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The Maasai (;) are a Nilotic peoples ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region. Maasai - Introduction Jens Fincke, 2000–2003 Their native language is the Maasai language, a Nilotic language related to Dinka language, Kalenjin and Nuer language. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania—Swahili language and English language.
The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in the 2019 census compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census. However, many Maasai view the census as government meddling and either refuse to participate or actively provide false information.
Because of this migration, the Maasai are the southernmost Nilotic speakers. The period of expansion was followed by the Maasai "Emutai" of 1883–1902. This period was marked by epidemics of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, rinderpest (see 1890s African rinderpest epizootic), and smallpox. The estimate first put forward by a German lieutenant in what was then northwest Tanganyika, was that 90% of cattle and half of wild animals perished from rinderpest. German doctors in the same area claimed that "every second" African had a pock-marked face as the result of smallpox. This period coincided with drought. Rains failed in 1897 and 1898.
The explorer Oscar Baumann travelled in Maasai lands between 1891 and 1893 and described the old Maasai settlement in the Ngorongoro Crater in the 1894 book Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle ("Through the lands of the Maasai to the source of the Nile"). By one estimate two-thirds of the Maasai died during this period. Maasai in Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania) were displaced from the fertile lands between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro, and most of the fertile highlands near Ngorongoro in the 1940s. More land was taken to create wildlife reserves and national parks: Amboseli National Park, Nairobi National Park, Maasai Mara, Samburu National Reserve, Lake Nakuru National Park and Tsavo in Kenya; and Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire and Serengeti National Park in what is now Tanzania.
Maasai are pastoralists and have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in both countries.
The Maasai people stood against slavery and never condoned the traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Maasai.
Essentially there are twenty-two geographic sectors or sub-tribes of the Maasai community, each one having its customs, appearance, leadership and dialects. These subdivisions are known as 'nations' or 'iloshon' in the Maa language: the Keekonyokie, Ildamat, Purko, Wuasinkishu, Siria, Laitayiok, Loitai, Ilkisonko, Matapato, Dalalekutuk, Ilooldokilani, Ilkaputiei, Moitanik, Ilkirasha, Samburu people, Ilchamus, Laikipiak people, Loitokitoki, Larusa, Salei, Sirinket and Parakuyo people.
Maasai display significant West-Eurasian admixture at roughly ~20%. This type of West-Eurasian ancestry reaches up to 40-50% among specific populations of the Horn of Africa, specifically among Amhara people. Genetic data and archeologic evidence suggest that East African pastoralists received West Eurasian ancestry (~25%) through Afroasiatic-speaking groups from Northern Africa or the Arabian Peninsula, and later spread this ancestry component southwards into certain Khoisan groups roughly 2,000 years ago, resulting in ~5% West-Eurasian ancestry among Southern African hunter-gatherers.
A 2019 archaeogenetic study sampled ancient remains from Neolithic inhabitants of Tanzania and Kenya, and found them to have strongest affinities with modern Horn of Africa groups. They modelled the Maasai community as having ancestry that is ~47% Pastoral Neolithic Cushitic-related and ~53% Sudanese Dinka-related.
There are also two pillars or totems of Maasai society: Oodo Mongi, the Red Cow and Orok Kiteng, the Black Cow with a subdivision of five clans or family trees."Maasai"_Tepilit Ole Saitoti 1980 Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York , 1990 edition. The Maasai also have a totemic animal, which is the lion. The killing of a lion is used by the Maasai in the rite of passage ceremony. The "Mountain of God", Ol Doinyo Lengai, is located in northernmost Tanzania and can be seen from Lake Natron in southernmost Kenya. The central human figure in the Maasai religious system is the whose roles include healing, divination and prophecy, and ensuring success in war or adequate rainfall. Today, they have a political role as well due to the elevation of leaders. Whatever power an individual laibon had was a function of personality rather than position. Many Maasai have also adopted Christianity or Islam. The Maasai produce intricate jewellery and sell these items to tourists.
This belief and practice are not unique to the Maasai. In rural Kenya, a group of 95 children aged between six months and two years were examined in 1991/92. 87% were found to have undergone the removal of one or more deciduous canine tooth buds. In an older age group (3–7 years of age), 72% of the 111 children examined exhibited missing mandibular or maxillary deciduous canines.
The male ceremony refers to the excision of the prepuce (foreskin). In the male ceremony, the boy is expected to endure the operation in silence. Expressions of pain bring dishonor upon him, albeit only temporarily. Importantly, any exclamations or unexpected movements on the part of the boy can cause the elder to make a mistake in the delicate and tedious process, which can result in severe lifelong scarring, dysfunction, and pain. Northern Tanzania - The Bradt Safari Guide by Phillip Briggs (2006). British Library.
Young women also undergo female genital mutilation as part of an elaborate rite of passage ritual called "Emuatare," the ceremony that initiates young Maasai girls into adulthood through ritual mutilation and then into early arranged marriages. The Maasai believe that female genital mutilation is necessary and Maasai men may reject any woman who has not undergone it as either not marriageable or worthy of a much-reduced bride price. In Eastern Africa, uncircumcised women, even highly educated members of parliament like Linah Kilimo, can be accused of not being mature enough to be taken seriously. The Maasai activist Agnes Pareyio campaigns against the practice. The female rite of passage ritual has recently seen excision replaced in rare instances with a "cutting with words" ceremony involving singing and dancing in its place. However, despite changes to the law and education drives, the practice remains deeply ingrained, highly valued, and nearly universally practised by members of the culture.
Among the men, warriors are the only members of the Maasai community to wear long hair, which they weave in thinly braided strands. Graduation from warrior to junior elder takes place at a large gathering known as Eunoto. The long hair of the former warriors is head shaving; elders must wear their hair short. Warriors who do not have sexual relations with women who have not undergone the "Emuatare" ceremony are especially honoured at the Eunoto gathering.
This would symbolise the healing of the woman.
Two days before boys are circumcised, their heads are shaved.Maasai. Tepilit Ole Saitoti with photos by Carol Beckwith. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1980. page 79. Maasai. Tepilit Ole Saitoti with photos by Carol Beckwith. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1980. pages 126, 129. When warriors go through the Eunoto and become elders, their long plaited hair is shaved off.Maasai. Tepilit Ole Saitoti with photos by Carol Beckwith. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1980. page 171.
Women chant lullabies, humming songs, and songs praising their sons. The Namba, a call-and-response harmony pattern, repetition of nonsensical phrases, monophonic melodies, repeated phrases following each verse being sung on a descending scale, and singers responding to their verses are characteristic of singing by women. When many Maasai women gather together, they sing and dance among themselves.Maasai. Tepilit Ole Saitoti with photos by Carol Beckwith. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 1980. pages 194.
Eunoto, the coming-of-age ceremony of the warrior, can involve ten or more days of singing, dancing and ritual. The warriors of the Il-Oodokilani perform a kind of march-past as well as the Adumu, or aigus, sometimes referred to as "the jumping dance" by non-Maasai. (Both adumu and aigus are Maa verbs meaning "to jump" with adumu meaning "To jump up and down in a dance". )
In a patriarchal culture that views women as property, a man's wealth is measured in cattle, wives and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more wives and children the better. A man who has plenty of one but not the other is considered to be poor. Northern Tanzania with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar by Phillip Briggs (2006), page 200. Africa's Great Rift Valley. Nigel Pavitt. 2001. pages 138. Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York
The Maasai also herd goats and sheep, including the Red Maasai sheep, as well as the more prized cattle. Bulls, goats, and lambs are slaughtered for meat on special occasions and ceremonies.
Most of the milk is consumed as fermented milk or buttermilk (a by-product of butter making). Milk consumption figures are very high by any standards.
Fruits are consumed snacks. They constitute a major part of the food ingested by children and women looking after cattle as well as morans in the bush.
The Maasai's entire way of life has historically depended on their cattle, but their cattle have been dwindling in recent times. The Maasai have grown dependent on food such as sorghum, rice, potatoes, and cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves).Nelson, Jimmy. The Maasai Tribe. Beforethey.com A 2010 study of the Maasai diet found that over 58% of the modern Maasai diet consists of plant foods, especially ugali and cornmeal.Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. " Nomadic people's good health baffle scientists." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily. 18 May 2010. Another study found that the staple foods of the Maasai are cow's milk (fresh or boiled) and ugali.
One common misconception about the Maasai is that each young man is supposed to kill a lion before he can be circumcised and enter adulthood. Lion hunting was an activity of the past, but it has been banned in East Africa – yet lions are still hunted when they maul Maasai livestock. Nevertheless, killing a lion gives one great value and celebrity status in the community.Spencer, P. (1988) The Maasai of Matapato: a study of rituals of rebellion Manchester University Press, Manchester. Spencer, P. (2003) Time, Space, and the Unknown: Maasai configurations of power and providence. Routledge, London.
Educating Maasai women to use clinics and hospitals during pregnancy has enabled more infants to survive. The exception is found in extremely remote areas. A corpse rejected by scavengers is seen as having something wrong with it, and liable to cause social disgrace; therefore, it is not uncommon for bodies to be covered in fat and blood from a slaughtered ox. Cultural and Public Attitudes: Improving the Relationship between Humans and Hyaenas from Mills, M.g.L. and Hofer, H. (compilers). (1998) Hyaenas: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN/SSC Hyaena Specialist Group. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. vi + 154 pp. The Lions of Tsavo: Exploring the Legacy of Africa's Notorious Man-eaters By Bruce D. Patterson. 2004. McGraw-Hill Professional. Page 93.
The Maasai began to replace animal skin, calfskin and sheep skin with commercial cotton cloth in the 1960s.
Shúkà is the Maasai language word for sheets traditionally worn and wrapped around the body. These are typically red, sometimes integrated with other and patterns. One-piece garments known as kanga, a Swahili language term, are common. Maasai near the coast may wear kikoi, a sarong-like garment that comes in many different colours and textiles Northern Tanzania with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar by Phillip Briggs (2006), page 216.
Due to an increasing population, loss of cattle due to disease, and lack of available rangelands because of new park boundaries and competition from other tribes, the Maasai were forced to develop new ways of sustaining themselves. Many Maasai began to cultivate maize and other crops to get by, a practice that was culturally viewed negatively. Cultivation was first introduced to the Maasai by displaced Arusha people and Wameru women who married Maasai men.
In 1975, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area banned cultivation, forcing the tribe to participate in Tanzania's economy. They have to sell animals and traditional medicines to buy food. The ban on cultivation was lifted in 1992 and cultivation became an important part of Maasai livelihood once more. Park boundaries and land privatisation has continued to limit the Maasai livestock's grazing area.Goodman, Ric. (2002). "Pastoral livelihoods in Tanzania: Can the Maasai benefit from conservation?" Current Issues in Tourism. Vol 5.3,4. P.280–286.
Throughout the years, various projects have attempted to help the Maasai people. These projects help find ways to preserve Maasai traditions while also encouraging modern education for their children.
Emerging employment among the Maasai people include farming, business, and wage employment in both the public and private sectors.
Many Maasai have also moved away from the nomadic life to positions in commerce and government.
This was not the first time Maasai territory was encroached upon. Big-game hunting firms along with the government have long attacked the groups. The 2022 attacks are the latest escalation, which has left more than 150,000 Maasai displaced from the Loliondo and Ngorongoro areas as per the United Nations. A hunting concession already situated in Loliondo is owned by OBC, a company that has been allegedly linked to the significantly wealthy Emirati royal family as per Tanzanian lawyers, environmentalists as well as human rights activists. Anuradha Mittal, the executive director of the environmental think-tank, Oakland Institute cited that OBC was not a "safari company for just everyone, it has operations for the royal family".
A 2019 United Nations report described OBC as a luxury-game hunting company "based in the United Arab Emirates" that was granted a hunting license by the Tanzanian government in 1992 permitting "the UAE royal family to organise private hunting trips" in addition to denying the Maasai people access to their ancestral land and water for herding cattle.
When approached, the UAE government refrained from giving any statements. Meanwhile, the OBC commented on the matter without addressing alleged links with Emirati royals, stating that "there is no eviction in Loliondo" and calling it a "reserve land protected area" owned by the government.
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