WHO ARE THE MAASAI?

The Maasai are nomadic people that originally migrated to Kenya and Tanzania during the 
fifteenth century from the Nile region of Northern Africa. In many areas, the Maasai still live very  traditional and have stayed outside the mainstream development in Kenya. And they are often seen as a symbol of “tribal” Kenya with their traditional red clothing and beaded ornaments. The Maasai live by their livestock: cows, sheep, and goats, which is the single most important thing to the Maasai, that believe that God gave them all the cattle... The story goes that Enkai (God) let cattle descend from the sky along a bark rope (or leather strap or fire stick depending on who you ask), down to the Maasai people. From that belief, it follows that there is a direct link between God and cattle and that all cattle in the world belong to the Maasai. The Maasai family lives in settlements fenced by wildlife. Inside the fence, they build their small flat-roofed houses from sticks and cow dung. Life in the village is very much centralized around the livestock and taking the cows, sheep, and goats out for grazing. The women are the ones fetching water, firewood, cooking, taking care of the children, and building/maintaining their houses. The Maasai community is strongly based on age groups. Each stage of life is decided by the promotion of successive generations to new positions of responsibility. The chief autocrat of the entire community is the ‘Laibon’, who decides when the time is right for the tribe’s age group rituals where each generation is elevated to a new level of seniority. Eachlevel is characterized by a name, the youngest and fittest of a generation and the most elite are the warriors, known as Ilmorran.