but they must abide by what their father decides. However, as their sons grow older, they give them more responsibilities and rely on them more as they grow older. Since this is a patriarchy, even if her husband dies, she will be under her sons control and be subservient to them, just as she was to her husband.

    Their descent pattern, again because they are a patriarchy, their lineages are traced through the father's side but usually only extend one or two generations beyond their current elder. Clans used to be a large part of the Maasai but today clanships weak and is not a significant aspect of life as it used to be.

     The kinship terminology of the Maasai is similar to Omaha language, however, many address each other as teknonyms when they are acquaints and as affines, when there is a level of kinship or respect between the two people

Social & Political Organization

    Age determines everything in the Maasai culture. This age system is usually spaced within about fifteen years and within each age group there are subgroups. The most important age transition are of the warriors who endure hunger, pain, attempting to gain independence from their mother's, learn to depend on their fellow warriors, and then retire to become an elder.

    Their age system is also an indicator in their political structure and alternating age is used. For example, elders in group one help the men in group three and are responsible for helping them become warriors, just as group three will eventually help group five accomplish the same things and it continues in alternating order. This system allows rivalry between the adjacent age groups, mainly in the south or rivalry between the young and the old, which mainly occurs in the north.

    Although there may be rivalry, many aspects of violence are reserved only for the warriors since they must defend their tribes herd from raids. However, there seems to be more violence between the warriors and elders than from outside threats. There is theft, adultery, and infighting within the warrior groups due to jealously, how they were brought up, or greed. As well, before a warrior can become an elder, he must replace an elder, which he cannot do until he forcefully makes a stand toward this elder to displace him.

Religion & Art

    Every Maa speaking tribe shares the same religion; a monotheistic religion where they follow their God called Enkai or Ngai.

    Ngai is the creator of everything and in the beginning, Ngai (sky) was one with earth and owned everything. However, the day that 'sky' and earth became two separate entities and Ngai was no longer apart of the earth of apart of the people. However, the cattle could not survive now that the sky and earth were no longer one so, Ngai sent the cattle to the Maasai people from the fig tree and told them to take care of the cows.

    Due to this story of creation, they firmly believe that breaking the soil is an insult to Ngai; they do not even break the ground to bury their dead. This explains why the cattle are so sacred to the Maasai and sacrificed on special occasions, which the Laibon, the ritual and spiritual leaders, take care of. There is usually only one of these leaders per clan and they officiate ceremonies/sacrifices, heal people, and provide spiritual advice to the elders. As well, there are prophets, seers, and shamans who help the elders name the leaders of each age group. Their religion is so deeply embedded into their way of life that without it, they would be a completely different tribe with different values and concerns. Everything comes from and is based off of their story of creation, which makes their religion extremely important and valuable to them as a society.

The Maasai are best known for their bead work, which they use as decoration for themselves and to sell within the cities. The patterns of the beads are determined by age group. The men, who are usually more decorated than the women, may spend a majority of their days working on unique and detailed hair styles along with their bead work. They make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, and many other types of jewelry in this bead work style and also may attach bells, and objects

they have found or bought in the city.

    Another well known art aspect of the Maasai tribe is their music, which except for the occasional kudo horn, it is all singing, and everyone usually sings along. Each group has their own roll in every song or ceremony; the warriors make a vibration like sound and can even sound like cattle.

    Music is  usually preformed by a group of men, normally warriors, standing in a row or a circle and the song will start off from low grunts and vibration noises and with each man having his own part, together the group has a bass rhythm. Once this deep singing has gone on, the leader will begin to sing in short phrases and has a trance like sound to it with the constant buzz sound from the group and then the short lyrics sung by one individual.

    There is also dancing involved with their singing. Most known is their soloist jumping, where they jump as high as they possibly can, while the others are swaying to the music and once that jumper is exhausted (usually just after a jump or two) the next person who jump, and it will continue down the line or circle.

Cultural Change

    The Maasai tribe has tried to maintain themselves and their culture even though outside forces are attempting to come in and change their ways. Although they have been moved and forced to go against their beliefs in order to survive, they are now being introduced into the outside monetary world, which can be positive or negative, but either way they are still open and friendly people who welcome outsiders and to show them their ways but this also is the case do to many years of having to evolve to the outsiders.

   The Maasai are in danger of becoming an extent tribe due to the cities beginning to creep more and more into the Conservation and because they are on protected grounds, the only thing that is protecting them and their culture is the government but as soon as the Park is sold or made smaller or they are forced to move again, their culture will face a very big hit, which I don't think they will recover from as easily as they did the first time they were moved. Every year the government attempts to take their land and few groups are helping them attempt to keep their land. Prescott College in Prescott, AZ ventures every year to the Maasai in order to help them win lawsuits against corporations and the government from taking their land.

    Although they are known by many in to the outside world for their bead work and unique look, their hold on the world is small as they are merely a tourist attraction to those who venture to Africa. Just as many 'untouched' societies are looked at today, they are admired for what they produce, such as the bead work of the Maasai, rather than their culture and way of life. The world is a small place now, and everyone will have to find their place in the new world or be forgotten and as much as I hope the Maasai will be able to keep their culture for as long as possible, the new world has a history of destroying it's past in order to move forward.

Bibliography:

• http://www.maasai-association.org/maasai.html
• http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Maasai.html
• http://lionguardians.wildlifedirect.org/2008/06/26/maasai-marriage/
• http://www.maasai-association.org/ceremonies.html
• http://www.maasaierc.org/maasailegacy.html
• http://maasaiinfo.wikispaces.com/Gender+Roles
• http://www.kenya-advisor.com/masai-culture.html
• http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/sub/maasai.html
• http://www.maasai-association.org/art.html
• http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/voices/jessica-varat-and-jasleen-anand/maasai-culture-colonization-and-change
• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/maasai.htm