Maasai

The Maasai or Masai are an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania. With their bright red traditional dress and a reputation (possibly exaggerated) for being fierce warriors, the Maasai are probably one of the most familiar tribes of Eastern Africa. Despite the growth of civilisation, the Maasai have largely managed to stay out of the mainstream and maintain their traditional ways, although this becomes more challenging each year.

The Maasai are part of the Nilotic family of African tribal groups, and probably migrated from the Nile valley in Sudan to central and south-western Kenya and northern Tanzania sometime after 1500 AD, bringing their domesticated cattle with them. Although other African tribes organised themselves into civilisations and kingdoms, the Maasai never surrendered their semi-nomadic lifestyle. The ability to graze their cattle over large territories has diminished considerably in recent years, due to increased urbanisation and the declaration of the Maasai Mara and Serengeti game reserves, which was all formerly Maasai grazing land.

Despite their reputation as fierce warriors, Maasai culture revolves around their cattle. One of their spiritual beliefs is that their rain god Ngai gave all cattle to the Maasai people, and therefore anyone else who possesses cattle must have stolen them from the Maasai. This has led to some fatal altercations with other tribes of the regions over the centuries when the Maasai attempt to reclaim their "property". The huts of the Maasai are built from dried cattle dung, and certain sacred rituals involve the drinking of cow blood.

There are numerous traditions and ceremonies performed by Maasai men. Perhaps best known is the warrior "jumping" dance, where young Maasai Morans (warrior-youth) leap into the air from a standing position, in order to demonstrate their strngth and agility. Until recent times, in order to earn the right to have a wife, a Maasai Moran was required to have killed a lion. Officially this practice has stopped, although there is evidence that it continues in the more remote regions of Kenya. Also in earlier times a group of young boys were required to build a new village and live in it for a lengthy period (often years) as part of the passage to manhood. This practice is dying out due to lack of land.

Unlike many tribal cultures, Maasai women have a strong voice in their culture. Maasai women are easily identified by their shaved heads, bright clothing and beads, and the removal of one of the bottom teeth. Circumcision is performed on both sexes, with the elder men circumcising the teenage boys (who are not permitted to make a noise during the ceremony), and the elder women circumcising the teenage girls (for whom crying is permitted). Attempts by the Kenyan government to stamp out this practice have failed, primarily due to the fact that it is the Maasai women who defend the practice, not the men.

The Maasai share their language, Maa, with the Samburu tribe (indicating a common origin at some stage), but most Maasai also speak Swahili, the lingua franca of east Africa.

Like most warriors in any culture the Maasai tend towards vanity, arrogance, foppishness and foolishness. By staying out of the mainstream of development, they are consigning themselves and their children to a bleak future. It is common for Maasai to pretend to be unable to speak Swahili, which they deride as an inferior language except on occasions when they need it.

They resent being photographed without permission and have been known to spank tourists with the flats of their spears for trying to sneak pictures. The Maasai are undoubtedly very brave: they are reared to know how to kill a charging lion.

Their spears are designed for lion-killing. Both end are sharpened, one with a skewer point and one with a leaf-shaped blade. In the rite of passage which every young boy used to face, he would stand alone while a crescent of noisy warriors would flush out a lion (or lioness) and drive it towards him. When the boy - maybe 16 or 17 years old - was the only obstacle to freedom, the lion would charge at up to 60 m.p.h.

All the boy needed to do to survive was to hold his ground, dig the skewer end of his spear into the ground and allow to lion to impale itself on the other end. That way a 150 lb boy can kill a 450 lb lion without even rocking back on his heels.

Most of a warrior's time is, or was, spent guarding cattle. He would stand motionless on one leg, supporting himself by using his spear as a staff. Occasionally he would change legs. Once that got boring, he and another warrior might spend some time doing each other's hair and generally making themselves more attractive. Hair is elaborately coiffed, using a mixture of red clay and animal fat to colour and set it.

Maasai cattle dogs are also carefully groomed. The dogs are tan coloured and the Maasai make fluffy, tan-coloured ruffs for them so that they resemble miniature lions.

No one needs to risk a spear-spanking if they want to take photos of the Maasai. Warriors are easily bribed with a can of ice-cold Coke.

A lot of people expect Maasai to smell since they are sweating in the sun all day, cover themselves with animal fat and clay and get little chance to bathe. However, any car owner who has given a lift to a Maasai warrior will confirm that smell is not a problem. It is difficult to get a spear into a saloon car but it can be managed. Close-up situations like this also give a chance to see the Maasai warrior's other weapons, usually a wooden club and a short, roman-style sword. It is observable, too, that traditional Maasai costume does not include underpants.