There is so much to explain about the Masai people that I could not explain it here- an internet search would be better anyway if your interested. However, having worked with these amazing people, or rather for them by doing the conservation work, we were all very grateful to have the opportunity to visit the nearby village one afternoon, escorted by James.
As we approached, the women were dancing and singing, adorned in jewellery and brightly coloured Shuka some with children on their backs. As they danced and sang towards us, and greeted each of us volunteers individually. Welcome over, we were free to sit with the wives to talk (well, I didn't being a bloke), and go inside their dung and ash build houses).
I struggled to fit inside the narrow passageway onto the hut, all of which were uniform in size and arranged in a protective circle. Inside was a simple bed of dried animal skin on branches, a small fireplace in the center of the room, and a spare "bed". And that was it. I asked James why the houses were so small, and the answers simple- the Masai only tend to sleep in the hut, and do not share their beds with their married partners. (Sex is strictly for procreation, not recreation, apparently).
The children in the camp played a game of hide and seek, diving in and out of the houses, peeking and waving at us before running into another house while we sat with the elder Masai woman, who had an impressive ability to spit a good six feet away without breaking sentence.
James informed me that all the men were collecting relief food some miles away, so would visit us later. I asked why, and he informed me the rains have not come. As a result, there is no food for the cows, so the village may move again, having already been here for 12 years, a reasonably long time in Masai terms.
In the center of the village were circular areas marked by thick acacia-bush fences, used to keep out animals around most villages and camps we had seen . The centre of one was raised, by maybe 2 feet higher than the ground outside ring, and perfectly level.
"What are they?" I asked David.
"Pens, for the animals when they come back to the village" he replies.
"OK, so why is the centre of that one 2 foot high?"
"12 years of goat poo-poo!" he says with a grin.
Que photos of all the group, for no other reason that it was 2 foot of animal shit behind us.
When we had all exhausted our questions we returned to our camp.
Days later, the men had returned, this time coming to our camp to display their traditional singing and dancing.
As they approached, they were already singing, every man having his own vocal part in the group, like a very bassy "Mmmm-Mmmm", "Umpi-Umpi" and such like sounds, with a higher pitched soloist giving it the vocal. The women followed, chiming-in a high-pitched chorus-response to the males verses. All of them approached us, and we welcomed them as they did to us. I could smell man-tea (or a similar preparation) on all the man as they walked past, no doubt to fuel their dancing.
The men danced first, jumping higher and higher before landing with a thump that you could feel through the ground. They jumped high-real high! A particularly high jump would be congratulated with a clash of their sticks, much like blokes in a pub may clink beer-classes. Then it was the women's turn, which was a kind of up-and-down rhythmic shimmy, which custom dictates has to please their watching husband, or there would be "trouble"...
The Masai were a very impressive people, and the village at Rombo was amazing. In Amboseli, we found the Masai forever chasing the tourist shilling, sometimes outright begging. However, these Masai, so removed from the tourist trail shown little interest in material gain. It made me think long and hard about the positive and negative effects of tourism.
5 comments:
actually, maasai spend the entire day in the house.. there are always babies to care for, food & tea to cook, secret meetings & conversations..
and trust me, sex is for recreation.
women tend to sleep in the other bed because they always have children to care for and don't want to disturb the men and the spare bed is usually home to many visiting men anyway.
and the fire is for cooking.. not winter..
Thanks for your input!
It was the guys who took us to the village explained the living arrangements to me, so you must understand that I have taken their word as fact.
Thanks for your comment- any further information, and how you came to learn it would be more than welcome. If you like you can email me in-depth, or post here.
Best Wishes,
Grasshopper.
p.s I've removed the winter reference to the fire, even though Janes told me it was for cooking then- I did witness, on a number of occasions, the masai cooking outside rather then inside, so this explanation seemed to make sense to me.
i'm married to a maasai man from tanzania.
I see. To be fair, it was presented to us that it was the women who discouraged the men from "recreational sex". Of course, it was clear it still occured, from James telling us about the plant preperation which would terminate un-planned pregnancies, until the elders forbade it's use for this purpose. The theft of money from maasai men by certain ladies of the night was another tale indicating no matter where you are in the world, men will still be men...
Strange our maasia colleagues told us the house was not continually occupied- their reasons being (other than the "winter", which I took to mean the rains) most events and work took place outside. Unless they meant just in that village. In the "warrior village" the men seemed nearly always away and we only seen the women tending to the livestock. There were also very few babies- I remember only one, and a few children.
Either way, thank you again for your input. I wont change what I have written, as it is what was explained to me at the time. I think your comment corrects any errors in what I was told.
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