An experience of the Maasai culture

        The Maasai are one of the Nilotic communities of Kenya. Historically, they are famous for their “traditional dance”, unique fabric & clothing usually comprising beaded items such bangles and necklaces. Most Maasai wear are very unique such that one would easily notice them from a crowd of varied African regalia. I once attended a conference that brought together at least 70 African cultures and I wasn’t surprised when our Maasai participant from Tanzania seemed to be noticed and admired by all. She had worn a dress and jewellery inspired by the Maasai culture; everyone wanted to have a photograph with her!

        It is not only the dressing and jewellery that identifies a community’s culture, we also need to learn the general lifestyles of a people; their likes and dislikes if at all we are going to survive in a new environment. For the month I was away on volunteer, I would come to interact with a famous culture, the Maasai culture. I choose to call them the “Maasai of Enoosaen”. There are 3 groups of Maasai (as I learnt) and all of them cover the larger Narok county of Kenya. From’s a Maasai’s tribal name, one can distinguish which of the 3 Maasai communities the speaker come from.

I believe the culture I met during my month stay in Enoosaen cuts across most (if not all) the Maasai:

• Dressing

Decency has always been a guiding principle when dressing. It is emphasized in most African traditions that women must wear something decent. By decent they mean “a long dress or skirt for the women”. As mentioned earlier, the Maasai have very unique wear. They have drawn attention globally by their amazingly beautiful “shukas, jewellery and Maasai sandles”. I like clothes made out of Maasai fabric. I do not own one yet, but I will soon. I have 5 different shukas made out of Maasai fabric though. 

While interacting with the community, I realized that women are expected to wear dresses or skirts, not trousers. Women need to look feminine. Depending on the family where somebody comes from, they may have the liberty to wear trousers or not. You will notice women wearing a cloak usually of Maasai fabric. Young girls too love to rock it in a cloak when it gets cold. I found this amazing. I think men too do wear a cloak, but I didn’t notice it much as I did for women. What most people use as a “Maasai blanket” is well thrown back over the back and knotted at the neck bone to form the cloak. 

• Livestock keeping

Usually, I have known the Maasai as pastoralists; they  own lots of cows, sheep, goats and any other livestock. And they own this in very large numbers. I never knew how large is large until I saw it. For a single family, there can be at least 50 cows, 100 sheep and goats! To me this is rather unique given in my community (Luo), unless somebody is a “serious” livestock farmer, you wouldn’t find these kind of figures on livestock keeping. For the Maasai, it is a common thing. And the animals are very healthy meaning the breeders know their work. This is expected for a community that has practiced the same activity for over 2 decades. The most surprising bit to me was the fact that “each of the cows has a name; and they are known by these names! For the goats and sheep, the count is right on the finger tips, any new member would easily be noticed from a far!” It was exciting to see young children (who role play as herders) know all their animals, herd size notwithstanding

• Gender roles in the community

Have you ever seen Maasai herders visit Nairobi in search of greener pastures for their livestock? It is always men doing this work. This is one of the men’s roles in the community; they are the herders.

I had never quite exactly known who milks the cows. In my community, usually men, or boys milk the cows. But there are cases where girls (or women milk too). This happens occasionally, not always especially if men are in the homestead. In the Maasai community, it is the women who milk the cows! Most of the time always. This is one of their roles, they know it is. Young girls would therefore learn how to milk and help their mothers. I found that something new.

Young boys take the flock to graze. They would typically do this all day long and bring the animals back home in the evening for the women to milk them. With education a key priority of the government today, the Maasai are not left out. Young boys will therefore go to school during the week and spend the weekend as “herds’ boys”.

I didn’t figure out the exact role of young girls in the community; the very young ones spent most of their time playing. Those that are of age help out with cooking, cleaning utensils and housekeeping. A young boy may help with cookery, but that only happens before he becomes a “Moran”. Once morans, you will never easily catch them entering the kitchen to cook! They don’t spend time in the kitchen at all. It is however men’s role to slaughter and cook animal meat. Usually, men do the slaughtering in most communities while women would do the cooking. But here was a new culture; that where men do both!

(part 1)