Maasai Warrior Tribe
Beautiful tall Masaii men and women still maintain their tribal lifestyle and religion-wearing red to keep the lions away from their cows. They live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The cow is the practical and spiritual focus of their lives. The religion is animistic-they see God in everything.
The women build the houses, gather the firewood, cook and take care of the children. Every day the woman walks five miles for water and firewood.
The man tends the cattle and keeps the lions away. The man eats alone and she hides while he is eating. The Maasai only eat meat, milk and drink hot blood-but they do not eat any wild game.
A boy is cirumsized at about age 16. If he cries out he cannot get married because it means he is not a man. Women used to be circumcised (clitorectomy) also but Francis says that has stopped in the Maasai tribe.
The man can have more than one wife. Some believe if the live in a house they will get sick so they live in the bush and make fire with sticks. They use no medicine or hospitals. If they die they just throw them in the bush, Francis says.
They make a beer called Hadsa out of honey. They sleep on the skin of an animal. They eat birds and baboons. The Chief wears the skin of a baboon,. Children go to school from age 7 through 7th grade by law in Tanzania. If they are not in school there is trouble, Francis says. The 122 tribes in Tanzania are allowed to intermarry and that is why we are not fighting each other, Francis says. Tribes are Christian, Muslim and Animist. They can marry Whites, Francis says.
Tags: African Continent, Culture, Excursions, Minority Groups, Safari, Tanzania
Zoe