Who are the Maasai in Kenya?

The Maasai are an African tribe living in southern Kenya. The Maasai love and care for their livestock. Maasai women perform multiple tasks but they also have time to get pretty. With the creation of Amboseli National Park the government relocated them at a location nearby.

Also to know is, how many Maasai are there in Kenya?

1 million Maasai people

Also Know, where did the Maasai tribe originated from? Maasai History. According to the tribe's own oral history, the Maasai originated north of Lake Turkana (north-west Kenya) in the lower Nile Valley. They began migrating south in the 15th century and arrived in the long trunk of land stretching across central Tanzania and Northern Kenya during the 17th and 18 century.

Also to know, what do the Maasai believe in?

The Maasai belief system is monotheistic. The deity is called Engai and has a dual nature—both benevolent and vengeful. The most important figure in the Maasai religion is the laibon, a kind of priest and shaman, whose role traditionally includes healing, divination, and prophecy.

What do Maasai men do?

For a long time, the Maasai men have been the ones hunting, taking care of their livestock, and protecting their homes and communities from enemies. They fence their villages in a circular “Enkang” (fence) that protects their families and cattle at night from wild animals.

37 Related Question Answers Found

Why do Maasai drink blood?

The Maasai, an ethnic group of semi-nomadic people who inhabit in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, drink cow blood on special occasions - circumcision of a child, the birth of a baby and on the occasion of a girl's marriage. It also is given to drunken elders to alleviate intoxication and hangover.

How long do Maasai people live?

The Maasai number around 37,000. Life expectancy in Tanzania is 42 for men and 44 for women.

What is the jumping dance of Maasai called?

adumu

What clothes do the Maasai wear?

However, red is a favored colour. Blue, black, striped, and checkered cloth are also worn, as are multicolored African designs. The Maasai began to replace animal skin, calf hides and sheep skin, with commercial cotton cloth in the 1960s. Shúkà is the Maa word for sheets traditionally worn wrapped around the body.

Which two are the largest cash crops in Kenya?

Kenyan agriculture accounts for 65 percent of the country's export earnings. The cash crops that drive these earnings include coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, sisal, pyrethrum, cashew nuts, and horticulture.

Are the Maasai tall?

#3 The Maasai belong to the tallest people in the world

They are the tallest people on earth but the Maasai do get very close. With their long limbs, they belong to the tallest people of Africa. It's because of their rich calcium diet that they are so tall. They seem taller because of their world famous high jumps.

What do the Maasai eat today?

The traditional Maasai diet consists of six basic foods: milk, meat, fat, blood, honey, and tree bark. Both fresh and curdled milk are drunk. Fresh milk is drunk in a calabash (gourd) and is sometimes mixed with fresh cattle blood. Blood is also boiled and used in cooking or drinks, accompanied with ugali (monono).

What language is spoken by the Maasai?

Maasai (Masai) or Maa (English: /ˈm?ːsa?/; autonym: ?l Maa) is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000.

Where do the Maasai get their clothes?

These days, however, shuka cloth is usually manufactured in Dar es Salaam and even in China, bearing text such as “The Original Maasai Shuka” on the plastic packaging. Ironically, the Maasai really do buy and wear shukas made in China, packaged in plastic.

How do the Maasai traditionally measure wealth?

Traditionally, the Maasai measure a man's wealth in terms of cattle and children rather than money - a herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more children the better. The main staple to Maasai life and culture is cattle. For hundreds of years the Maasai have lived sustainably through grazing their herds.

How tall are the Maasai people?

They are considered one of the tallest people in the world with average height of 6 ft 3 inches according to some reports. Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, and raw blood from cattle.

What happens to the body when a Maasai dies?

The Maasai do not believe as an after life. Most dead bodies are simply thrown to the wild forests for scavengers. Burials are believed to harm the soil and is reserved only for some chiefs. In fact, in some occasions, the dead would be smeared with fat so as to easily attract wild animals to eat the bodies.

Why do Masai jump?

This is the essence of the signature Maasai adamu, or jumping dance. A rising beat, sweeping emotion into its path. A universal rhythm. For the Maasai, theirs is a celebration to mark the rite of passage, to welcome young men to the next stage of their lives.

How do Maasai kill lions?

Historically the Maasai would use deadly force to protect their herds, often heading out in revenge parties to hunt and kill lions. There were ritual killings also, known as "Ala-mayo." Killing a lion, a symbol of strength and power, was a rite of passage for Maasai initiates into "Morani," the warrior class.

What does the name Masai mean?

Masai. 15% Gender: Female Meaning of Masai: "expected savior or deliverer" Origin of Masai: Aramaic.

What are Maasai traditions?

They are one of the very few tribes who have retained most of their traditions, lifestyle and lore. Unlike many other tribes in Kenya, the Maasai are semi-nomadic and pastoral: they live by herding cattle and goats. The Maasai have not fared well in modern Africa.

What animals do the Maasai tribe keep?

Instead, meat is obtained from large herds of sheep and goats (around 150-200 per family) which the Maasai also keep. Game meat (including fish) is taboo, although eland and buffalo meat is allowed, as they are considered 'wild cattle'.