The Maasai Tribe are nomadic people that are native to Africa and today live in northern Tanzania and Kenya. Among the most notable African ethnic groups, the Maasai are well-known on a global scale due to their distinctive clothing, ceremonies, and customs, as well as their closeness to many East African game reserves.

The Masaai are also associated with Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater and are believed to have lived in the area for over 150 years, thus the main residents.

Facts about the People & Culture of Masaai in Kenya

The Masaai people speak the “Maa,” which is a member of the Nilotic Language family and related to the Dinka, Kalenjin, and the Nuer languages. Apart from the few who live in the villages, the Masaai people predominantly assimilated the national language of Kenya, Swahili, and, to a lesser extent, English.

As for the 2019 census, the Masaai population had risen to 1,189,522 compared to the 1989 census, where their numbers were 377,089.

The Masaai people in Kenya are remarkably hospitable and welcoming; this has seen much interest in their culture, with more tourists gaining interest in their cultural experience, where the travelers interact with them and participate in their traditions and lifestyle in return for a fee.

What is the culture of the Masaai?

The Masaai worship a single deity called Enkai on Engai with a dual nature; Engai Narok is benevolent and Engai Nanyokie is vegeful. The Masai society also has two pillars of totems: the Oodo Mongi, the red cow, and the Orok kiteng, the black cow.

Retired elders occasionally join the elder Maasai men, who decide most major matters for the Maasai tribes. The Maasai people, who follow a traditional way of life, essentially forego a formal funeral ceremony at the end of life, instead leaving their dead for scavengers to find. In the past, the Maasai reserved burial for only great chiefs, believing it to be harmful to the soil.

The primary source of food for the Masaai is their cattle. The Masaai also believe that the rain God Ngai entrusted the cattle to them when the earth and the sky split, and in their society, cattle is a primary measure of wealth. The Masaai also believe that a man who has plenty of cattle but not many children is considered to be poor, and vice versa.

Masaai Shelter

The Masaai people use readily available materials and indigenous technology to construct their shelters that are unusual and intriguing houses. Being pastoralists, the Masaai people design their houses primarily for people on the move, making them highly impermanent. Women primarily construct the circular or loaf-shaped Masaai houses.

The men typically build a protective Enkang fence around the Masai village to shield their cattle from wild animals at night.

Masaai religion

The Maasai people practice monotheism, and their God, known as Engai or Enkai, is primarily benevolent, manifesting himself in various colors based on his emotions. Said colors have precise meanings: black and dark blue mean that God is well-disposed towards men; red, on the other hand, is identified with God’s irritation.

Enkai manifests in two forms, which are Enkai-Narok, the black God, good and benevolent who is believed to bring prosperity and bring grass for cattle. Enkai-na-Nyokie, the Red God, vegeful, who brings famine and hunger, is found in the lightning that is identified in dry seasons. The Masaai have however assimilated Christianity in the last years, and most of them are Christians today.

Masaai Music and dance

The Masaai people’s music and dance are fascinating to watch. Apart from the large horns used in certain songs, the Masaai do not often use instruments while doing their music.

Vocalists make up a large portion of Masaai music; they sing rhythms rendered by a chorus, and the olaranyan, who typically leads and sings the melody, is the best singer of the song. In The Masaai, when olaranyani starts singing a line or title (namba) of a song, the group responds with one unanimous call in acknowledgment.

The beads that both the men and women wear also create a jingling sound themselves while the Masai jump and dance. Women recite lullabies and hum songs and sing music that praises their sons.

The Masaai Hair

Both the women and men shave their heads during the seasons of celebrating right passage, such as circumcision and marriage. The Masai believe that this act signifies a new beginning as they transition from one generation to the next. However, they allow the Masaai warriors to wear long hair, woven from thinly braided strands. The Masai children shave their heads clean. They also shave the young boys two days before circumcision.