THE MAASAI PEOPLE

Source: Maasai Association

 

The Maasai people of East Africa live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania along the Great Rift Valley
on semi-arid and arid lands. The Maasai occupy a total land area of 160,000 square kilometers with a population of approximately one half million people.

 

Homestead and labor:

The Inkangitie or homesteads are our traditional home settings and are arranged in a circular fashion. Fences are made by men using four different types of trees, while women construct the houses.

 

Traditionally, homesteads are shared by more than one family. However, due to the new land management system in the Maasai region, it is not uncommon to see a homestead occupied by a single family.

The Maasai houses, Inkajijik, are loaf-shaped and made of mud, sticks, grass, cow dung and urine.

 

 

Women are responsible for making the houses as well as supplying water, collecting firewood, milking cattle and cooking for the family. 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. Every morning before livestock leave to graze, an elder who is the head of the inkang sits on his chair and announces the schedule for everyone to follow.

The Maasai are a semi-nomadic people who live under a communal system. The movement of our livestock is based on seasonal rotation. Contrary to many claims made by outsiders, particularly the Hardinian school of thought, this communal land management system allows us to utilize resources in a sustainable manner. Each section manages its own territory. Under normal conditions, reserve pastures are fallowed and guarded by warriors. However, if the dry season becomes especially harsh, sections boundaries are ignored and people graze animals throughout the land until the rainy season arrives. According to our traditional land policies, no one should be denied access to natural resources such as water and land.

Private ownership:

The concept of private ownership was, until recently, a foreign concept. However, in the 1960s and 1980s, a program of commercializing livestock and land was forced on us initially by the British and later USAID. Since then, our land has been privatized and our economy increasingly dependent on market forces. The land is divided into group ranches, schemes and plots. This new land management system has economically polarized our people; some Maasais, as well as outside wealthy individuals, have substantially increased their wealth at the expense of others. The largest loss of land has been to national parks and reserves, in which the Maasai people have very limited access to critical water sources and grazing areas.

Subsistence traditional economy:

Livestock such as cattle, goats and sheep are our primary source of income. Livestock serves as a social utility and plays an important role in the Maasai economy. Livestock are traded for other livestock, cash or livestock products such as milk and siege. If a family wants a sheep for slaughter, it can go to another family and trade for a young bull. Individuals, families, clans and sections establish close community ties using livestock. "Meishoo iyiook enkai inkishu o-nkera"- is a Maasai prayer, "May Creator give us cattle and children.

Maasai economy with outsiders:

 

Livestock products are sold to other groups in Kenya for the purchase of beads, clothing and grains. The entrepreneurial spirit is something new in our society. Until fairly recently, our society prohibited the selling of livestock for cash. During the colonial period, the British attempted to integrate us into their economy by imposing taxes. However, it was not until the early 1980s with the Group Ranch project that we became much more entrenched in a market economy and, hence, more impoverished generally speaking. As a result, the Maasai society, which once was a proud and self-sufficient society, is now facing many social, political and economic challenges. Perhaps some day we will find an exit from such darkness.

The Maasai diet

Traditionally, the Maasai rely on meat, milk and blood from cattle for protein and caloric needs. People drink blood on special occasions. It is given to a circumcised person (o/esipolioi), a woman who has given birth (entomononi) and the sick (oltamueyiai). Also, on a regular basis drunk elders, ilamerak, use the blood to alleviate intoxication and hangovers. Blood is very rich in protein and is good for the immune system. However, its use 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 (unga wa mahindi), 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. Our people traditionally frown upon this. Maasai believe that tilizing the land for crop farming is a crime against nature. Once you cultivate the land, it is no longer suitable for grazing.

Rituals and Ceremonies

There are many ceremonies in Maasai society. Enkipaata (senior boy ceremony), Emuratta (circumcision), Enkiama (marriage), Eunoto (warrior graduation), Eokoto e-kule (milk ceremony), Enkang oo-nkiri( meat ceremony), Orngesherr (junior elder ceremony), etc. Also, there are minor boys and girls rituals such as Eudoto/Enkigerunoto oo-inkiyiaa (earlobe cutting), and Irkipirat (leg fire marks) that boys and girls must undergo before 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 sets but are recognized by that of their husbands. Ceremonies are an expression of our culture and self-determination. Every ceremony is a new life. They are rites of passage and every Maasai child is anxious to meet these stages of life.
To be initiated, the family and community must prove their status before engaging in a new life. No one person proves him/herself; it is a community responsibility. However, many of these initiations such as Enkipaata, Emuratare and Eunoto have been eroding due to outside influences.