MASAI

also spelled Maasai, nomadic pastoralists of East Africa. Masai is essentially a linguistic term, referring to speakers of this Eastern Sudanic language (sometimes called Maa) of the Chari-Nile branch of the Nilo-Saharan family. These include the pastoral Masai who range along the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania, the Samburu of Kenya, and the semipastoral Arusha and Baraguyu (or Kwafi) of Tanzania. The pastoral Masai are fully nomadic, wandering in bands throughout the year and subsisting almost entirely on the meat, blood, and milk of their herds. Their kraal, consisting of a large circular thornbush fence around a ring of mud-dung houses, holds four to eight families and their herds. Polygyny is common among older men; wife-lending occurs between men of the same age-set. Marriage involves a substantial bride-price in livestock. The Masai have a number of patrilineal clans grouped into two classes, or moieties. The basic institution of social integration, however, is the system of age-sets. Under this system, groups of the same age are initiated (circumcised) into adult life during the same open-initiation period; the age-class thus formed is a permanent grouping, lasting the life of its members. They move up through a hierarchy of grades, each lasting approximately 15 years, including those of junior warriors, senior warriors, and junior elders, until they become senior elders authorized to make decisions for the tribe. Masai society is remarkably egalitarian; slaves have never been kept. Between the ages of about 14 and 30, young men are traditionally known as morans. During this life stage they live in isolation in the bush, learning tribal customs and developing strength, courage, and endurancetraits for which Masai warriors are noted throughout the world. Ceremonial events are directed by a ritual expert (oloiboni) who, although he has no political power, is religious head of his people. The Kenyan and Tanzanian governments are encouraging the Masai to make permanent agricultural settlements and to give up moranism as a way of life, in favour of formal education and greater assimilation.