The Maasai

According to Maasai oral history, the people originated in the lower Nile Valley north of Lake Turkana and began moving south around the 15th century, reaching the long stretch of land from northern Kenya to central Tanzania between the 17th and 18th centuries. Their warriors earned a formidable reputation as cattle raiders armed with spears, shields and the orinka, a wooden throwing club said to be accurate over long distances. Nineteenth-century slave caravans avoided Maasai territory, and it was among the last parts of East Africa to be entered by Europeans.

Rites of passage mark every stage of life. Boys become men through circumcision, a ceremony that marks the move from boyhood to manhood, and heads are shaved at many ceremonies to symbolise a fresh start in a new chapter of life. Ear piercing and the stretching of earlobes are traditional forms of body adornment. Clothing changes with age and place, and colours carry meaning, with red the most famous. Music is sung rather than played: a song leader, the olaranyani, sings the melody while a chorus answers in harmony, the singers moving their necks forward as they breathe out and back as they breathe in.

The traditional diet centres on milk, meat and blood from the herds, together with soups made from barks and roots, and honey. The Maasai are monotheists who believe in one God, Enkai, who has a dual nature: the benevolent Enkai Narok, the Black God, and the vengeful Enkai Nanyokie, the Red God. Tradition holds that God gave all cattle to the Maasai, which is why, in the past, raiding cattle from other peoples was seen as taking back what was rightfully theirs.