Leaping African tribes. The Masai are the fierce warriors of Africa. What to buy from the Maasai

1. Masai - a semi-nomadic proud African tribe, one of the most famous in East Africa. The Masai continue to zealously keep their traditions and lead their usual way of life.

2. Childhood for the Maasai ends at the age of 14. At this age, they undergo initiation, or, more simply, a rite of passage. Moreover, the Masai perform a ceremony both among boys (circumcision) and among girls (female circumcision). This procedure is mandatory for both sexes, otherwise the men of the tribe can easily refuse women who have not undergone this procedure. Uncircumcised tribe members are not considered old enough.

3. After initiation, Maasai boys receive the status of young warriors - the Moran. Their hair is dyed with ocher, they put on a bandage, hang a sword on their belt and give out a sharp spear.

4. During the rite of passage, which lasts for several months, now young soldiers need to walk with their heads held high all this time. During the initiation period, they observe the strictest prohibition on the use of alcohol and tobacco. Initiation is a great celebration for all the Masai in the village. All people sing and dance in a trance. For the first time, young warriors are allowed to taste beef.

5. The Masai decorate their face and body with tattoos and scars, in the form of simple patterns of lines and rings. They decorate their cows with similar patterns. Each Maasai clan has a unique pattern with which they adorn their flock. This allows them to distinguish their livestock from others.

6. Today, there are about 900,000 Masai in the world, of which 450-550 thousand live in Tanzania, and 350-455 thousand in Kenya. Communication takes place in the Masai language. The religion of this tribe is the traditional Masai beliefs (worship of natural forces and gods living in the mountains) and Christianity.

7. The Masai arrived in Kenya with their livestock from the Nile Valley about 500 years ago.

8. Outwardly, the Masai differ from other tribes in a slender body, tall, straight posture, broad shoulders, narrow hips in men and a special proud gait. Maasai women are as fit and slender as the representatives of the stronger sex, their heads are necessarily shaved clean, and their ears are loaded with massive earrings, which are inserted at an early age.

9. The most eccentric element of the Masai culture is their tribal dances. The classical Masai dance is a high jump, after which the dancer will surely stamp his foot and look around with a proud gaze. The Maasai also sing beautifully, but all of their songs have only two melodies.

10. The most popular Maasai food is a soup made from cow's blood, flour and milk. Meat is a real luxury for them, so they rarely eat it. The Maasai have an average life expectancy of over 70 years. This is a very solid indicator for Africa.

11. The Maasai make their huts from twigs and bush twigs, smeared with a thick layer of dry manure. Along the edges of the dwelling there are sleeping bunks, also made of twigs, and in the center of the hut there is always a fireplace, which is heated in black. Despite the fact that the average height of the Masai is about 175 cm, the maximum height of the hut is 1.5 meters, which makes it very difficult for a civilized person to enter and stay in it.

12. Each man of the tribe can have several wives, and for each he must build a separate hut.

13. Compared to the more peaceful Maori and Bantu, the Maasai are much more belligerent, ferocious and intolerant of enemies. So, for example, warriors can easily go to certain death, in the battle for the honor of the elders and their possessions.

14. Masai are happy to pose for everyone who wants to take an exotic photo, but not for free.

15. Despite the huge diversity of African peoples and tribes, the Masai have always stood out against their background, thanks to their way of life, culture, appearance and attitude towards representatives of other tribes. And although today they have become more peaceful, the Masai have not lost faith in their special position on the mainland, their originality and self-esteem.

The Masai are a semi-nomadic indigenous people of Africa. The tribe is relatively numerous, live mainly along the border of Tanzania and Kenya, in the vicinity of Mount Kilimanjaro. Are proud. The number of Masai according to various sources is from five hundred to a million people. Masai passports are ignored and not received, so it is difficult with statistics. In the past, they are nomads who came from the Nile Valley after 1500 AD. At present, part of the Maasai, under the influence of modern life in the world, are beginning to move to a sedentary lifestyle. But traditions are strong, many preserve a nomadic existence with primordial traditions that amaze with their originality.

The Masai are a unique tribe. They owe their popularity to their culture and traditions passed down from generation to generation. Despite the influence of civilization, the people of the tribe are faithful to the ancient way of life, thanks to which they have become a symbol of Kenyan culture.

Language - Maa, originated in North Africa.

History of the Masaev

It is believed that the ancestors of the Maasai first appeared in northern Africa. From there, they migrated south along the Nile Valley and came to northern Kenya in the mid-15th century. On the way, they conquered all the tribes on their way. Then the territory of the Maasai extended in the Rift Valley and the adjacent territories between the Marsabite and Dodoma mountains. Here they settled and took up cattle breeding.

The Masai are a very warlike and wayward people who consider themselves superior to all other tribes, and even newcomer Europeans. They steal cattle from datoga, luo, kikuyo. The Masai are sure that their supreme deity - Ngai - gave everything to them, the Masai, and blessed them to engage in cattle breeding.

British and German colonialists in the past were terrified of meeting the warriors of this tribe. Probably it was thanks to this militancy that the Masai, one of the few, preserved their ancestral lands for a long time. But in recent decades, more and more often they are driven from the lands of their ancestors, creating reserves in this place, into which wealthy white tourists who come to have fun on safari are allowed. If the Masai try to return to their lands, then most often they end up in prison - you will not go against the state. So they have to be content with poor land that is still freely available.

The Masai are a tribe of proud warriors, one of the most ancient and numerous throughout Africa. They live in Kenya and Tanzania. A distinctive feature of this tribe is that none of its members have a passport or any other document. That is why it is simply impossible to determine the exact number.

In the 15-16 centuries. Maasai led they came from the banks of the Nile. In modern times, many of them, not without the pressure of today's realities, are forced to become sedentary. However, not all of them give up, most of them still remained nomads.

Who are the Masai?

Children under 14 years old are considered the happiest Maasai. The tribe does not force them to learn anything, go to school, engage in community service, and so on. At this time, they only dance, have fun and sometimes go hunting. However, none of the children gives up personal self-improvement; they all watch adults, especially the leader. Seeing how they act and what they are doing, kids build their own model of behavior.

After 14 years, the next 2-3 years, the Maasai walk and look closely. Gradually, they enter the established structure of the tribe, where each person has his own responsibilities. Teenagers are not immediately determined with their employment, they try themselves in all areas. So, for example, one of the girls may become a cook, the other will start looking after the children.

Then, at the age of 16-17, the Masai get married or get married, build their own house, where they will live as a young cell of society. The accumulation of funds is gradually taking place. Since there are no banks in the villages, the status is determined by the number of livestock. The larger it is, the higher the position in society, respectively. After the wedding, a measured life begins, the formed personality already knows exactly what responsibility falls on her. And so it continues until old age.

How do the Maasai live?

The Masai live 160 km from Nairobi in a relatively large village. The tribe has preserved its original way of life to this day. Since the area where it lives is not distinguished by fertile soil, people are forced to engage in livestock raising. Each person determines his age only approximately, he does not have a passport, and the Masai are not used to following the calendar.

Each village has about 100 inhabitants. And they are all members of this large family. At the head is the leader. The way of life, accordingly, is only patriarchal. Modern men, since there are no wars, graze cattle. Previously, this was the responsibility of the weaker sex. Women prepare food and raise children. There is no special upbringing either, the young simply look up to the elders, imitating them in everything.

A Maasai leader can have three wives. The tribe, of course, is distinguished by its belligerence, but this does not apply to women. They deserve the respect and trust of men with delicious food. By the way, the leader determines his beloved spouse every day. And his choice will depend directly on the deliciousness of the prepared dinner.

Maasai wedding

In the Maasai tribe, wealth is accumulated through the sale of daughters. Therefore, a man who has more girls has a high status. The wedding begins with the groom visiting his bride's house. Her father is sitting on the threshold, guarding the house (so that the daughter is not stolen). Before handing over his daughter, he determines how much the young guy will have to give the cows for her.

The bride must be a virgin. Many guests come to the wedding, each of whom gives a little (or a lot) of money for the benefit of the young. All funds are collected by the mother-in-law. At first, she will live with the young, doing the work of a treasurer. As for the celebration itself, it takes place in a standard and usual mode - guests, fun, presenter, festive costumes and so on.

A terrible tradition is that the first wife will sleep not with her husband, but with the toastmaster. This is due to the fact that a young man should not see the blood of his Maasai woman.

If the warrior decided to marry again, then the first wife, not the mother, chooses the new bride for him. The same is the case with subsequent ones. That is, no matter how many brides a man requests, they all go through the selection of the one that was engaged in the beginning.

Maasai food

The food and drink of the tribe is very peculiar. Moreover, it is better for the faint of heart not to get acquainted with the kitchen in question at all. The favorite drink of the Masai is fresh blood. Sometimes it is diluted with milk. The extraction of drink is as follows. The man pierces the artery of the animal with a sharp object and substitutes the container under the pressure. The beast does not die, if only for the 10th time of quenching its thirst. After the warrior has filled his bowl, he closes the hole with clay, and the cow or ram continues to live.

But the Maasai tribe of Africa has an extremely negative attitude to meat products. This is not due to the fact that they are ideological vegetarians. It's just that livestock is the main income, and eating it means depriving yourself of your status, lowering your importance in society.

Masai is distinguished by amazing traditions that may seem terrible to a European or Slavic person. So, for example, all the girls pass along with the guys. Moreover, if a woman has not done this, then she will never be married.

Also, all girls have a head. Apparently, the men of the tribe do not believe that female beauty lies in long curls.

Each tribe also has its own distinctive sign - tattoos. They cover both human bodies and livestock. Only in this way on grazing can they distinguish their ram from another's. By the way, if stranger cattle accidentally fell into the tribe, then they are immediately returned. No one has yet forgotten about the Maasai militancy, even after decades of peaceful existence.

Conclusion

The originality that the Masai tribe has is literally striking. A photo of each of its members proves the belligerence and willfulness. Also, there are often notes that they put themselves above other African tribes, as well as Europeans or Americans visiting the continent.

Moreover, when the colonialists came to Africa, they actually feared and even feared meeting with the Masai. With all this, the Europeans had modern technology and weapons, while the tribe was primitive. It should be noted that this ancient culture has survived to this day only thanks to the belligerence and unwillingness to surrender their ancestral territories to the colonialists.

13.6.2. Masai

General appearance. Are peculiar maasai (maasai) and related samburu, living in the savannas of Kenya and Tanzania (about 900 thousand in total). Until recently, they were one people - maa, formed as a result of the mixture of Nilots and Kushites. Therefore, the Maasai are not as black as the Nilots, and many have chiseled Kushite noses. The Masai and Samburu are proud pastoralists who are now forced to switch to agriculture and tourist services. The slender, tall Masai, who went out with a spear face to face against a lion and dispersed caravans of slave traders, have long been an object of tourism. Books have been written and films made about them. Ernst Hemingway described the Masai as follows: "They were the tallest, stately, handsome and also the most cheerful and cheerful people that I have met in Africa." No less admired by the Masai, the writer Karen Blixen, who lived in the 1920s. in Kenya:

“The Maasai warrior is a wonderful sight. These young people perfectly possess that special mindset, which we call "chic": they look defiant, even fantastically wild, but they remain passionately loyal to their nature, to some unfading ideal; their style is not borrowed, is not a pathetic imitation of foreign achievements, but expresses the essence of the people and their history. The Maasai's weapons and ornaments are as integral to their appearance as the antlers of a deer. ... The Morans - young Maasai - feed on milk and blood; perhaps this particular diet makes their skin so smooth and shiny. Smooth and their cheeky, swollen faces, on which it is impossible to see a single flaw; their dark, blind eyes are like pebbles interspersed with mosaic images, and the morals themselves are very similar to mosaic portraits. Their neck muscles are developed to ominous proportions, like that of an angry cobra, leopard, or an angry bull, and are an eloquent symbol of masculinity that declares war on the whole world, except for women. Smooth, swollen faces, swollen necks and well-developed shoulders contrast sharply - or are in exquisite harmony - with narrow thighs, lean knees and straight legs, making them look like creatures that have achieved the highest predation, ambition and gluttony through rigorous discipline. The Maasai walk like a string, carefully rearranging their legs, but all the gestures of their hands are distinguished by extraordinary flexibility. When the young Maasai, shooting from the bow, releases the bowstring, it seems that his long hand is singing in the air along with the arrow. "

Gen. The Maasai breed zebu cows, goats and sheep, but only zebu are considered standing cattle. Zebu is the main measure of wealth; they are avoided to be slaughtered for meat. The Masai live in temporary settlements, which are easily abandoned, roaming the savannah. The settlements consist of a dozen huts, surrounded by a two-meter fence made of thorny acacia. Men build the fence, women build the huts. Hut - enkaj, represents a round box, woven from branches and thin tree trunks. It is coated on both sides with a mixture of clay and manure and has no windows. The roof is covered with a layer of manure on top to keep out the rain. The height of the hut is about one and a half meters with an average height of Maasai men of 175 cm. In the middle of the hearth, on the sides there are two or three beds made of branches and covered with tree bark. On the shelves are oil lamps and pumpkin dishes. There is a common hearth outside where women prepare hot food. Livestock are placed in the center of the village at night to protect them from predators. If you need to move to another pasture, the owners simply tap their houses with sticks, the coating flies off, the box is disassembled and transferred to a new place. For young warriors - moranov, mothers build a village - manyatta, where they are trained. Manyatta is not fenced off, for young men must be able to stand up for themselves. They live merrily: time passes in conversations, songs, dances and wanderings on the savannah. In the past, moraines were involved in stealing livestock from neighboring tribes. The Masai believe that the supreme god Engai gave them all the cows in the world. Taking the herds from others, they restore justice. Raids led to bloody skirmishes, but without them one cannot become a real warrior. Now the raids have been replaced by the livestock trade. Gone are the fights with the lion in revenge for the attack on livestock. Lviv has become small, and the government pays money to the Masai for deviating from the glorious tradition.

Clothing and jewelry. Traditional Maasai clothing - noise. This garment consists of red colored panels, sometimes lined in a cage with double blue stripes, like a plaid. One of the panels wraps around the hips to the knees, and the other, in the form of a toga, is fixed on the shoulder and freely descends down the chest, leaving the arms open. They wear simple sandals that hold onto one toe. The heads are not covered. Young warriors are the only ones who wear long hair: they are smeared with grease and ocher and braided in pigtails. The deceiving femininity of young men is complemented by hoops and pendants. Until recently, a warrior constantly walked with a spear. The Masai spear has a meter-long metal tip and is sharpened on the other side. When the warrior stops, he sticks a spear into the ground, but never puts it down. Boys carry a long stick instead of a spear. Nowadays, adult Maasai walk with sticks. They sit on sticks when they want to rest, but on occasion they are able to drive away predators up to lions with sticks. In addition to spears, and now sticks, the Masai carry knives in a wooden sheath. When closed, these knives look like a short stick decorated with a carved pattern, but if you pull the handle, a narrow and sharp blade 25-30 cm long comes out.

Maasai women, like men, prefer red, but some are dressed in blue shuki. Women have shaved heads, and some have plucked eyebrows and eyelashes. For children, two front teeth are removed from the lower jaw. It is believed that it is necessary for feeding, if the jaw clenches. The lobes of little boys and girls are pierced with a bone needle; in subsequent years, the hole is widened by inserting spacers. When children grow up, their ears are pulled to the shoulders. This is no longer a lobe, but a huge hole up to 10 cm in diameter, edged with a strip of skin. On this strip, women have beads and pendants. Men insert various objects into the lobe, sometimes even a watch or a shaving brush. Like all Nilots, the Maasai Samburu often adorn the face and body with scars in the form of simple patterns - rings and lines. They also mark their cattle with a tattoo to distinguish their own and other people's cows.

Maasai woman. 2006.

Food. The traditional Maasai food consists of milk, blood, fat, meat, honey, tree bark, and herbs. Meat is not eaten every day and mainly lamb and goat meat. Bychkov are killed only on major holidays. The meat is boiled with various spices or fried on a spit. Game, poultry and fish are prohibited. The Masai do not add salt to their food. They receive the salt necessary for the body together with the blood. By piercing a vein in a cow with an arrowhead, the Maasai strain the blood into a pumpkin vessel. At the same time, they try not to cause serious damage to the animal - the wound is covered with manure. Blood is drunk while still warm, or mixed with milk or added to soup. Usually, the Maasai drink milk (with blood) for 10 days, then eat bark soup and meat for several days, then drink milk again. Maasai children and women eat fruit; men followed a "blood-milk" diet.

Despite the diet high in animal fat, the Maasai have half the level of "bad" cholesterol than the Americans, no signs of atherosclerosis or heart disease, and no cholesterol stones. Young people have morale, in terms of physical development they meet Olympic standards. There are no overweight people among the Maasai. But if the latter is explained by the huge expenditure of energy (2560 kcal per day compared to 890 kcal in Americans), then the regulation of cholesterol is most likely associated with biologically active substances contained in wild plants used in food. Acacia bark olkinye - Eucklea divinorum, twigs oldimigomi - Pappea capensis, roots and bark olsokonoi - Warburgia ugandensis, bark and thorns of nile acacia olkilority - Acacia nilotica, used in soup and as a spice, they have a strong anticholinosterol effect. They contain polyphenols, phytosteroids, antioxidants, flavonoids, and saponins. The Masai appreciate the narcotic effects of the bark and roots, which add a bitter taste to the soup. They know that when they taste this infusion, they become aggressive, energetic and fearless. The Maasai have great teeth and no caries. This condition of the teeth is associated with the action of whole milk, but tannic and gallic acid in the acacia bark is even more important. olkinyei, suppressing the growth of dental microflora.

Nowadays, Maasai food is changing for the worse. Part of the Maasai moved to cities. There, they eat the food of "civilized people" and acquired diseases inherent in city dwellers, including heart disease (but even among the Maasai townspeople, cholesterol levels are lower than among Europeans). Others remain rural residents, although they have lost most of their livestock, and are forced to engage in agriculture and poultry farming - to raise guinea fowl and ostriches. They eat cereals, fresh and sour milk and butter. Their health condition suffered to a lesser extent than that of the urban Maasai. The Masai drink sweet tea with milk. They also make beer from aloe roots and honey.

Age groups. The division into tribes and clans among the Masai is combined with age division. Due to the high infant mortality rate, the baby is given a name three months after birth. Then they shave his head, leaving a longitudinal strip of hair in the manner of a cock's comb. Boys who have barely started to walk are entrusted with looking after calves and lambs, and girls are given housework assignments. However, the main occupation of children is games. Every 15 years, the Masai initiate boys into young warriors - moraines. Boys and young men from 12 to 25 years old fall into the group for initiation. The rite of circumcision is central to initiation - emorata. Two days before the circumcision, the hair is shaved off the boys' head and body. The next day, the cattle brought by the parents are slaughtered and a feast is held, where the adults have fun and drink a lot of beer. The next day the healer of the tribe dorobo (forest hunters and honeymen) is performing circumcisions. He works with a sharp knife without anesthesia. Incomplete circumcision: a hanging flap of skin is left below the glans penis. The boy must endure the operation in silence, without showing pain. Then the penis is treated with milk, fresh cow urine, and moldy droppings (urine disinfects, and mold acts as an antibiotic). The recovery usually goes without complications.

Circumcised boys mbarnoti, recovering and preparing to become moraines. Dressed in black, they roam the savannah in small groups and hunt birds. Their task is to grow their hair and get beautiful bird feathers for their hair. But only young men who bravely endured circumcision have the right to wear bright feathers. Finally, the time comes for the transformation into morals. The young men change their hairstyles again: they lubricate their regrown hair with grease and red ocher, braid it in strands and tie it with a leather strap. Morans settle in a separate settlement - manyatta, built by their mothers, and live there for years until the next rite - eunoto - “coming into age”. Their main responsibility is caring for livestock. In the old days, Moraines raided neighboring tribes and stole their livestock. Now the raids have been replaced by the livestock trade.

The eunoto morales pass when it is time to circumcise a new group of boys. Passing eunoto means that moraines have moved into the category of young adults and received the right to marry. As a sign of entering a new age group, men shave off all the hair on their heads. Adult married men participate in the political life of the tribe, and in the event of war they form special military units. And they had to take part in the campaigns. Over the years, young adults move into the age group of the oldest, the highest category in the hierarchy of Masai society. The Maasai do not have leaders - bearers of power, but there are libons - priests, stewards of ceremonies. The elders listen to the opinion of Laibon, but decisions important for the tribe are made only after a general discussion.

Girls also undergo a rite of passage that includes circumcision. Circumcision of girls is carried out after the ninth menstruation, but it can also be earlier if the girl becomes pregnant. Female circumcision is accompanied by the removal of the clitoris and the adjacent part of the labia minora. The circumcision is performed by a hired tribal healer dorobo... Unlike ambitious boys, girls are forcibly circumcised. Before the operation, the girl can scream and fight. But adult women hold her tightly by the arms and legs. As in the case of boys, most circumcisions end well, although girls are ill for a long time. After circumcision, they, like boys, decorate their faces with scars, but shave their heads bald.

Soon the girl is married off to a “young adult,” that is, to a moral person who has served his term. It turns out that the husband is 7-15 years older than his wife. If a girl is taken as a second or third wife, then the age gap is even greater, not to mention the cases when a man from among the elderly marries her. Girls who are not circumcised cannot get married. In Kenya and Tanzania, attempts are being made to eradicate the barbaric custom and introduce “circumcision by words,” accompanied by song and dance. The future will show how much the innovation will take root. If anything, female circumcision is officially prohibited.

Marriage and family. The Masai practice polygamy, when a man has several wives at once. The number of wives a man has depends on the size of the herd. There should be enough wives to care for animals and children, to carry water and wood for the hearth. In practice, only the elders have more than two wives. Young men usually have one wife. The first marriage is committed by conspiracy between the parents of the bride and groom. The parents, on the other hand, negotiate a bride price. If they know well, the ransom price can be 5-6 cows, but it can go up to 14-15. The groom usually does not communicate with the bride before marriage and often does not know her at all. Shortly before marriage, the groom and his best friend go to the bride's village. They drive with them the cattle intended to buy it out. If the bride's village is far away, they count on time to return to their village for the wedding day. Having given the cattle to the bride's relatives, and taking the girl, the young people return home. The brides' relatives do not accompany them: they are not supposed to be at the wedding.

The Maasai have patriarchal morals: the husband is the owner of cattle and children. The claim that the Masai have polygamy along with polygamy is wrong. The authors confuse the right of a soldier to have sex with the wife of a peer circumcised with him, with the rights of husbands who have a common wife. In the first case, we are talking about a sexual, not a marriage tradition. All children born to a woman as a result of visits from men from the husband's age group are considered his legal children. The wife is not completely wordless. She can refuse her husband's peer if he is disgusted with her, and has the right to go to her parents if her husband beats her. Such a divorce or departure - kitala, concludes with negotiations on the return of the ransom and childcare. Usually the parties find a compromise.

Sexual traditions. The Masai allow sexual freedom, but with strict rules. The main ones are the prohibition on sex of uncircumcised young men and Morans with circumcised women and the permissibility of sex between adult soldiers and the wives of their peers. This leads to early onset of sexual activity in girls. The fact is that young moral men who are at the peak of puberty are forbidden to marry and have mistresses among circumcised peers. An outlet for them is still uncircumcised girls 8 - 13 years old. Morans give gifts to the mothers of young mistresses, but they never give a goat or a cow, because the cattle is intended to ransom the bride. The girl's parents are calm about her connection with the Moran (or Mora). They think the girl is too young to get pregnant. A daughter's virginity means little: she is not required for marriage. There is a belief that the seed of moraine contributes to the maturation of a girl and the development of her breasts. As for boys, in a similar atmosphere, they easily engage in sex with girlfriends of children's games.

Sometimes uncircumcised girls become pregnant. Then they are circumcised and quickly given in marriage, but never to the father of the child. On the other hand, some uncircumcised teens manage to have sex with a circumcised girl or woman. The mystery comes true before circumcision, when the boy talks to Laibon. You won't lie to the priest Laibon, because he communicates with the spirits and knows everything, and the teenager confesses his sin. The offender's father has to pay by donating a bull or a cow. The Moranians have higher self-discipline and rarely have romances with married (circumcised) women. Moreover, they have as many girls as they want.

Perhaps the most famous Maasai tradition is a man's right to openly have sex with the wives of his peers who were circumcised with him. This is done simply: a warrior approaches the dwelling of a peer's wife that attracts him and sticks a spear into the ground. Then he enters, or rather, crawls into a low hut. A woman has the right to refuse him if she absolutely does not like him, but this does not happen often. And the spear remains sticking out next to the hut, as a sign that the hostess is busy with important business. A sign for a husband and other men looking for where to stick a spear. The lawful husband, seeing that his wife is busy, does not bother her and leaves in order to seek shelter in another hut. Open jealousy is punished. A jealous husband must give nine heads of cattle to his peers. Married women are punished if they form bonds with morals, teenagers and men outside the husband's age group. The women do not have livestock and are punished with flogging - up to 40 blows with a whip. An offended husband can kill the offender, but he has the right to run away, which he usually uses.

Masai and sex tourism. Safari books and films have piqued interest in the "magnificent savages" roaming the savannas of East Africa. The Masai began to come into fashion; there appeared their admirers and ... admirers. The latter did not always confine themselves to admiring slender black warriors, but went further, wanting to experience new keen feelings with men so unlike their companions. After all, the Maasai jump a meter up during dances and are not afraid to go out with a spear against the lion. First sexual experience convinced whites memsaib (at least so they wrote) that as lovers, the Masai are incomparably better than European and American men. The Masai are well equipped for love games. They are well built, strong, hardy and, like all Nilots, have great masculinity that makes white men feel undersized. In addition, the dignity is provided with a flap of the foreskin coiled under the head, left over from incomplete circumcision. Articles about this appeared. Everything else added to the female imagination. The Masai have become a sex symbol in a jaded Europe and North America and a valuable commodity for sex tourism.

Dance-jumping of the Masai. Kenya. 2009.

It must be said that the Maasai are not quite suited to the assigned role. They are proud and independent people, not inclined to fulfill the whims of visiting ladies and by no means suffering from abstinence. The Morans have enough girls, familiar, young and, according to their concepts, more beautiful than white women. But money, like acid, eats away at steel, and part of the Maasai went into the tourist industry. More often - for the role of performers of ethnographic scenes and dances and safari guides, but some serve tourists thirsty for black sex. Demand, however, significantly exceeded supply, and fake Maasai appeared at hotels in Kenya and Tanzania. Ears help to distinguish them from real ones. Genuine Masai have lobes with a huge hole, hanging in rims almost to the shoulders; fake ears are not mutilated. However, the customs and life of natural Masai are unlikely to suit adventure lovers. It's one thing to be an actor hired to tickle your nerves and know your place, and another to be a person of a completely different culture and an alien psyche.

Clash of cultures. The naturalness of Maasai habits can be discouraging. Here are the impressions of a Russian who spent 6 years in Tanzania, far from being politically correct:

“Interesting people, but, to put it mildly, not very clean. The Maasai celebrate their natural needs in the cities right on the street, at any time of the day, regardless of the place where they are pinned. They just turn away to the wall or sit in some gap between the houses. But this is typical not only for them. This is the behavior of all South African peoples. But before that, I had never seen the satisfaction of my sexual needs on the street, even in incomplete twilight, in front of dozens of people. Moreover - the group. ... In rural areas, the behavior of the Maasai is even more savage and incomprehensible to us. They can defecate while standing or with a slight bend, and wipe themselves with a bunch of grass. But they may not wipe at all. If there is no water nearby, they wash with their urine. But they do not like to wash, they consider it superfluous, so it is not easy to be in their presence for a long time. Perhaps this explains the most amazing phenomenon: the wild beasts of the Masai hardly touch them. They coexist peacefully. "

There are similar, albeit more cautious, sketches of Europeans. In Corinna Hofmann's autobiographical book "White Masai" (1998), a 26-year-old Swiss woman came to Kenya with her fiancé: “At Mombasa airport we were greeted by amazing tropical air, and there was already a premonition: this is my country, I will be fine here. Apparently, I felt this delightful aura alone, because my friend Marco said dryly: "It stinks here!" Soon Corinna saw a handsome Maasai: “A tall, dark-skinned handsome man sat at ease on the rail of the ferry. ... My God, I thought, how handsome he is, I have never seen such. He was wearing only a short red loincloth and a lot of jewelry ... Long red hair was braided in fine pigtails ... His features were so regular and beautiful that one might think it was a woman's face. But his demeanor, proud look and muscular body convinced him otherwise. I could not take my eyes off him. Sitting in the rays of the setting sun, he looked like a young god. "

Falling in love at first sight, Corinna managed to get to know the handsome man. He was from the Samburu tribe, and his name was Lketinga. Even his smell excited her: “Masai stood very close and was silent. Only by the outlines of his tall body and the smell, which awakened erotic fantasies in me, I understood that he was still there. " The girl broke up with her fiancé and went home with the intention of returning. Six months later, having sold everything, she came to Lketinge. The great day has come - they were together for the whole night in a hut:

“… I sat down on a narrow bed and waited for the cherished minute. My heart was pounding like mad. Lketinga sat down beside him, and all I could see was the whites of his eyes, the mother-of-pearl button on his forehead, and the white ivory earrings. Suddenly everything went incredibly fast. Lketinga pushed me to the couch, and I immediately felt his excitement. Not having time to understand if my body was ready, I felt a sharp pain, heard strange sounds, and in a moment everything was over. I imagined intimacy with a man completely differently and almost burst into tears from disappointment. Only then did I realize that I was dealing with a person of a completely different culture. However, I did not succeed in developing this idea, since soon everything repeated itself. There were many such attacks, and after the third or fourth "act" I stopped trying to prolong the action with the help of touching and kissing. Apparently Lketinga didn't like it. "

In the morning Lketinga's friend Priscilla came and gave Corinna tea. After listening to her story, Priscilla said with obvious embarrassment: “” Corinna, we are different. Go back to Marco, come to Kenya on vacation, but don't look for a life partner here. " She knew from the whites that they treat women well, including in bed. Maasai men are different, and what happened today is completely normal for them. The Masai don't kiss. The mouth is given in order to eat, and kissing (her face is distorted at the same time) is simply disgusting. A man never touches a woman below the abdomen, and a woman has no right to touch a man's penis. The hair and face of a man are also taboo for her. " Corinna also found out that a man and a woman do not eat together. Moreover, a man cannot look at a woman's food, and a woman cannot look at a man's food. Her dreams of cooking for her husband and having dinner together in a small cozy hut collapsed. It seemed that she should return to Switzerland, but the power of love was so great that Corinna went to the remote village of Lketingi, met his mother and married him.

Life in the samburu village, in the small hut where Lketinga, his mother and Corinna spent the night, was a great challenge. It was uncomfortable, physically hard, often hungry and very dirty. But the Russian from Tanzania should be corrected. Samburu (like the Maasai) still wash, if possible. True, it is not always there. In the village they washed in a dry stream - men separately from women. Corinna was convinced again and again that African sex has its own peculiarities: “... We repeated the short act of love many times. I just could not get used to the fact that everything happens so quickly and after a short pause it is repeated again. But this did not bother me, I did not regret anything. I was happy that Lketinga was there. " Corinna was ill with malaria, then hepatitis, but steadily went to the goal - family happiness. She bought a truck, opened a grocery store in the village, and finally got pregnant. Lketinga learned to kiss, helped as best he could in the store, but was too addicted to chewing narcotic herb miraa... And worst of all, he constantly tormented Corinna with his jealousy.

The birth of a girl, Pushing, did not improve family relations. Rather the opposite. Lketinga everywhere fancied Corinna's betrayal. Once he even stated that the child was not from him. He also undermined the family business. Unable to communicate with customers, illiterate and quarrelsome, with a vague understanding of money and credit, he tried to be the boss because he was a man. Corinna's love passed: “We quarreled more and more often, and I caught myself thinking that I did not want to live like this until the end of my days. We worked, and he stood and spoiled the mood for me and our clients. If he was not in the store, he would sit at home with other warriors and cut the goat carcass. On such days, returning home in the evening, I cleaned the floor of blood and bones. " Lost love - the attraction faded: sex with her husband became unpleasant for Corinna, and she tried to avoid it. This led to new quarrels. It came to assault. Corinna was also afraid of her daughter's future:

“Sometimes men came to us, looked at my little, eight-month old, daughter and discussed with Lketinga the possibility of a future marriage. I was furious, and he favorably accepted their proposals. I tried in every possible way to prevent such visits, both for good and for bad. Our daughter will choose her own husband; she will marry the man she loves! I had no intention of selling her to an old man as a second or third wife. Female circumcision, too, was often the subject of our quarrels. Here I invariably ran into misunderstanding on the part of my husband ... ".

It ended with what it should have ended. Contrary to Lketinga's reluctance, Corinna, taking her daughter, flew to Switzerland - supposedly for a while. She did not come back. The rest of her life was successful for this extraordinary woman. She divorced her husband, returned to the trade consultant profession, and wrote a bestselling book about her life in Africa. Translated into major European languages, The White Masai has sold 4 million copies. Wealth and fame came: a film of the same name was made based on the book. Today Corinna Hofmann lives in a beautiful villa on the shores of Lake Lugano, travels a lot and writes books about it. She helps the family of her ex-husband and even saw him, but the spark of love between them did not break out.

Masai at a crossroads. The Maasai make up less than 2% of the population of Kenya and Tanzania. Their role in the life of these countries is insignificant, and the future does not inspire optimism. The traditional Maasai culture is being destroyed; the Maasai lost their main herds. The very existence of the Maasai on the lands set aside for national parks is called into question. There are positive developments as well: the most forward-thinking Maasai elders are making efforts to spread education among them. Educated people appeared among the Masai: hopes for the preservation of this amazing people are connected with them.

The Masai are a unique and popular tribe. It owes its popularity to culture and traditions passed down from generation to generation. Despite the influence of civilization, people are faithful to the ancient way of life, thanks to which they have become a symbol of Kenyan culture.

Representatives of the tribe against the background of their possessions.

The Maasai live along the borders of two countries - Kenya and Tanzania. According to various estimates, their number varies from 900 thousand to a million. They speak the Maa language, which originated in northern Africa.

The map shows the approximate settlement of the Masai.

History of the Masai tribe

It is believed that their ancestors first appeared in northern Africa, later they migrated south along the Nile Valley and arrived in northern Kenya in the middle of the 15th century. They continued to move south, conquering all the tribes in their path. By the end of their journey, the Masai owned almost all of the land in the Rift Valley and the surrounding areas between the Marsabite and Dodoma mountains. Here they settled and engaged in cattle breeding.

They look at the endless expanses of the savannah.

The number of jewelry is an indicator of wealth.

Masai Traditions

The cult of the warrior is of great importance among the tribe. From childhood to adolescence, young boys learn to be men and warriors. The warrior's role is to protect his livestock from other tribes and wild animals, build the Kraal (Masai settlement), and ensure the safety of his family.

The watch on the left hand proves that traditions are slowly receding before the might of Western civilization.

After going through rituals and ceremonies, including circumcision, the boys are ready to become true warriors. The lavish eutnoto ceremony becomes a kind of graduation ceremony, after which the boy turns into a warrior.

The video shows young Masai warriors jumping in the traditional adumu dance. Such jumps allow you to find a pair. The best "horse" will surely find a girlfriend.

Girls and women have completely different lives. They have to take care of the farm: milk cows, go for water, do handicrafts and even build huts. The girl becomes an adult at the age of 14, after an official circumcision ceremony - an emorat.

Masai clothing and beauty

Although clothing made from animal skins is traditional for the tribe, modern Masai preferred a dress made of red sheets (also called shuka) wrapped around the body. Also very popular are all kinds of beaded jewelry on the arms and neck. They are worn by both men and women, unisex, so to speak.

Even in Africa it can be very cold in the morning.

Piercing and stretching the earlobes is also considered a beauty attribute among the Masai. Both men and women wear metal hoops in their ears. Women shave their heads and deliberately knock out the two lower front teeth, as required by traditional medicine.

The more the earlobes are drawn, the more beautiful the girl is. This one is probably worth its weight in gold)