Rites of Passage of the Maasai Community of Kenya - Research Paper Example

Rites of Passage of the Maasai Community of Kenya 1. Introduction Anthropology has grown enormously and its concerns are far wider than pre-conceptions about the study of primitive people. Anthropology involves ethnography, as well as studying the lives of different people in different cultural and social settings. This research will undertake a detailed study of the lives of the Maasai community and especially in their rites of passage in the post colonial period. 2. Maasai Community of Kenya (Post-Colonial Period) The Maasai are the one of Kenya’s best known cultures. These tribal people are directly related to the Turkana of western-central Kenya. Oppong J. and Oppong E. point out that “they are a traditional pastoral people who are semi- nomadic and who practice a communal system of sharing with one another” (61). Today, their way of life is being threatened and is changing every minute. Large areas of their grazing land are today included in Kenya’s national parks. They consider this a threat because according to their traditions, no land should be enclosed. Rather, it should be owned communally and nobody ought to be denied access to resources such as water and land. Their diet is comprised of meat, milk, and blood from cattle. They hold the belief that utilizing the land for crop farming is a crime against nature. Once one cultivates the land, its suitability for grazing is lost. But more recently, the Maasai have moved from this belief and changed to being “dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize meal, rice, potatoes, and cabbage” (Oppong J. and Oppong E. 61) (which they have always believed is goat leaves). 3. Rites of Passage of the Maasai Community Even with the changes that occur in the day to day activities of the Maasai community, a lot has not changed. The rites of passage are still the same, since only a few have changed and not completely, for example, the marriage rite and circumcision among the girls. Most of the important rites occur between birth and death. The Maasai community is full of ceremonies and celebrations. According to Oppong J. and Oppong E., “every ceremony is a new life, they are rites of passage and every Maasai child is anxious to meet these stages of life” (62). These rites of passage concern men more, while women initiations focus on circumcision and marriage, though circumcision is being eroded with time. Unlike the men, women have no age-sets, and are hence recognized by those of their husbands (Oppong J. and Oppong E. 63). The following are the rites of passage among the Maasai: Enkipata (pre-circumcision ceremony) This ceremony is organized by fathers of the new age-set. The boys in this age-set are aged between 14 and16 years. The boys usually travel across their section of land for about four months, declaring the formation of the new-age set. A group of elders guiding the formation of the new age-set usually accompany the boys. In order to initiate the boys away from the rest of the families, thirty to forty houses are built for this purpose (Maasai Association. “Maasai Ceremonies and Rituals”). The location of the houses for the initiation ceremony is usually chosen by the Maasai prophet. Emuratta (circumcision) This is the most important rite of passage among the Maasai community. Circumcision was for both boys and girls according to culture, though in this century, girls do not undergo it. Circumcision takes the boys to the other stage of manhood. This initiation is performed shortly after puberty. The actual process takes place shortly prior to sunrise where cold water is poured on the boy to make him numb. The process is performed by an elder who has experience in this job. During the process, the boy must be very brave because the process is not pleasant and there are no pain relief drugs, such as anesthesia. No boy is allowed to flinch an eye because one is considered a coward, which is not a good trait for the young man. The healing process takes three to four months, and the young men remain in black cloths for a period of four to eight months. After circumcision, the young men are considered warriors, and thus resume responsibility of ensuring security in their territory. The warriors are kept in a camp known as Emanyatta, which comprises a total number of 20 to40 houses selected by the warriors (Maasai Association. “Maasai Ceremonies and Rituals”). The camp serves the role of keeping the young men who are of the same age set together as they secure their territory by being its military force. They spend up to ten years in this camp before the next rite (Maasai Association. “Maasai Ceremonies and Rituals”). Enkiama (Marriage) Marriage is an important rite of passage in the life of the Maasai. It not only brings the two families together, but also controls the distribution of cattle. Cattle are the chief item of wealth in the bride wealth negotiation. Men marry when they have acquired the elder status, while the women get married when they have been initiated, thus women are usually younger. A man declares his interest to a certain girl through gifts of livestock to the girl’s family. If his offer is rejected, the gifts are supposed to be returned. The marriage ceremony itself consists of a blessing, the woman haves her head shaved and wears an adornment of beads, while a toast of honey beer is shared in the ceremony. After the ceremony, the bride leaves with her husband. This marriage ceremony has been supplemented with the church weddings that take place in churches today, where we find that the two couple now passes through the normal initiation of a church wedding (Hamon and Ingoldsby 105). Orngesherr (junior elder initiation) This is the last rite of passage and marks the status of a junior elder. It is conducted in a special camp that contains twenty or more houses. During this ceremony, every elder is given a chair to sit on and his wife shaves his hair. If the man has more than one wife, the first wife has the responsibility of shaving the husband. The woman stays part of the man’s life wherever he goes till it is broken or if he dies. Incase of his death, the man’s eldest son takes the chair. After this last ceremony, the man becomes an elder, but until he attains the age of 35 years, the young elder receives advice from his father (Maasai Association. “Maasai Ceremonies and Rituals”). Works Cited Hamon, Raeann R and Bron B. Ingoldsby. Mate Selection across Cultures. California: Sage Publications, Inc, 2003. Print. Maasai Association. “Maasai Ceremonies and Rituals”. n.d. Web. 22 July 2013. Oppong, J. R. and Esther D. Oppong. Kenya. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, LLC, 2009. Print. Read More