Maasai people

Masai

Total population
883,000
Regions with significant populations
Template:Flagcountry2	453,000
Template:Flagcountry2 (northern)	430,000
Languages
Maa (ɔl Maa)
Religion
Christianity

A Maasai tribesman.

File:Masai.jpg

A replica of a Maasai hut at the Sarova White Sands Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

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. 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, yielding a total estimated Maasai population of 883,000 [1]. Estimates of the respective Maasai populations in both countries is complicated by their nomadic nature and their being the only ethnic group allowed free travel over the Kenyan-Tanzanian border.

Culture

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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 operate on the girls. The Kenyan government and non governmental organisations have attempted to stamp out female circumcision. Men and women also have their ears pierced and disked, and it is easy to tell if someone is Maasai when they are not dressed in Maasai clothing (i.e., working in a hotel) because they will have very disked ears.

Boma

The Maasai live in small round shaped houses made from sticks and cow dung. A group of houses is enclosed in a thorn fenced village called "Enkang". They stay on one land for as long as their cattle graze; once it is grazed dry, they move on. However, a big population of the Maasai has settled down in in Narok, Trans Mara and Kajiado districts in Kenya. The women build the houses whilst the men take care of the security of the settlement and livestock.

See also

• Masai mythology

External links

• An all Maasai Organization
• Maasai Language Project
• Maasai Envrionmental Resource Coalition
• Maasai history culture song images
• Maasai People information page

Photographs

• Africa on the Matrix: The Maasai (photographs and information)
• Photographs of Kenya peoples, including Maasai tribe (photographs and information)