Maasai Cultural Safari - Day 1

4 of us did the Maasai cultural safari with Kesuma in his village last weekend, Fri Aug 10 – Sat Aug 11. When I took the college course on tribal peoples that focused on the Maasai, I was fascinated but it all seemed so distant, just something you see in National Geographic or on the Discovery Channel. Being such a small group made the experience very intimate, and we struck gold when we happened to come on the day of a ceremony for a man being elected a leader of his clan. None of Kesuma’s past safaris have had such luck, and it was absolutely amazing. The moment we stepped out of the van, we were greeting by a group of singing and dancing women who were eager for us to join them. Kesuma brought us to greet them, told us he’d be nearby the entire time, and threw us into the mix. They put necklaces on us and held our hands as we filed in line with them in a dancing procession toward the main celebration area where maybe 300 people were gathered, Maasai men, women, and children of all ages. The women held our hands as we made our way toward a massive circle of dancing and singing. We were excitedly welcome by everyone and were definitely a major attraction. I think there was a lot of mutual fascination. There were a few drunk elder men (it was a party, after all), one of whom wanted to just keep touching my face, but some of the warriors and the women took extreme care of us and swiftly reprimanded any such behavior. The experience was surreal, and I will never forget it. We left the celebration with some women and girls who led us to the MWCS classroom, which is a small and modest structure with benches and a small chalkboard inside. We stood outside and danced more with the women and learned through translation from Kesuma about their songs. Most of the Maasai are illiterate and have no access to any sort mass media, so they create songs in order to remember events. Kesuma doesn’t know his actual age, and when he went to get a passport and was asked for his birth date, he told them he was born on the day of an eclipse, an English word he did not recall when he related the story to us so he may also have explained the scenario of the sun being hidden at the passport office. They told him there were lots of eclipses and he had to just pick a birthday, so for all intents and purposes he is 27 years old.

Kesuma dragged us away from dancing with the women, telling us they would keep us there all night long if they could, and took us inside the classroom where we had dinner. Maurien, Kesuma’s secretary at Kitumusote who I’ve been working with, is the cook for the Maasai Cultural Safaris, and the food was fantastic. Maurien is one of the most cheerful people I’ve met here and is always laughing. She is 25 years old and is getting married August 30. She invited me to her wedding, which I would have loved to attend but will unfortunately already have left Arusha. After the meal came my favorite part – the warriors dancing. It was too dark for pictures or video, but the sound alone was stunning. The warriors jump and make these powerful “growling” (I’m struggling for an appropriate word) sounds in unison. As with the women’s songs, there is a song leader or creator who sings what I would call verses, and then the group responds in chorus. The chorus for the warriors is the growling. It is intense and strong and masculine, exactly as a warrior should be. A man’s official induction to warrior-hood comes in the form of his circumcision, which is done without any kind of anesthetic. Each young man takes classes leading up to his operation to teach him how not to cry as crying is the ultimate failure and means you are not a warrior but a woman.

When the warriors left us, an elder man came in to talk to us about how we views the differences between the “old” Maasai and the “new”. The Maasai are not farmers but are trying to learn more about agriculture today in order to survive. He explained through Kesuma that he found it strange that people would eat grass like cows, but he can see the benefits of it and agrees that education is a good thing. Kesuma is very much about exchange, and the man asked us questions about how globalization is affecting us where we live. We talked about how chains and franchises are somewhat taking the uniqueness out of American towns and cities, although there are efforts in some places to preserve character and history. We also mentioned that technology has its ups and downs and that although we have access to things we did not before, there seems to be less direct personal communication. We all agreed that there are benefits that must be carefully balanced with consequences, in both of our societies.

After a very restful night in a tent on the side of the mountain guarded all night by warriors, we woke up early to witness a ceremonial goat slaughter...and I'm running out of batteries so I'll save that for next time! I hope to post more pictures soon too, but if I don't get the chance here I promise to do so once I'm home. Those I will have but I want to get these thoughts out while they're fresh in my head.