MAASAI COMMUNITY

The Maasai culture and traditions

 Ceremonies and Rituals

There are many ceremonies in Maasai society including Enkipaata (senior boy ceremony), Emuratta (circumcision), Enkiama (marriage), Eunoto (warrior-shaving ceremony), Eokoto e-kule (milk-drinking ceremony), Enkang oo-nkiri (meat-eating ceremony), Olngesherr (junior elder ceremony), etc. Also, there are ceremonies for boys and girls minor including, Eudoto/Enkigerunoto oo-inkiyiaa (earlobe), and Ilkipirat (leg fire marks). Traditionally, boys and girls must undergo through these initiations for minors prior to circumcision. However, many of these initiations concern men while women's initiations focus on circumcision and marriage.  Men will form age-sets moving them closer to adulthood.
Women do not have their own age-set but are recognized by that of their husbands.  Ceremonies are an expression of Maasai culture and self-determination. Every ceremony is a new life. They are rites of passage, and every Maasai child is eager to go through these vital stages of life. Following is where a boy's life begin in the Maasai society. 

Enkipaata

 
The first boy's initiation is Enkipaata (pre-circumcision ceremony), and is organized by fathers of the new age set. Enkipaata can only happen, when the senior warriors are settled. More on senior warriors will be discussed later in this page.
A delegation of boys, aged 14 to 16 years of age, would travel across their section land for about four months announcing the formation of their new age-set. The boys are accompanied by a group of elders spearheading the formation of a new age-set.
A collection of 30-40 houses are built for the initiating boys. The houses are located in one large kraal chosen by the Oloiboni (prophet). This is where all boys across the region will be united and initiated. Before the ceremony, the Olopolosi Olkiteng, chief of the boys, must be chosen. Olopolosi Olkiteng is a position not desired by anyone because it is considered unfortunate. The new chief is to shoulder all of his age group's sins. The day before the ceremony, boys must sleep outside in the forest.  When early dawn approaches, they run to the homestead and enter with an attitude of a raider. During the ceremony, boys dress in loose clothing and dance non-stop throughout the day. This ceremony is the transition into a new age set. After enkipaata ceremony, boys are ready for the most important initiation known as Emuratare (circumcision).

Circumcision ceremony is the most vital initiation of all rite of passages in the Maasai society. Both men and women of the Maasai society are traditionally eager to undergo through circumcision. This initiation is performed shortly after puberty.
It is important to note that with the rising challenges of the 21st century in the Maasai society, many young Maasai women no longer undergo through circumcision.
Young men are still eager to be circumcised and become warriors. Once the boys become warriors they resume responsibility of security for their territory.
Circumcision initiation elevates an individual from childhood to adulthood. In order for the boy to be initiated he must prove himself to the community. The boy must exhibit signs of a grown man, by carrying a heavy spear, herding large herd of livestock, etc.

A few days before the operation, a boy must herd cattle for seven consecutive days.  Circumcision would take place on the eighth day. Before the operation, boys must stand outside in the cold weather and receive a cold shower to cleanse himself. As he moves towards the location of the operation, his friends, age mates and male members of the family shout encouragement along with nasty looks and sometimes threats. For example, people would tell the boy, "If you kick the knife, we will kill you! If you run away from the knife, your society will disown you. Women are luckier and are spared of such comments. Needless to say, circumcision is not pleasant. No pain relief drugs such as anesthesia, and you cannot flinch your eye. Circumcision is painful yet means a lot to every Maasai. 

Time and place of Circumcision

 
Circumcision takes place shortly before sunrise. It is performed by a qualified man with many years of experience. After the operation is successfully completed, the boy would receive gifts of livestock from his relatives and friends. He would also gain a tremendous amount of respect for his bravery. Women's operation is performed slightly different than the men's. Note: Due to respect for my culture and its gender boundaries, as a man, I am not permitted to discuss details about women's initiation.
The healing process will take 3-4 months, and boys must remain in black cloths for a period of 4-8 months. After they are healed, they have become a new person and receive the status of a new warrior.

After circumcision, the next step is to form the Emanyatta (warrior's camp).
Emanyatta contains twenty to forty houses randomly selected by warriors. The selection of this camp is sometimes a bit of a challenge. Not every elder would like his wife to be in an emanyatta, because it is a free visit zone for everyone. Jealous husbands are more likely to refuse to participate in the camp; they think that their wives' former lovers will take advantage of her. Therefore, warriors sometimes fights with their jealous fathers. Weapons such as spears, clubs and shields are carried by warriors during this time because, occasionally, the battle can get very serious. Warriors will choose certain mothers to relocate at the emanyatta for the duration of its existence. Each Maasai section has its own age-set. The two most common camps are Ilaiserr and Irmolelian (clans); however, it is common for a section to have more than two emanyatta camps.

A special pole, planted in the middle of the camp, is used as a flagpole. The white and blue colored cloth, the Maasai nation's flag, is tied to the pole before planting, and remains there as long as the Morrans (warriors) are still in the camp. (This is the first time in history for the age set to combine the Kenya national flag and the Maasai flag.) Two morran chiefs are chosen to lead, guide and represent their camp. The purpose of the camp is to keep men of the same age set together and fulfill their role as a military force. This is where the warriors learn about the age set brotherhood, the art of oratory skills and animal husbandry. They will spend up to ten years in the emanyatta before the Eunoto ceremony (senior's warrior initiation).

Like many other eroding Maasai cultural customs, the emanyatta is not left unscathed. Many attempts have been made by the outside world to end this traditional custom because it is seen as backward.  However, even though the government frowns on warrior hood, it also uses its image to attract tourists. The emanyatta ceremony that we presented in The Maasai and Agents of change is probably the last of its kind. Fire stick, honey and blue beads are other rituals performed in the Manyatta (warriors camp) and play an important role in the Orporror (morrans age group).  After the emanyatta camp the warriors would head for eunoto ceremony (senior warrior's initiation). 

Eunoto

 
The Eunoto ceremony is performed by members of the age set, ten years after warrior hood. It marks the status of a warrior transitioning to a senior warrior. This initiation also permits senior warriors to marry, which in turn prepares them to become future fathers. The ceremony takes place in another specially chosen camp that includes a total of forty-nine houses. The forty ninth house is known as Osinkira, a large mud hut made specifically for the Oloiboni. Warriors on a daily basis will entertain the Oloiboni until the event is over. Every graduating warrior must shave his long ochre-stained hair, which is done by the warrior's mother. During the festival, warriors are prohibited to carry weapons such as sticks, spears, knifes, etc. Also, during this event, an animal horn is set on fire and warriors are forced to take a piece out before it is completely burned. No one wants to take the piece out, because whoever takes the horn out of the fire will suffer misfortunate throughout his entire life. However, if warriors refuse to take the horn out from the fire, the entire age-set will be cursed. It is better for one person to be unfortunate than many. 

Warriors must raise eight bulls, before the ceremony, to be distributed to the elders at the graduation day. Three important leaders must be chosen by the warriors before the ceremony; Olaiguanani lenkashe, Oloboru enkeene and Olotuno (the initiate one). No one would like to be one of these leaders, particularly the Olotuno. This person shoulders all of his age set's bad and good deeds.  The Olaiguanani lenkashe is honored with a specially chosen female cow; Oloboru enkeene is honored with a leather strap with a knot that symbolizes his age set. By the end of warrior-hood, this knot will be untied to free the warriors from their isolated world. The knot allows warriors to do things independently from other age mates. This stage of life is a transition to an elder.

A few months after the Eunoto, warriors form a small camp for Enkang e-kule, the milk ceremony. Before the Eunoto ceremony, warriors are prohibited to eat alone without the company of others. Excuses are not accepted; even the sick must obey the requirement.  To drink outside the camp is allowed but only if women are not present. Such social taboos are established by the Maasai to teach young men to be self-reliant rather than dependent on their mothers who mostly prepare food for her husband and the young ones. Also, such taboos train and prepare warriors to adapt to harsh environmental conditions such as famine etc. The milk ceremony requires the entire age set to shave their red ochre stained hair. It is the mother's role to shave her graduating son. No warrior will shave his hair before his highly respected age set chiefs. Many of them prefer to graduate on the same day as their chiefs. For the first time, warriors feel awkward and shameful to eat in front of their female lovers. It takes a while for them to get used to this.  After the milk ceremony, warriors undergo minor bouts of emotional stress, because they are disbarred from the world of warrior hood.

Enkang oo-Nkiri 

The next initiation is Enkang oo-nkiri (meat ceremony/initiation camp), which is performed in a selected camp that contains ten to twenty houses. The selected houses are from wives of the initiating junior elders. This camp is located in a convenient location near the home of a friendly age mate. The age-set is allowed to have as many meat camps as they need throughout the region.
The meat ceremony permits warriors to eat by themselves meat prepared by women of the homestead. Every graduating warrior is anxious to see this date. A specially chosen bull is slaughtered for the ceremony. A wife must prove to her husband that she hasn't engaged in an illegal sexual affair with a man of the younger age set.  Whether this has occurred or not will be revealed by participating in the bull's skin ritual. Men wrestle with themselves to get near the bull's skin to see if their wives have been unfaithful to the age-set. It is right for a wife to have affairs with men of the same age set but not outside the age set. If a woman is found guilty of violating such a commitment, she will be disrespected by her husband and by her entire age set. 

For a woman to regain respect from her husband, she must go back to her father or relative’s home to obtain a female cow. No man would refuse such an apology; however, the man might not keep the cow. He would then give the cow to his friend as a gift.
At the end of the meat ceremony, men and women fight against one another for the specially roasted meat. Warriors who violated their age set taboos and laws are punished before this event takes place. 

Orngesherr

 
The last age set's initiation is Orngesherr (junior's elder initiation) and marks the status of a junior elder. It is performed in a selected camp that contains twenty or more houses. Everyone in the age set looks forward to this final initiation. Every man is honored with an elder's chair in this ceremony. In the early morning of the day of the event, he will sit on the chair and be shaved by his wife. If a man has more than one wife, it is the older wife's responsibility to shave the husband. This chair becomes a man's friend until it is broken. If a man dies before the chair breaks, his older son will adopt the chair.  After this ceremony, a man would become an elder and would assume full responsibility of his own family. He is now allowed to move away from his father's homestead and form his own homestead. However, even though the man is now an independent man, he would still have to rely on his father's advice. A man would assume total responsibility of his family at the age of about 35 years.

It is important to note that many of these initiations and rituals have been eroding due to outside influences. We are told to abandon our way of life and to embrace western ways of life, which has been deem reliable and sufficient to ours. Our culture remains uncertain in the face of modernism, western religion, and environmental challenges.
"It takes one day to destroy a house; to build  a new house will take months and perhaps years. If we abandon our way of life to construct a new one, it will take thousands of years", Maasai belief.

Maasai History, Culture and Tradition

There is always talk in the coffee table books of the Maasai as a ‘lost tribe of Israel’ or the Maasai as descendant from a troop of lost Roman legionnaires.

Maasai History

 
There is always talk in the coffee table books of the Maasai as a ‘lost tribe of Israel’ or the Maasai as descendant from a troop of lost Roman legionnaires. But it’s true their linguistic origins are African, Nilotic and Sudanic from somewhere between the first and third cataracts of the Nile on open plains that are now only spotted by the black rocks of the Sahara Desert where cattle were first domesticated in Africa over 7000 years ago on plains that included wild cattle, but also a wild plains fauna that would be very similar to what we see today in the Serengeti/Mara.

When not living somewhere in Greater Maasai land the activity that I enjoy most is being on the trail of lost or forgotten fragments of an African Cultural and pastoral past that still has direct links to the Maasai of present day Kenya and Tanzania. Sometimes the target is a colour sequence, for example, black, green, red, yellow and white. These mimic the colour sequence seen in the annual life cycle of plants as follows – black rain produces green growth, which matures through red and yellow and finally dries completely into white.

Sometimes the target is an ancient burial position – a corpse that was laid on its right side folded in a foetal position with its head supported by the skull of a long horned cow, and wrapped in a leather symbolic placenta and facing east, the direction of life, to greet a new dawn. Sometimes the target is an unexpected phrase, for example, ‘Nkai—ai oi pasenai’ e.g. ‘My God given at Sinai.’

Sometimes the target is an ornament, e.g., an Egyptian scarab carved in stone and placed over the heart of a mummy and called “kepher” clearly cognate with “keperr” which is Maasai for heaven and a linguistic connection that includes the idea of the rebirth of the sun after it is buried each evening in the earth until dawn.

If you enjoy searching the Old Testament, there are lots of distant Maasai connections in the first book of Chronicles. For example, verse 10 ‘of the priests: Jediah. and the son of Meshullam (those that do not herd together). and Maasai, the son of Adiel. And a bit later in verse 17: These were the gatekeepers of the camp of the Levites, Shallum, the son of Kore. the son of Korah. the Korahites were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent. Not only were they the gatekeepers of the four sides of the temple, the Korahites were in charge of the bread prepared each Sabbath. They were also amongst the chief singers of the temple.

One of the present day tribes of the Maasai are the Samburu who are most often referred to by their tribal neighbors as the “People of Kore”. We learn further in Chronicles 12 that the Korahites and others were mighty warriors who could shoot arrows and sling stones with either hand.

The Korahites and Gadites were “expert warriors with the shield and spear whose faces were like the faces of lions and who were as swift as gazelles upon the mountains.” These were the protectors of the very Ark of the Covenant.

Like the present day Maasai and Samburu they were distinguished by having age sets demarcated by the ritual of circumcision which for the Maasai and Samburu is a rebirth of manhood that follows the death of childhood. The biological and ritual parents of Maasai initiates ask that “God bless this mark, the mark by which you know our children.”

The tradition of warrior protectors of society with long braided hair, multi-colored beaded breast plates and necklaces, as well as lobed ears, can still be seen in the ruins of the ancient dynasties of Egypt and the Sudan. In New Kingdom times, pharaohs like Tutankaman whose reign started 3362 years ago in the 18th Dynasty, and Ramses II, whose reign started 3311 years ago in the 19th Dynasty, are constantly celebrated as the symbolic conquerors of long haired warriors from Nubia. By the 25th Dynasty under the black pharaoh Taharqa, it’s clear that Nilotic people from the Sudan ruled all of Egypt and for an important short period turned the tables of thousands of years on the Egyptians.

Stone sculpture referred to as both Korus and Kore that dates between 2800 and 2500 before present can be found in Cyprus, Greece, and on the coast of Turkey which is strongly evocative of the hairstyles, ornaments and pastoral character of Samburu warriors today. The hallmark of warriors as protectors is that their activities be defensive so as not to incur the pollutions of guilt and which through age set development and maturity leads to a longer peaceful of elder hood where the primary protection of society is through prayer, blessings and teaching.

It’s impossible to know when the precursor cultures of the Maasai and Samburu moved out of the Central Sudan from as far north as Wadi Howar and the hills of Darfur.

But it is clear to me that they would have fled to protect themselves and their people from the raids for ivory and people from Egypt that date back from the 6th Dynasty, more than 4000 years ago and which have continued intermittently ever since. They also fled to escape having their livestock buried 4000 at a time by the rulers of Sudanic Kerma culture.

Their passage through the Southern Sudan is evident so far only by Maa place names such as the Sobat (the river of holiness) River that flows into the Nile at Malakal, and Torrit (the place of dust) on the plains below the Imatong Mountains which is the rangeland of the Lotuko people whose language is more than 40% cognate with Maasai spoken today.

The Maasai/Samburu oral tradition starts at Oto which is probably near the Ndoto Mts. Overlooking present day Addis Abbaba and the narrow passage out of the desolate of the Suguta Valley along the pathway of the Kerio River through the Indikirr Ekerio, “the gap of the Kerio”, into what became the range of the Uasin Gishu Maasai before they were pushed further south by Kalenjin speakers.

The clearest modern mark of the passage of these people who dominated the Kenyan and Tanzanian Rift Valley for the last 300 to 400 years at least, is that their presence prevented Swahili and Arab slave raiders from the coast as far north as Mogadishu to as far south as Kilwa in Southern Tanzania from moving their caravans across Greater Maasai land and thus protecting the other East African people from the slave trade. This protection undoubtedly laid the foundation of the greater stability that Kenya and Tanzania have enjoyed in post-Colonial times in contrast to their less fortunate and less well protected neighbors who bore the disastrous brunt of the slave trade.

It is also no accident that the traditions of the Maasai speaking peoples are so intermingled with their custody of the wildlife that shares the same semi-arid environment too dry for rain fed agriculture with wildlife, which is most abundant in Kenya and Tanzania today in areas close to the historical range of the Maa speakers.

There are plenty of modern present day conflicts of Maasai people and their livestock with wildlife, but these are recent and the result primarily of rapid human population growth and attending decline of individual per capita wealth at the same time that revenues from conservation and tourism flow out of their traditional rangelands, rather than being used for economic development of post pastoral societies. 

Maasai Culture

 
Maasai society is patriarchal in nature with the elders deciding most matters for each Maasai group. The laibon or spiritual leader acts as the liaison between the Maasai and God, named Enkai or Engai, as well as the source of Maasai herblore. The Maasai are mostly monotheistic in outlook, but many have become Christian under the influence of missionaries.

Traditional Maasai lifestyle centers around their cattle which constitutes the primary source of food. They also believe that God gave them his cattle to watch over. The Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle and adopt an agrarian lifestyle instead.

The Maasai measure a man's wealth in terms of cattle and children rather than money - a d 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. The Maasai believe that they own all the cattle in the world.

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 (Maasai word for a house) 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. Villages are enclosed in a circular fence (Enkang) built by the men, usually of thorned Acacia. At night all cows and goats are placed in an enclosure in the center, safe from wild animals.

The central unit of Maasai society is the age-set. Every 15 years or so, a new and individually named generation of Morans or Il-moran (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. Every boy must undergo the Emorata (circumcision ceremony), which is performed without anaesthetic, before he is accepted as a warrior. When a new generation of warriors is initiated, the existing il moran will graduate to become junior elders, who are responsible for political decisions until they in turn become senior elders.

Warriors are in charge of society's security while boys are responsible for herding livestock.

During the drought season, both warriors and boys assume responsibility for herding livestock. The 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. 

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, and young warriors who engage in traditional lion killing do not face significant consequences.

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. Nevertheless, killing a lion gives one great value and celebrity status in the community. Women can only marry once in a lifetime, although men may have more than one wife (if enough cows are owned, they may have more than one at a time).

Young girls undergo Female genital cutting (FGC) in 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. These circumcisions are usually performed by a hired local expert without anesthetic using crude knives, glass or other sharp implements available for as much as US $6.00 per girl. Girls are married off early, sometimes as young as seven years old.

The practice of FGC 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 widow. 

Maasai Diet

"Meat is the main diet"
Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of meat, milk, and blood from cattle. 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. 

Maasai Clothing

 
Red is a favored colour among the Maasai. Many Maasai in Tanzania wear simple sandals, sometimes soled with pieces of motorcycle tires. 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.