Facts…. - maassai tribes are increasingly rarely because they lead a very hard life! - maassai is people usually carnivorous and eat raw meat because they think it is much better even if it is tasty! - maassai families are very numerous, and they have at - least 4 children - Maassai of many rituals and traditions, which today and observe them! - -during days little children are kept in some well-constructed of twigs and thorns without having any contact with the outside! - Maassai men are very industrious, they work very hard to ensure the family needed food! - Since the birth children are trimmed to no longer have hair. - their homes are very uncomfortable, being composed of straw, paper, cardboard etc.. - this project can be viewed on your syte

Hy! My name is ZINKALIGANA and I make part from Maassai Tribe and today I will present you the rituals from my village HAMASU in the state America. Today, I present a way of life the maassai but it’s the rites of passage.

The first morning when I woke up I heard maassai with two adults who said:” "It takes one day to destroy a house but to build a new one will take months, perhaps years. If we destroy our way of life to construct a new one, it will take thousands of years." Shortly after there was a small discussion between maassai.

In the tribe of Maassai, each ritual transition between age-sets and age-groups is a step toward old age and metaphorically a step toward God. The critical event in each ceremony is the sharing of meat, which brings all participants closer to God.

When children are young, they usually stay with in the Enkang, a form of enclosure formed by a fence of thorny plants which protect the tribe and their cattle from predators and other tribes. Here, the children tend the family herd.

On the day I first took part in the initiation of boys……

The first boys initiation is Enkipaata (pre-circumcision ceremony), and is organized by the fathers of the new-age set. Each twelve to fifteen years a new age-set is initiated together. Boys travel throughout their region for about four months announcing the new age-set. The day before the ceremony, boys must sleep outside in the forest. As dawn approaches, the young warriors run to the homestead. During the ceremony, boys dress in loose clothing and dance non-stop throughout the day. This ceremony is the transition into a new age-set. After this, boys are ready to be circumcised and to take charge of warriorhood. Every boy wants to be initiated as early as possible and before anyone else. The second and most important initiation is Emuratare, the circumcision. Such initiation elevates an individual from childhood to the status of adulthood. A boy will prove himself to the community that he is ready to be initiated by exhibiting signs of a grown man, such as carrying a heavy spear, herding large herd of livestock, bringing cattle back home at dusk, traveling by himself at night to visit his friends, etc. A few days before the operation, a boy must herd cattle for seven full days. On the eighth day, he is circumcised. Before the operation, boys must stand outside in the cold weather and receive a cold shower to cleanse themselves of past sins. As he moves towards the location of the operation, his friends, age mates and male members of the family shout encouragement along with nasty looks and sometimes threats.

The next initiation is Enkang oo-nkiri (meat ceremony/initiation camp). This is performed in a chosen camp that consists of between ten and twenty houses. The meat ceremony allows warriors to eat meat that has been prepared by women of the homestead and they are permitted to eat alone. A specially chosen bull is slaughtered for the ceremony. At the end of the meat ceremony, men and women fight each other for specially roasted meat. Warriors who violated their age-set taboos and laws are punished before this event takes place.

The festivitation proceed around a special village built by the women from clay, straw, branches and cow dung because in these houses I lived with the anothers warriors a few years, at distance from al the community.

The Maasai females are responsible for building and taking care of their family's home. They also take care of the children, milk the cows, collect firewood, and get water (average distance to travel for water is around 30 kilometers). Women are responsible for picking and cleaning gourds to make containers which they decorate with leather and beads. These containers are used to store milk, blood, water, honey and cornmeal.

They were little information about Maassai hope you like it!