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
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
God Enkai, Ilpayiani Elders, Mombasa Massek, Ilmoran Warriors, Youth Meeta, Preservation History, age-grade system, , Survival Maasai, Maasai Saitoti, Mountain God, maasai culture, saitoti 1980, survival maasai, massek 1974, talle 1998, maasai society, maasai survival, maasai age-grade system, 1980 109, importance age-grade, saitoti 1980 109, age-grade system demonstrates, maasai culture respect, community saitoti 1980,
Approximate Word count = 2448
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
