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Maasai

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Women chant lullabies and hum songs to their sons. Singing and dancing in Maasai culture is viewed as an act of flirting. They use instruments such as drums and horns ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Maasai


1
Maasai
  • By Dkota Barrios

2
LOCATION
  • Kenya and Northern Tanzania
  • Along the Great Rift Valley
  • Migrated from Nile Valley Region in 1500s
  • Residence near many game parks of East Africa

3
LITERATURE
  • Language Maa
  • Maa is a member of the Nilo-Saharan language
    family
  • Related to Dink and Nuer
  • All are educated in Swahili and English
  • Very few learn how to read, for education is
    secondary to cultural duties

4
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5
HISTORY
  • In the 1800s, their population was devistated
    due to years of drought and small pox epidemic.
  • In 1911, Maasai lands in Kenya were reduced by
    60 when the British evicted them to make more
    room for settler ranches.
  • This confined the Maasai to present day Kajiado
    and Narok districts.
  • Maasai lands were further enclosed for the
    creation of game parks.

6
HISTORY continued
  • After their population was devastated, the Kenyan
    government took 2/3 of their land.
  • After independence, Tanzania implemented a
    socialist policy of villagization in Maasai
    areas.
  • This meant that people were physically resettled
    into bomas, a circular cluster of homes.
  • In 1976, the government officially resettled the
    Maasai in Monduli and gave them a maximum of 3
    acres of land to each for farming.

7
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8
CLIMATE
  • East Africas climate averages 70-90 degrees.
  • December-March are the warm/dry months
  • April-May produce the most rain
  • June-September are the cooler months

9
RESOURCES
  • Use rocks and sticks as tools
  • Use cattle dung as cement for the homes
  • Use wooden, hand made spears for hunting
  • Use animal bones for tools and accessories such
    as earings

10
ECONOMIC LIFESTYLE
  • Indigenous pastoral society
  • Raising their cattle is the most important thing
    to their society
  • Live in desert areas
  • Native

11
DECLINE STATUS
  • Much of their land has been taken by the Kenyan
    government
  • Small pox wiped out a lot of their population
  • As well as drought
  • Only 400,000 Maasai left

12
MIGRATION
  • They migrated from the Nile Valley region to The
    Great Rift Valley in Kenya
  • They owned a lot of land until the government
    kicked them out
  • They follow wherever the cattle migrate to

13
GOVERNMENT
  • The elders make up the rules
  • court of elders
  • Killing is legal, no punishment
  • In the morning, everybody in the village meets up
    and the elders tell everybody the schedule for
    the day
  • The elders assign jobs and decide who will marry
    who

14
CLOTHING
  • Red is their favorite color to wear
  • Blue, black, striped, and checkered cloth are
    often worn
  • They used to use animal hide as clothing, but
    replaced that with cloth
  • SHUKA is the word for sheets wrapped around the
    body.
  • Shukas are usually red
  • They wear sandals made of cow hide, but more
    often are bare foot
  • Shukas are usually dressed with beaded earrings

15
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16
MUSIC
  • Consists of a vocalist singing harmonies while a
    leader sings melodies
  • Women chant lullabies and hum songs to their sons
  • Singing and dancing in Maasai culture is viewed
    as an act of flirting
  • They use instruments such as drums and horns

17
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18
ART
  • Women wear many forms of beaded ornaments in
    their earlobes
  • Thorns, twigs, stones, and tusks are used as
    piercings
  • Women spend lots of time beading jewelry for
    friends and family

19
CUSTOMS
  • Marriages are arranged by the elders without
    consulting the bride or her family
  • Polygyny is an ideal
  • Most women marry older men
  • They can only marry one time
  • Patriarchal fathers control is absolute
  • On the day of a wedding, the bride is alocated a
    herd of cattle
  • When the parents die, the oldest son inherits the
    residue of fathers cattle

20
CUSTOMS continued
  • Boys are trained to be warriors by father,
    uncles, and older brothers
  • A girls childhood is usually dominated by a
    strict avoidance, even fear, of her father

21
RELIGION
  • Ngai means God (also sky)
  • Ngai is not male nor female
  • Ngai is the creator of everything and owned all
    the cattle that Maasai have
  • Ngai sent the Maasai their cattle
  • When sun shines, they believe it is Ngai

22
EDUCATION
  • Maasai boys are forced to choose between
    secondary school and cultural education (becoming
    a warrior)
  • Girls are not allowed to attend school they
    spend their time learning their household duties
  • Most young boys choose to become a warrior than
    go to school

23
RELATIONSHIPS
  • Girls get married at young age, usually a few
    days after they hit puberty
  • Girls are always married to older men who usually
    have other wives
  • Father has all control
  • Maasai society is organized around age-sets.
  • 5 Boy sets boys, warriors (morans), junior
    elders, senior elders, elders.
  • 3 Girl sets girl (ndito), woman (yeyo), koko,
    (grandmother).

24
RELATIONSHIPS continued
  • After a girl goes through puberty she becomes a
    woman
  • After a woman has 4 healthy babies, she becomes a
    koko
  • Most married women become widows because her
    husband was so much older than she

25
CULTURE
  • The Maasai occupy a total of 160,000 square
    kilometers of land
  • Maasai society is comprised of 16 sections
  • They are a Nilotic ethnic group which means they
    are inhabitants of the Nile region
  • They are semi-nomadic which means they move
    usually following the route of the cattle
  • Women are circumsized right after puberty and
    right before marriage

26
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27
Maasai Today
  • Are famous for their fearsome reputation as
    warriors and cattle-rustlers
  • Tourists can actually take a safari tour through
    parts of their village
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