There are many books about Masai culture but sadly, 90% of the time they are outdated. The Masai have a culture that dates back to over two centuries ago and they try to hold on to it even today in 2018, yet they have to adapt daily to the many challenges modern day planet earth brings with it.
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| My husband and his brothers working to inject one of our bulls. |
Because of this, their culture is changing quickly and there have not been many publications that deal with these changes in Masai culture.
I would like to give you examples of some customs here and would like to ask you to comment below wether you believe they are true or false.
I will then reveal the answers and explain.
1) To become a warrior, Masai boys have to kill a lion. True or false?
2) Masai men share their wives with visitors. True or false?
3) Masai women do not use hygiene products during their periods. True/false?
4) Masai celebrate Christmas. True/false?
5) Masai girls are circumcised before marriage. True/false?
6) The colour of the cloth a man wears, displays age or social status. True/false?
7) Masai dance is exclusive to men. True/false?
8) Warriors whistle to their cattle. True/false?
9) Masai girls herd the goats. True/false?
10) There is a hidden meaning to facial markings. True/ false?
11) Masai live only off meat and milk. True/false?
12) Masai don't wash. True/false
13) Masai live close to famous National Parks. True/false?
Please click on the 'comments' icon below this blog post to type your answer for each example. Looking forward to chatting!
Please also check out my crowdfunding campaign which I am running to bring environmental education to the Masai community I live in. Thank you!
What a cool post! I was very fortunate to spend some time with Masai people in Kenya (Amboseli, Laikipia, and the Masai Mara), so I learned a little bit about their culture, but I always want to learn more. Let me see if I was a good student...
ReplyDelete1) To become a warrior, Masai boys have to kill a lion.
At one time, Morani did kill lions as a rite of passage, but this tradition has been discontinued. Now some Masai are even guardians and stewards of the wildlife to encourage sustainable land use including tourism.
2) Masai men share their wives with visitors.
Not that I'm aware of!
3) Masai women do not use hygiene products during their periods.
Sadly, I did not have a chance to speak with any Masai women. I would have loved to spend time talking with them about their daily lives. I suspect that Masai women do use 'modern' hygiene products now. I am curious how they managed in the past.
4) Masai celebrate Christmas.
Yes, many Masai follow the Christian faith. (Personally I would prefer that people were left to practice their traditional beliefs.)
5) Masai girls are circumcised before marriage.
While once a tradition, female circumcision is now illegal (I think) or at least strongly discouraged. On a related body modification note, I learned that many of the men in Kenya no longer cut their ear lobes because the recovery is too difficult and interferes with attending school.
6) The colour of the cloth a man wears, displays age or social status.
Hmmm - I don't know! I'm going to guess that the shuka colour is just personal choice though I know that some other personal ornamentation (like hairstyle) may indicate age/social status, especially for the Morani.
7) Masai dance is exclusive to men.
Hmmm... I don't think so. I believe the ladies dance as well, though not typically with the men.
8) Warriors whistle to their cattle.
I believe they do so to communicate with them, but I'd like to learn more!
9) Masai girls herd the goats.
I've never seen girls herding, but I have seen boys. Perhaps girls help now too!
10) There is a hidden meaning to facial markings.
I haven't seen facial markings (other than the cut earlobes I mentioned). Are there other scarification traditions?
11) Masai live only off meat and milk.
Not now though that may have once been true. At the local outdoor market in Laikipia, we learned that Masai people now include other foods in their diet like maize, flour, and sugar.
12) Masai don't wash.
I do not know the Masai hygiene practices. I do know that water is a very precious resource, so limited use would be very understandable.
13) Masai live close to famous National Parks.
Yes - and in many cases they may even lease their land for tourism/conservation and work as guides, rangers, ecologists, and camp staff. :)
I'll add one more question for other visitors (based on something I learned during my travels):
14) Masai hunt wild game. True/false
Regina, here is my reply to your great reaction to my post:
Delete1)you got that completely right. Nowadays sadly, there would not be enough lions left in the wild to follow this tradition
2) they do not do so anymore, but generally and traditionally speaking the Masai do not take marital fidelity as serious as many Westerners do
3) true: they don't! They might do in places where modernity has caught up with them, but where we live, they do not use anything!
4) true.
5) false. As you say Regina, circumcision is now illegal and no longer practised in many Masai communities - that is to say not all! In many places it is still being done secretly.
6) false. It is just personal choice or availability. In the past, Masai used to wear leather hides.
7) false. Masai women dance and sing just as often and as well as men
8) true. I was so pleasantly surprised to find that out when I first came here: they whistle to their cattle, sheep and goats to calm them, to direct or stop them. Different tones or pitches mean different things.
9) true. Often when a household does not have enough boys to herd the cattle, the girls help out.
10) false. The small circular brandings the Masai put on their cheeks during childhood are just beautification and part of tribal identity.
11) false. As you rightly pointed out Regina, the Masai now eat ugali made of maize flour as their staple diet. Cows produce less milk as they generally have smaller range lands now and it is not enough to sustain their large families.
12) false. Masai warriors are very aware of body hygiene and wash neatly every day. Women in the other hand who have to do the hard work of fetching the water from far away waterholes, do not wash that frequently and much more economically. Again, these routines vary from community to community depending on the availability of water.
13) false. Masai do not exclusively live close to protected areas. We live in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania, a huge UNPROTECTED wilderness that gets virtually no attention from tourists and much less development aid.
14) your own question: false. They do not eat any bush meat at all and may only kill out of defense nowadaus.
Dear Regina, thank you for your detailed reply! Great! I look forward to discussing this more, but firstly: everyone else, who is reading this, please let us know your thoughts and experience of Masai culture as well so that we may include your insights into our discussion! Can't wait to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the conversation! It's wonderful to learn more about Masai culture.
ReplyDelete3) Wow - it's interesting to me that ladies don't use any sort of feminine hygiene product. I would have had vultures and hyenas chasing me for miles! :)
12) How interesting that men's and women's washing habits are different. I imagine that might not be the case if the men had to carry the water! That is such a difficult job.
13) Although they comes with its own problems, it would be great to see conservancies and eco-camps develop near you. I learned about these concepts original through Porini's Responsible Tourism and Conservancy Concept pages (https://www.porini.com/about-us/responsible-tourism/ and https://www.porini.com/home/conservancy-concept/).