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The Maasai are probably the best known people in East Africa and are also called Maasai, Maassai or Masai. The name means people who speak the Maa language. This originally nomadic pastoralist people migrated from southern Sudan and Egypt to present-day Kenya and Tanzania around 1550, bringing with them knowledge of agriculture and livestock farming.
Over the next 200 years, the Maasai expanded the boundaries of their sphere of influence more and more and became the most important regional power in the Rift Valley area. The warriors of the Maasai were greatly feared and their territories were avoided by the Arabs, mountain peoples, missionaries and European traders alike, or they had to pay tolls in the form of trade goods.
The decline of the Maasai people began in the middle of the 19th century: conflicts within the Maasai increased and entire clans were destroyed in clashes. There were also smallpox epidemics, several droughts and a cattle plague, which decimated the Maasai herds considerably. Some Maasai settlement areas (e.g. today’s Masai Mara National Park) were practically depopulated. The colonization of Kenya that began at this time was aided by the weakening of the Maasai; the pastoral people subsequently lost their best grazing grounds and had to settle in inferior reserves.
There were even times when Maasai in traditional shouka (cloak) clothing were not allowed to travel on public transportation. They were discriminated against for decades and were unable to put up any significant resistance.
The information on the number of Maasai varies, with figures of between 850,000 and 1.5 million found online.
The age group determines social life, status and tasks. The youngest members of the tribe take care of the cattle. More mature men are responsible for maintaining the Masai culture. The tribal elders have the final say in decisions and are valued as advisors.
The people are divided into 5 age groups, each of which has specific tasks to perform: the children’s age group looks after the small livestock, the junior warriors and senior warriors are responsible for the defense of the Maasai people and their herds. Today, the warriors spend most of their time on long walks through their reserves and also outside the reserves. In addition, they are now much more involved in the cattle trade than in the past, with the aim of improving and increasing the size of the herds. Unlike in the past, cattle are now traded or bartered and no longer stolen.
The senior warriors are allowed to marry and settle down. They also take on the role of village guard. The age groups of the junior elders and senior elders make up the elders’ council, where disputes and administrative issues are discussed.
The Maasai have a patriarchal structure and the lives of the women differ fundamentally from those of the men. After marriage, they are responsible for raising the children and prepare the girls for the life of a wife from an early age. Until recently, female genital mutilation (euphemistically referred to as circumcision) was still a very widespread ritual in Kenya. The massive intervention of the Kenyan state, which sends representatives to the Maasai areas and threatens and also implements draconian punishments for adhering to this archaic and cruel ritual, coupled with the activities of NGOs, such as the Masai Mama Africa Center, has led to a massive decline and, above all, to a rethink within the Maasai population. Nevertheless, women still bear the brunt of the work today. They are responsible for building the huts (boma) from branches, clay and cow dung, have to fetch water from springs that are often miles away and collect firewood. In addition, they often make beaded jewelry and sell it at the markets. Women definitely have a much harder working life than men. Even in old age, when the 60 to 80-year-old men have earned their retirement as “elders”, the women of the same age must continue to work until they are exhausted.
Our traditional philosophy is that the land does not belong to an individual: it belongs to the dead, the living and those who have not yet been born.
Massai Joseph Ole Simel
The Maasai are probably the best known people in East Africa and are also called Maasai, Maassai or Masai. The name means people who speak the Maa language. This originally nomadic pastoralist people migrated from southern Sudan and Egypt to present-day Kenya and Tanzania around 1550, bringing with them knowledge of agriculture and livestock farming.
Over the next 200 years, the Maasai expanded the boundaries of their sphere of influence more and more and became the most important regional power in the Rift Valley area. The warriors of the Maasai were greatly feared and their territories were avoided by the Arabs, mountain peoples, missionaries and European traders alike, or they had to pay tolls in the form of trade goods.
The decline of the Maasai people began in the middle of the 19th century: conflicts within the Maasai increased and entire clans were destroyed in clashes. There were also smallpox epidemics, several droughts and a cattle plague, which decimated the Maasai herds considerably. Some Maasai settlement areas (e.g. today’s Masai Mara National Park) were practically depopulated. The colonization of Kenya that began at this time was aided by the weakening of the Maasai; the pastoral people subsequently lost their best grazing grounds and had to settle in inferior reserves.
There were even times when Maasai in traditional shouka (cloak) clothing were not allowed to travel on public transportation. They were discriminated against for decades and were unable to put up any significant resistance.
The information on the number of Maasai varies, with figures of between 850,000 and 1.5 million found online.
The age group determines social life, status and tasks. The youngest members of the tribe take care of the cattle. More mature men are responsible for maintaining the Masai culture. The tribal elders have the final say in decisions and are valued as advisors.
The people are divided into 5 age groups, each of which has specific tasks to perform: the children’s age group looks after the small livestock, the junior warriors and senior warriors are responsible for the defense of the Maasai people and their herds. Today, the warriors spend most of their time on long walks through their reserves and also outside the reserves. In addition, they are now much more involved in the cattle trade than in the past, with the aim of improving and increasing the size of the herds. Unlike in the past, cattle are now traded or bartered and no longer stolen.
The senior warriors are allowed to marry and settle down. They also take on the role of village guard. The age groups of the junior elders and senior elders make up the elders’ council, where disputes and administrative issues are discussed.
The Maasai have a patriarchal structure and the lives of the women differ fundamentally from those of the men. After marriage, they are responsible for raising the children and prepare the girls for the life of a wife from an early age. Until recently, female genital mutilation (euphemistically referred to as circumcision) was still a very widespread ritual in Kenya. The massive intervention of the Kenyan state, which sends representatives to the Maasai areas and threatens and also implements draconian punishments for adhering to this archaic and cruel ritual, coupled with the activities of NGOs, such as the Masai Mama Africa Center, has led to a massive decline and, above all, to a rethink within the Maasai population. Nevertheless, women still bear the brunt of the work today. They are responsible for building the huts (boma) from branches, clay and cow dung, have to fetch water from springs that are often miles away and collect firewood. In addition, they often make beaded jewelry and sell it at the markets. Women definitely have a much harder working life than men. Even in old age, when the 60 to 80-year-old men have earned their retirement as “elders”, the women of the same age must continue to work until they are exhausted.
Our traditional philosophy is that the land does not belong to an individual: it belongs to the dead, the living and those who have not yet been born.
Massai Joseph Ole Simel
The center of life for the Masai was and is their livestock, which provides them with all the necessities of life. The traditional settlement is the Enkang, which consists of 10 to 20 flat huts (Bomas). These are made from clay and cow dung. In the huts, where small animals also sleep, a small fire burns constantly, which is used for cooking during the day, keeps the mosquitoes away and provides warmth in the evening. Daylight enters the boma through a small hole in the sleeping area. There are no chairs, tables or wall decorations and several cattle skins serve as sleeping accommodation.
The settlement is surrounded by a wall of thorns, the kraal. The Enkang is an economic and social unit, where several families live together and look after the cattle. To protect the people and animals from predators and enemies, the herds are driven into a fenced-off area of the kraal (settlement) in the evening and the entrances, which are open during the day, are blocked with the same thorn bushes that fence off the entire kraal.
The Maasai traditionally feed on goat and sheep meat and blood, which is drawn from the neck vein of cattle and mixed with milk. Increasingly, however, the Maasai are also eating maize porridge (ugali). The Maasai only slaughter their cattle on ritual occasions and in times of need.
The Maa language of the Maasai belongs to the family of Nilotic languages and – nomen est omen – originates from the Nile Valley, mainly in Sudan. There are around 700 terms for the word cattle in the Maa language.
In addition, the Maasai also learn Swahili and English – the two official languages in Kenya and Tanzania.
Some examples from the Maa language
| Greeting | Sopa, to which one responds with Epa |
| Welcome to | Caribou |
| Thank you | Ashe |
| Many thanks | Ashe Olein |
| What’s your name? | Eikijaa Enkarna? |
| My name is… | Kaaji nanu… |
| Goodbye | Sere |
| Yes | E ee |
| No | A – A |