Masai
Total population
883,000 Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 717 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1148 × 960 pixel, file size: 301 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Steve Pastor eastern Serengeti, October 2006 I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Regions with significant populations
Kenya         (estimates vary) 377,089 or 453,000 [1] [2]  Tanzania (northern) 430,000
Language(s)
Maa (ɔl Maa)
Religion(s)
Monotheism including Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Samburu

The Masai 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 African ethnic groups internationally.^[3] They speak Maa,^[3] which is a part of the Nilo-Saharan language family — similar languages include Dinka, Nuer, Turkana — and Songhai, and are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania: Swahili and English. The Masai population has been variously estimated as 377,089 from the 1989 Census^[1] or as 453,000 language speakers in Kenya in 1994^[2] and 430,000 in Tanzania in 1993^[2] with a total estimated as "approaching 900,000"^[3] Estimates of the respective Maasai populations in both countries are complicated by the remote locations of many villages, and their semi-nomadic nature. Image File history File links Flag_of_Kenya. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Tanzania. ... Maasai is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 900,000. ... For the Celtic Frost album, see Monotheist (album) In theology, monotheism (from Greek one and god) is the belief in the existence of one deity, or in the oneness of God. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... Samburu warriors near Lake Turkana. ... The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition, but can be used about any ethnic group who inhabit the geographic region with which they have the earliest historical connection. ...  Eastern Africa (UN subregion)  East African Community  Central African Federation (defunct)  Geographic East Africa, including the UN subregion and East African Community East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easternmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. ... Maasai is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 900,000. ... Map showing the distribution of the Nilo-Saharan languages. ... Dinka Dialects Northeastern (Padang) (Dialects: Abiliang, Dongjol, Luac, Ngok-Sobat, Ageer, Rut, Thoi) Northwestern (Ruweng) (Dialects: Alor, Ngok-Kordofan, Pan Aru, Pawany) South Central (Agar) (Dialects: Aliap, Ciec, Gok, Agar) Southeastern (Bor) (Dialects: Bor (Athoc,Gok), Nyarweng, Tuic) Southwestern (Rek) (Dialects: Rek, Abiem, Aguok, Apuk, Awan, Lau, Luac, Malual, Paliet... The Nuer are a confederation of tribes located in Southern Sudan and western Ethiopia. ... Turkana refers to: Turkana people of Kenya Lake Turkana This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Songhai are an ethnic group living in western Africa. ... Swahili (also called Kiswahili; see Kiswahili for a discussion of the nomenclature) is an agglutinative Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa. ...

Although the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, the people have clung to their age-old customs.^[4] The United Republic of (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania in Swahili) is a country on the east coast of central Africa. ... Kenya (pronounced as KEN-ya) is a country of East Africa, bordering Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and the Indian Ocean. ...

History

A Maasai man.

According to their own oral history, the Maasai originated from the lower Nile valley north of Lake Turkana (North-West Kenya) and began migrating south around the fifteenth century, arriving in a long trunk of land stretching from northern Kenya to central Tanzania between the seventeenth and late eighteenth century. Other ethnic groups were forcibly displaced as they settled there. [2] The Maasai territory reached its largest size in the mid-nineteenth century, and covered almost all of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent lands from Mount Marsabit in the north to Dodoma in the south.^[5] At this time the Maasai, as well as the larger group they were part of, raided cattle as far east as the Tanga coast in Tanzania. Raiders used spears and shields, but were most feared for throwing clubs (orinka) which could be accurately thrown from up to 70 paces (appx. 100 meters). In 1852 there was a report of a concentration of 800 Maasai warriors on the move in Kenya. In 1857, after having depopulated the “Wakuafi wilderness” in southeastern Kenya, Maasai warriors threatened Mombasa on the coast of Kenya. [3]^[6] Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 450 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 1584 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 450 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 1584 pixel, file size: 1. ... This article is about the historical discipline; see Oral tradition for the oral transmission of historical information. ... Northern section of the Great Rift Valley. ... Marsabit is a 1707 m high 6300 km² basaltic shield volcano in Kenya, located 170km east of the center of the East African Rift at 37°58 E, 2°19 N (37. ... Dodoma, population 324,347 (2002 census), is the national capital of Tanzania and also the capital of that countrys Dodoma Region. ... Map of the Tanga Region Tanga Region is one of the 26 regions of Tanzania. ... A pace (or double-pace) is a measure of distance used in Ancient Rome. ... Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya, lying on the Indian Ocean. ...

Because of this migration, the Maasai are the southernmost Nilotic speakers.

The period of expansion was followed by the Maasai "Emutai" of 1883-1902. This period was marked by epidemics of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, rinderpest, and smallpox. The estimate first put forward by a German lieutenant in what was then northwest Tanganyika, was that 90 per cent of cattle and half of wild animals perished from rinderpest. German doctors in the same area claimed that “every second” African had a pock-marked face as the result of smallpox. This period coincided with drought. Rains failed completely in 1897 and 1898. [4] Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP - also known as lung plague), is a contagious bacterial disease that afflicts the lungs of cattle, buffalo, zebu, and yaks. ... Rinderpest (RP) is a inflectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and some species of wildlife, it is commonly reffered to as cattle plague. ... Smallpox (also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera) is a contagious disease unique to humans. ... Flag of Deutsch-Ostafrika (1885-1919) Flag of Tanganyika (1919-1961) Flag of the Republic of Tanganyika 1962–64 Tanganyika is the name of an East African territory lying between the largest of the African great lakes: Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika, after which it was named. ...

The Austrian explorer Oscar Baumann travelled in Maasai lands in 1891-1893, and described the old Maasai settlement in the Ngorongoro Crater in the 1894 book Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle ("Through the lands of the Maasai to the source of the Nile"): "There were women wasted to skeletons from whose eyes the madness of starvation glared ... warriors scarcely able to crawl on all fours, and apathetic, languishing elders. Swarms of vultures followed them from high, awaiting their certain victims." By one estimate two-thirds of the Maasai died during this period. [5] Oscar Baumann (June 25, 1864 - October 12, 1899} was an Austrian cartographer with a keen interest in ethnography. ...

Starting with a 1904 treaty, [6] and followed by another in 1911, Maasai lands in Kenya were reduced by 60 percent when the British evicted them to make room for settler ranches, subsequently confining them to present-day Kajiado and Narok districts.[7] Maasai in Tanzania were displaced from the fertile lands between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, and most of the fertile highlands near Ngorongoro in the 1940s.^[7][8] More land was taken to create wildlife reserves and national parks: Amboseli, Nairobi National Park, Maasai Mara, Samburu, Lake Nakuru, and Tsavo in Kenya; Manyara, Ngorongoro, Tarangire [9] and Serengeti in Tanzania. Mount Meru is an active volcano located just 70 kilometres (44 miles) west of Mount Kilimanjaro. ... For other uses, see Kilimanjaro (disambiguation). ... View of the Ngorongoro Crater The Ngorongoro Conservation Area or NCA is a conservation area situated 180 km west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. ... Amboseli Game Reserve, formerly Amboseli National Park is in Kajiado District, Rift Valley Province in Kenya. ... Nairobi National Park is 117 km² but is only a few km from the centre of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. ... Wildebeast and Zebra Migration in Masai Mara The Maasai Mara (also spelt Masai Mara) is a large park reserve in south-western Kenya, within the Great Serengeti region, and is effectively the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park and game reserve in Tanzania. ... Samburu National Reserve is located on the banks of Ewaso Nyiro river, across which is the Buffalo Springs National Reserve. ... Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes. ... Tsavo is a small town in Kenya located at the crossing of the Uganda Railway over the Tsavo River, close to where it meets the Athi River. ... Lake Manyara is a fresh water lake in Tanzania. ... View of the Ngorongoro Crater The Ngorongoro Conservation Area or NCA is a conservation area situated 180 km west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. ... The Serengeti National Park ( ) is a large national park in Serengeti area, Tanzania, Africa. ...

Maasai are pastoralist and have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in both countries.

The Maasai stood against slavery and lived alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds. Maasai land now has East Africa's finest game areas. Maasai society never condoned traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Maasai.^[8]

Essentially there are twelve geographic sectors of the tribe, each one having its own customs, appearance, leadership and dialects. These subdivisions are known as the Keekonyokie, Damat, Purko, Wuasinkishu, Siria, Laitayiok, Loitai, Kisonko, Matapato, Dalalekutuk, Loodokolani and Kaputiei.[10]

Culture

Maasai people and huts with Enkang barrier in foreground - eastern Serengeti, 2006

Maasai's society is strongly patriarchical 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^[specify] is unknown, and normally payment in cattle will settle matters. An out of court process called 'amitu', 'to make peace', or 'arop', which involves a substantial apology, is also practiced.^[9] Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 450 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 1584 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 450 pixelsFull resolution (2816 × 1584 pixel, file size: 1. ... A zebra and wildebeests during migration The Serengeti ecosystem is located in north-western Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between latitudes 1 and 3 S and longitudes 34 and 36 E. It spans some 30,000 km. ... A patriarch (from Greek: patria means father; arché means rule, beginning, origin) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men. ...

The Masaai are monotheistic, and their God is named Enkai or Engai. Engai is a single deity with a dual nature: Engai Narok (Black God) is benevolent, and Engai Nanyokie (Red God) is vengeful.^[10] The "Mountain of God", Ol Doinyo Lengai, is located in northernmost Tanzania. The central human figure in the Maasai religious system is the laibon who may be involved in: shamanistic healing, divination and prophecy, insuring success in war or adequate rainfall. Whatever power an individual laibon had was a function of personality rather than position.^[11] Many Maasai have become Christian, and to a lesser extent, Muslim. Monotheism (in Greek monon = single and Theos = God) is the belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity. ... This article is about the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Ol Doinyo Lengai is a volcano located in Tanzania and is part of the volcanic system of the Great Rift Valley in eastern Africa. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Christianity Portal This box:      Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

A high infant mortality rate among the Maasai has led to babies not truly being recognized until they reach an age of 3 moons.^[12] The end of life is virtually without ceremony, and the dead are left out for scavengers.^[13] Burial has been reserved for great chiefs, since it is believed to be harmful to the soil.^[14]

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.^[15] A Maasai myth relates that God gave them all the cattle on earth, leading to the belief that rustling cattle from other tribes is a matter of taking back what is rightfully theirs, a practice that has become much less common.^[16] For general information about the genus, including other species of cattle, see Bos. ...

Shelter

Masai women repairing a house in Masai Mara (1996)

As a historically nomadic and then semi-nomadic people, the Maasai have traditionally relied on local, readily available materials and indigenous technology to construct their housing. The traditional Maasai house was in the first instance designed for people on the move and was thus very impermanent in nature. The Inkajijik (houses) are either loaf-shaped or circular, and are constructed by women. The structural framework is formed of timber poles fixed directly into the ground and interwoven with a lattice of smaller branches, which is then plastered with a mix of mud, sticks, grass, cow dung and urine, and ash. The enkaji is small, measuring about 3m x 5m and standing only 1.5m high. Within this space the family cooks, eats, sleeps, socializes and stores food, fuel and other household possessions. Small livestock are also often accommodated within the enkaji.[11][12] Villages are enclosed in a circular fence (Enkang) built by the men, usually of thorned acacia. At night all cows, goats and sheep are placed in an enclosure in the center, safe from wild animals. By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ... Houses in Fishpool Street, St Albans, England For other meanings of the word house, see House (disambiguation). ... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... For other uses, see Acacia (disambiguation). ...

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. Girls are responsible for chores such as cooking and milking.^[17] Every 15 years or so, a new and individually named generation of Morans or Il-murran (warriors) will be initiated. This involves most boys between 12 and 25, who have reached puberty and are not part of the previous age-set. One rite of passage from boyhood to the status of junior warrior is a painful circumcision ceremony, which is performed without anaesthetic. The Maa word for circumcision is emorata.^[18] The boy must endure the operation in silence. Expressions of pain bring dishonor, albeit temporarily. The healing process will take 3-4 months, and boys must remain in black cloths for a period of 4-8 months.^[19]

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 protective 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. Further rites of passage are required before achieving the status of senior warrior, culminating in the eunoto ceremony, the "coming of age".^[20]

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.^[21][22]

The warriors are in charge of society's security, and spend most of their time now on walkabouts throughout Maasai lands, beyond the confines of their sectional boundaries. They are also much more involved in cattle trading than they used to be, developing and improving basic stock through trades and bartering rather than stealing as in the past.^[23] Boys are responsible for herding small livestock. During the drought season, both warriors and boys assume responsibility for herding livestock. Elders are directors and advisors for day-to-day activities. Women are responsible for making the houses as well as supplying water, collecting firewood, milking cattle and cooking for the family.^[24]

A Maasai traditional dance, Adumu.

One myth about the Maasai is that each young man is supposed to kill a lion before they are circumcised. Although lion hunting was an activity of the past, and lion hunting has been banned in East Africa, lions are still hunted when they maul Maasai livestock,^[25] and young warriors who engage in traditional lion killing do not face significant consequences.^[26] Increasing concern regarding lion populations has given rise to at least one program which promotes accepting compensation when a lion kills livestock, rather than hunting and killing the predator.^[27] Nevertheless, killing a lion gives one great value and celebrity status in the community. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...

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.^[28] 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.^[29] Excision means to remove as if by cutting. It can be a euphemism for Female circumcision. ... Female genital cutting (FGC) refers to a number of procedures performed for cultural, rather than medical, reasons on the female genitalia. ... For other uses, see Rite of passage (disambiguation). ... The Ndorobo (sometimes Dorobo) are a Nilotic hunter-gatherer people group found mainly in Kenya. ...

To others the practice of female circumcision is known as female genital cutting, and draws a great deal of criticism from both abroad and many women who have undergone it, and in some cases has recently been replaced by a "cutting with words" ceremony involving singing and dancing in place of the mutilation. However, the practice remains deeply ingrained and valued by the culture, as well as being held as necessary, since Maasai men typically reject any woman who has not undergone it as either not marriageable or worthy of a much-reduced bride price.^[30] FGC is illegal in both Kenya and Tanzania.^[31][32] Female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision (FC), is the excision or tissue removal of any part of the female genitalia for cultural, religious or other non-medical reasons. ...

Married women who become pregnant are excused from all heavy work such as milking and gathering firewood. Sexual relations are also banned.^[33]

The Maasai are polygamous by necessity: 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 which may result is the husband's child and his descendant in the patrilineal order of Maasai society. "Kitala", a kind of divorce or refuge, is possible in the house of a wife's father, usually for gross mistreatment of the wife. Repayment of the bride price, custody of children, etc, are mutually agreed upon.^[34]

Music and dance

Maasai music traditionally consists of rhythms provided by a chorus of vocalists singing harmonies while a song leader, or olaranyani, sings the melody. The olaranyani is usually the singer who can best sing that song, although several individuals may lead a song. The olaranyani begins by singing a line or title (namba) of a song. The group will respond with one unanimous call in acknowledgment, and the olaranyani will sing a verse over the group's rhythmic throat singing. Each song has its specific namba structure based on call-and-response. Common rhythms are variations of 5/4, 6/4 and 3/4 time signatures. Lyrics follow a typical theme and are often repeated verbatim over time. Neck movements accompany singing. When breathing out the head is leaned forward. The head is tilted back for an inward breath. Overall the effect is one of polyphonic syncopation.^[35][36][37]

Women sing lullabies, milking songs, and songs praising their sons. Nambas, the call-and-response pattern, repetition of nonsense phrases, monophonic melodies^[38][39] repeated phrases following each verse being sung on a descending scale, and singers responding to their own verses are characteristic of singing by females.^[40][41]

One exception to the vocal nature of Maasia music is the use of the horn of the Greater Kudu to summon morans for the Eunoto ceremony.^[42] This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Both singing and dancing sometimes occur around manyattas, and involve flirting. Young men will form a line and chant rhythmically, “Oooooh-yah”, with a growl and stacatto cough along with the thrust and withdrawal of their lower bodies. Girls stand in front of the men and make the same pelvis lunges while singing a high dying fall of “Oiiiyo..yo” in counterpoint to the men. Although bodies come in close proximity, they do not touch.^[43]

Maasai dance.

Eunoto, the coming of age ceremony of the warrior, can involve ten or more days of singing, dancing and ritual. The warriors of the Il-Oodokilani perform a kind of march-past as well as the often photographed adumu, sometimes referred as “the jumping dance” by non-Maasai. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

Maasai women with necklet ruff, earrings, etc

The girlfriends of the moran (intoyie) parade themselves in their most spectacular costumes as part of the eunoto. The mothers of the moran sing and dance in tribute to the courage and daring of their sons.^[44]

Contemporary Hip Hop musicians X Plastaz from northern Tanzania are incorporating traditional Maasai rhythms, beats and chants into their music. X Plastaz is a hip hop group from Tanzania, consisting of six members; the brothers Ruff, Gsan, and Ziggy, Maasai singer Yamat Ole Meipuko, and two teenage siblings of the brothers, who are considered better than many adult musicians. ...

Influence of the modern world

Government policies such as the preservation of parks and reserves, with the exclusion of the Maasai, along with increasing populations, etc, have made the traditional Maasai way of life increasingly difficult to maintain.

With increasing poverty and migration, traditional authority inhering in Maasai elders appears to be lessening.^[45]

Over the years, many projects have begun to help Maasai tribal leaders find ways to preserve their traditions while also balancing the education needs of their children for the modern world. The emerging forms of employment among the Maasai people include farming, business (selling of traditional medicine,running of restaurants/shops, buying and selling of minerals, selling milk and milk products by women, embroideries), and wage employment (as security guards/ watchmen, waiters, tourist guides), and others who are engaged in the public and private sectors.[13]

Many Maasai have moved away from the nomadic life to responsible positions in commerce and government (a Maasai heads the Kenya Air Force). Yet despite the sophisticated urban lifestyle they may lead, many will happily head homewards dressed in designer clothes, only to emerge from the traditional family homestead wearing a shuka (colourful piece of cloth), cow hide sandals and carrying a wooden club (o-rinka) - at ease with themselves and the world.^[46]

Body modification

Maasai elder with stretched earlobes

The piercing and stretching of earlobes is common among the Maasai. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters. Fewer and fewer Maasai, particularly boys, follow this custom.^[47][48] Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe, and smaller piercings at the top of the ear.^[49][50] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 400 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (467 × 700 pixel, file size: 233 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Dmitri Markine(self) http://www. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 400 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (467 × 700 pixel, file size: 233 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Dmitri Markine(self) http://www. ... On the ear of humans and many other animals, the earlobe (lobulus auriculæ, sometimes simply lobe or lobule) is the soft lower part of the external ear or pinna. ...

The removal of deciduous canine tooth buds in early childhood is a practice that has been documented in the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. There exists a strong belief among the Maasai that diarrhorea, vomiting and other febrile illnesses of early childhood are caused by the gingival swelling over the canine region, and which is thought to contain 'worms' or 'nylon' teeth. This belief and practice is not unique to the Maasai. In rural Kenya a group of 95 children aged between six months and two years were examined in 1991/92. 87% were found to have undergone the removal of one or more deciduous canine tooth buds. In an older age group (3-7 years of age), 72% of the 111 children examined exhibited missing mandibular or maxillary deciduous canines. diagram ^[51][52]

Diet

Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of meat, milk, and blood from cattle. An ILCA study (Nestel 1989) states: “Today, the staple diet of the Maasai consists of cow's milk and maize-meal. The former is largely drunk fresh or in sweet tea and the latter is used to make a liquid or solid porridge. The solid porridge is known as uoali and is eaten with milk; unlike the liquid porridge, uoali is not prepared with milk. Meat, although an important food, is consumed irregularly and cannot be classified as a staple food. 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.”

Studies by the International Livestock Centre for Africa (Bekure et al. 1991) shows a very great change in the diet of the Maasai towards non-livestock products with maize comprising 12 – 39 percent and sugar 8 – 13 percent; about one litre of milk is consumed per person daily.

Studies have also found that the Maasai consume approximately 1 litre of milk per person per day. Most of the milk is consumed as fermented milk or buttermilk - a by-product of butter making. Milk consumption figures are very high by any standards. The needs for protein and essential amino acids are more than adequately satisfied. However, the supply of iron, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin A, thiamine and energy are never fully met by a purely milk diet. Due to changing circumstances, especially the seasonal nature of the milk supply and frequent droughts, most pastoralists, including the Maasai, now include substantial amounts of grain in their diets [14][15]

The Maasai herd goats and sheep, including the Red Maasai sheep, as well as the more prized cattle.^[53] 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".^[54]

Soups are probably the most important use of plants for food by Maasai. Acacia nilotica is the most frequently used soup plant. The root or stem bark is boiled in water and the decoction drunk alone or added to soup. The Maasai are fond of taking this as a drug, and is known to make them energetic, aggressive and fearless. Maasai eat soup laced with bitter bark and roots containing cholesterol-lowering saponins. Urban Massai who don't have access to the bitter plants, develop heart disease.^[55] Although consumed as snacks, fruits constitute a major part of the food ingested by children and women looking after cattle as well as morans in the wilderness.^[56] Binomial name Acacia nilotica (L.) Willd. ... Saponins are the glycosides of 27 carbon atom steroids, or 30 carbon atom triterpenes. ...

The mixing of cattle blood, obtained by nicking the jugular vein, and milk is done to prepare a ritual drink for special celebrations and as nourishment for the sick.^[57] However, the inclusion of blood in the traditional diet is waning due to the reduction of livestock numbers. More recently, the Maasai have grown dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize meal, rice, potatoes, cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves), etc. The Maasai who live near crop farmers have engaged in cultivation as their primary mode of subsistence. In these areas, plot sizes are generally not large enough to accommodate herds of animals; thus the Maasai are forced to farm. [16]

Clothing

Maasai woman.

Clothing varies by age, sex, and place. Young men, for instance, wear black for several months following their circumcision. However, red is a favored color. Blue, black, striped, and checkered cloth are also worn, as are multicolored African designs. The Maasai began to replace animal-skin, calf hides and sheep skin, with commercial cotton cloth in the 1960s.^[58] Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ...

Shúkà is the Maa word for sheets traditionally worn wrapped around the body, one over each shoulder, then a third over the top of them. These are typically red, though with some other colors (e.g. blue) and patterns (e.g. plaid.) Pink, even with flowers, is not shunned by warriors.^[59] One piece garments known as kanga, a Swahilli term, are common.^[60] Maasai near the coast may wear kikoi, a type of sarong that comes in many different colors and textiles. However, the preferred style is stripes.^[61]

Many Maasai in Tanzania wear simple sandals, which were until recently made from cowhides. They are now soled with tire strips or plastic. Both men and women wear wooden bracelets. The Maasai women regularly weave and bead jewellery. This bead work plays an essential part in the ornamentation of their body. Although there are variations in the meaning of the color of the beads, some general meanings for a few colors are: white, peace; blue, water; red, warrior/blood/bravery.^[62]

Beadworking, done by women, has a long history among the Maasai, who articulate their identity and position in society through body ornaments and body painting. Before contact with Europeans beads were produced mostly from local raw materials. White beads were made from clay, shells, ivory, or bone. Black and blue beads were made from iron, charcoal, seeds, clay, or horn. Red beads came from seeds, woods, gourds, bone, ivory, copper, or brass. When late in the nineteenth century, great quantities of brightly colored European glass beads arrived in East Africa, beadworkers replaced the older beads with the new materials and began to use more elaborate color schemes. Currently, dense, opaque glass beads with no surface decoration and a naturally smooth finish are preferred.^[63]

See also

• Contemporary Issues of the Maasai
• Maasai mythology
• Lion hunting
• Kenya
• Tanzania

Many groups of indigenous people from around the world are dealing with issues of sustainability. ... The Maasai people are an ethnic group of Kenya. ...

References

May 14 is the 134th day of the year (135th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Masai

• Network of Change Organization for Maasai
• Maasai communication/info exchange - NOC Community
• Massailand Informative Webseite about the Massai people, also help to self-help with supporting of Projects.
• Volunteer to help with projects in Maasailand - Kenya
• Maasai Development Project. An organisation which helps the Maasai people.
• http://www.geocities.com/olmorijo/social_system_fosbrooke.htm#_Toc435099919 An Administrative Survey of the Masai Social System 1939]
• An all Maasai Organization
• Maasai People of Africa
• Maasai Language Project
• Maasai Environmental Resource Coalition
• Enkang' oo lMaasai the Home of the Maasai
• Maasai history culture song images
• video of Maasai singing
• Sound Clip of Maasai Music
• Maasai Migrations - Implications for HIV/AIDs and Social Change in Tanzania Ann May January 2003
• Subduing the Lion Killers in The New York Times Magazine February 2008

Photographs

• Photos of Maasai People in Kenya and Tanzania
• Photos of Maasai Mara & Maasai People (Photo gallery available with descriptions)
• Africa on the Matrix: The Maasai (photographs and information)
• Photographs of Kenya peoples, including Maasai (photographs and information)
• Photographs in Maasai Village (photographs)

Videos

• "At Home With the Masai"