The Maasai Age-Grade System
"Without war, how shall we know the courageous from the cowardly?" (Massek 1974: 7-8). This quote comes from a story in a book of Maasai wisdom and proverbs. It is the story of an elder man taking his son to the Mountain of God to tell him the ways of the people of the Maa. He professes to his son the changes taking place in Maasai culture and their loss of prominence throughout the land. He tells him how the Maasai used to rule from the Northern Mountain of Gikuyu to the "very gates of Mombasa" (Massek 1974: 7). The father says that the warriors of today are no better then women, that without war there is no way to distinguish who the brave and courageous are among the Maasai. The father says that in these times - the present - any boy may put the sign of the courageous on his shield and go unchallenged by his age-group, and that now the Maasai no longer fight other cultures for their rights and property but are passive compared to the times of war and fighting that he used to know. Concluding his story, the father says "I say, I shall die as a Maasai, but I have no certainty for my children" (Massek 1974: 8). The preceding story is one example of prevalent change in Maasai culture, a change in age-grade import
This example of Maasai history and tradition relating directly to the age-grade system demonstrates an important reason, although indirect, why the system is important in relation to Maasai culture. "Now that you are an elder drop your weapons and use your head and wisdom instead" (Saitoti 1980: 181). The highest achievement in the Maasai age-grade system, reaching the status of elder is a proud time for any adult male. Marriage is a great responsibility of the new junior elder, as he approaches this status while he is still a senior warrior, he pays great attention to his prospective father-in-law in order to demonstrate his great desire to marry his daughter. The elders must settle down and begin a family. It is their responsibility to continue the cycle of life for the Maasai, a direct link to the community's survival. The Maasai idea of age is much different from our own; they reckon time by 'ages' or periods of approximately seven and a half years (Hollis 1971: 261). The Maasai idea of age is how they distinguish people amongst their respective age grades. For example, children are not all circumcised together, they are divided into ages because they do not all share the same amount of years. As they reach puberty they are circumcised in groups which separates them in society by what tasks they will perform and what positions they will hold in the tribe. This separation of ages continues linearly to progress the tradition of different groups of men performing different services vital to the group as a whole. This age-grade system is vital to the preservation of the Maasai in both the cultural respect and in regards to the survival of the Maasai. The warriors have the greatest physical responsibility to the community, they bring in food for survival, protect the stock, and capture cattle for rituals (Saitoti 1980: 109). The youth which are taught all the responsibilities of an adult advance to the next grade of warrior and begin their work as a full fledged adult. Bravery is one of the most important virtues of a Maasai warrior. This virtue goes hand in hand with some of their greatest responsibilities, including the protection of the community from any threats whatsoever as well as raiding other kraals to expand the stock of their own community. The formation of localized age-group companies or communities is the basis for establishing new age-sets or ages (Talle 1998: 93). These companies are composed of ilmoran from the same locality or demographic region who spend their time in this age-grade together. This organization of age sets and grades constitutes the basic structure of the future decision-making body of the community, in other words, these groups are the foundation of Maasai politics. This form of traditional government or leadership is essential in Maasai culture, this organization also provides order and continuity throughout the community. A change which is taking place that disrupts the age-grade system is the more recent switch of Maasai boys and girls from learning internally from parents and elders to formal education (Sindiga 1996: 84). For men, this threatens the practice of warrior hood. The period of time that men are in the ilmoran has already been drastically shortened by this change, and negative effects on the Maasai appear. If the youth do not remain among the community for their education they do not advance through the age-grade system in the traditional way of the Maasai and many of their responsibilities are overlooked. This includes cattle, marriage, and the ceremonies which are associated with circumcision and other age-grade system rituals are overlook
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Approximate Word count = 2448
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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