Maasai

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Maasai

• By Dkota Barrios

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LOCATION

• Kenya and Northern Tanzania
• Along the Great Rift Valley
• Migrated from Nile Valley Region in 1500s
• Residence near many game parks of East Africa

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LITERATURE

• Language Maa
• Maa is a member of the Nilo-Saharan language
  family
• Related to Dink and Nuer
• All are educated in Swahili and English
• Very few learn how to read, for education is
  secondary to cultural duties

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HISTORY

• In the 1800s, their population was devistated
  due to years of drought and small pox epidemic.
• In 1911, Maasai lands in Kenya were reduced by
  60 when the British evicted them to make more
  room for settler ranches.
• This confined the Maasai to present day Kajiado
  and Narok districts.
• Maasai lands were further enclosed for the
  creation of game parks.

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HISTORY continued

• After their population was devastated, the Kenyan
  government took 2/3 of their land.
• After independence, Tanzania implemented a
  socialist policy of villagization in Maasai
  areas.
• This meant that people were physically resettled
  into bomas, a circular cluster of homes.
• In 1976, the government officially resettled the
  Maasai in Monduli and gave them a maximum of 3
  acres of land to each for farming.

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CLIMATE

• East Africas climate averages 70-90 degrees.
• December-March are the warm/dry months
• April-May produce the most rain
• June-September are the cooler months

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RESOURCES

• Use rocks and sticks as tools
• Use cattle dung as cement for the homes
• Use wooden, hand made spears for hunting
• Use animal bones for tools and accessories such
  as earings

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ECONOMIC LIFESTYLE

• Indigenous pastoral society
• Raising their cattle is the most important thing
  to their society
• Live in desert areas
• Native

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DECLINE STATUS

• Much of their land has been taken by the Kenyan
  government
• Small pox wiped out a lot of their population
• As well as drought
• Only 400,000 Maasai left

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MIGRATION

• They migrated from the Nile Valley region to The
  Great Rift Valley in Kenya
• They owned a lot of land until the government
  kicked them out
• They follow wherever the cattle migrate to

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GOVERNMENT

• The elders make up the rules
• court of elders
• Killing is legal, no punishment
• In the morning, everybody in the village meets up
  and the elders tell everybody the schedule for
  the day
• The elders assign jobs and decide who will marry
  who

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CLOTHING

• Red is their favorite color to wear
• Blue, black, striped, and checkered cloth are
  often worn
• They used to use animal hide as clothing, but
  replaced that with cloth
• SHUKA is the word for sheets wrapped around the
  body.
• Shukas are usually red
• They wear sandals made of cow hide, but more
  often are bare foot
• Shukas are usually dressed with beaded earrings

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MUSIC

• Consists of a vocalist singing harmonies while a
  leader sings melodies
• Women chant lullabies and hum songs to their sons
• Singing and dancing in Maasai culture is viewed
  as an act of flirting
• They use instruments such as drums and horns

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ART

• Women wear many forms of beaded ornaments in
  their earlobes
• Thorns, twigs, stones, and tusks are used as
  piercings
• Women spend lots of time beading jewelry for
  friends and family

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CUSTOMS

• Marriages are arranged by the elders without
  consulting the bride or her family
• Polygyny is an ideal
• Most women marry older men
• They can only marry one time
• Patriarchal fathers control is absolute
• On the day of a wedding, the bride is alocated a
  herd of cattle
• When the parents die, the oldest son inherits the
  residue of fathers cattle

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CUSTOMS continued

• Boys are trained to be warriors by father,
  uncles, and older brothers
• A girls childhood is usually dominated by a
  strict avoidance, even fear, of her father

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RELIGION

• Ngai means God (also sky)
• Ngai is not male nor female
• Ngai is the creator of everything and owned all
  the cattle that Maasai have
• Ngai sent the Maasai their cattle
• When sun shines, they believe it is Ngai

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EDUCATION

• Maasai boys are forced to choose between
  secondary school and cultural education (becoming
  a warrior)
• Girls are not allowed to attend school they
  spend their time learning their household duties
• Most young boys choose to become a warrior than
  go to school

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RELATIONSHIPS

• Girls get married at young age, usually a few
  days after they hit puberty
• Girls are always married to older men who usually
  have other wives
• Father has all control
• Maasai society is organized around age-sets.
• 5 Boy sets boys, warriors (morans), junior
  elders, senior elders, elders.
• 3 Girl sets girl (ndito), woman (yeyo), koko,
  (grandmother).

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RELATIONSHIPS continued

• After a girl goes through puberty she becomes a
  woman
• After a woman has 4 healthy babies, she becomes a
  koko
• Most married women become widows because her
  husband was so much older than she

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CULTURE

• The Maasai occupy a total of 160,000 square
  kilometers of land
• Maasai society is comprised of 16 sections
• They are a Nilotic ethnic group which means they
  are inhabitants of the Nile region
• They are semi-nomadic which means they move
  usually following the route of the cattle
• Women are circumsized right after puberty and
  right before marriage

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Maasai Today

• Are famous for their fearsome reputation as
  warriors and cattle-rustlers
• Tourists can actually take a safari tour through
  parts of their village