Maasai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maasai
Image:Masai women.jpg

Total population	883,000
Regions with significant populations	Kenya: 453,000 Northern Tanzania: 430,000
Language	Maa, also known as Kimaasai
Religion	Monotheism

Image:Masai.jpg

The Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally. The Maasai maintain many of their cultural traditions while engaging contemporary regional and global economic, social, and political forces. They speak Maa, also known as Kimaasai. In 1994 the Maasai population in Kenya was estimated to be 453,000, and in 1993 the Tanzanian maasai population was estimated at 430,000, for a total estimated Maasai population of 883,000 [1].

1 Culture
2 Body modification
3 External links
- 3.1 Photographs

[edit] Culture

The Maasai class is determined by the amount of cows owned by the family. Being nomads, they construct temporary houses out of cow dung and mud. The houses are built in a circle, and at night all of the cows are placed in the center, safe from animals.

At a ceremony into adulthood, young men are required to kill an animal and be circumcised (see below).Men are free to impregnate women at wetlocks, yet it's looked down upon for an unmarried girl to have a child. Marriages are planned, marked by a man marking an unmarried woman with a red X on a pregnant belly. If the girl refuses, she is released from her home. Women can only marry once in a lifetime, although men may have more than one wife (if enough cows are owned, they may have more than one at a time).

Also, they tend to dress in red.

[edit] Body modification

In past ages, both sexes have one or both of their bottom front teeth removed during infancy. This is to allow feeding for babies or young children should they become sick and suffer from lock-jaw. Circumcision is performed on males (who are not permitted to make a noise nor move during the ceremony) and clitoridectomy on females at puberty. The elder women circumcise the girls. The Kenyan government has unsuccessfully attempted to stamp out female circumcision. Men and women also have their ears disked.