Maasai Society

One of the most important features of Maasai culture is their social structure, which is based on age.

An age set of Maasai boys pass through a number of transitions throughout life, the very first of which is the circumcision rite. There are four general classes: junior warrior, senior warrior, junior elder and senior elder.

Each stage of this social system is characterised by certain dress, rights and responsibilities.

The newly-initiated warriors, or Moran, are the most important group as they are charged with defending the cattle.

Maasai society is patriarchal and women for the most part play quite a subservient role. Maasai marriages are arranged by the elders and polygamy is accepted and widely practised. Elders meet to deliberate on important issues but ultimately the wellbeing of the tribe's cattle always comes first.

Maasai women can only marry once in their lifetime. The men however may have more than one wife (if they have enough cows, they may have more than one at a time).

Diet

Traditionally, Maasai do not hunt, eat fish or vegetables; they feed almost exclusively off their cattle. A Maasai's main diet consists mainly of meat, milk and blood from cattle.

Cows are more valuable to the Maasai alive, and so are only slaughtered on very special occasions. Meat and milk are never eaten on the same day as the Maasai believe that feeding of the living and the dead at the same time insults their cattle.

Sheep and goats also play an important role in Maasai culture.

Conservation

The indigenous Maasai people had been grazing their cattle on the Serengeti plains for more than 200 years when Steward Edward White first recorded having reached it in 1913.

The Serengeti park was established by Tanzania's German colonial masters in the 1920s, and made a national park in 1951 by the English administration. In a controversial event, the park's Maasai inhabitants were moved to the Ngorongoro highlands when the park was gazetted - many people claimed the colonial administration used coercion and deceit to effect the relocation.

Although the Maasai are not allowed to graze their cattle in the Serengeti National Park, they have been granted grazing rights in the surrounding reserves.

The Maasai generally observe the laws set by foreign powers, but when times become tough on their precious cattle, they tend to disregard the laws of everyone but Engai Narok - the benevolent black god - who made them owners of all the world's cattle. At times like this the enterprising pastoralists will find their way into the park.

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