The Maasai tribe is the most authentic ethnic tribe of Kenya. The Maasai tribe (or Masai) is a unique and popular tribe due to their long preserved culture. Despite education, civilization and western cultural influences, the Maasai people have clung to their traditional way of life, making them a symbol of Kenyan culture.
The warrior is of great importance as a source of pride in the Maasai culture. To be a Maasai is to be born into one of the world's last great warrior cultures. From boyhood to adulthood, young Maasai boys begin to learn the responsibilities of being a man (elder) and a warrior. The role of a warrior is to protect their animals from human and animal predators, to build kraals (Maasai homes) and to provide security to their families.
Through rituals and ceremonies, including circumcision, Maasai boys are guided and mentored by their fathers and other elders on how to become a warrior. Although they still live their carefree lives as boys - raiding cattle, participating in sports, and hunting - a Maasai boy must also learn all of the cultural practices, customary laws and responsibilities he'll require as an elder.
An elaborate ceremony - Eunoto - is usually performed to "graduate" the young man from their moran and carefree lifestyle to that of a warrior. Beginning life as a warrior means a young man can now settle down and start a family, acquire cattle and become a responsible elder. In his late years, the middle-aged warrior will be elevated to a senior and more responsible elder during the Olng'eshere ceremony. Traditionally, the Maasai rely on meat, milk and blood from cattle for protein and caloric needs. People drink blood on special occasions. It is given to a circumcised person (o/esipolioi), a woman who has given birth (entomononi) and the sick (oltamueyiai). Also, on a regular basis drunk elders (called ilamerak) use the blood to alleviate intoxication and hangovers. Blood is very rich in protein and is good for the immune system. However, its use in the traditional diet is waning due to the reduction of livestock numbers.
The pastoral Masai occupy the Narok and Kajiado districts of Kenya, and share the Olmaa language from which their name derives within Kenya with the Samburu and Ilchamus, and across the border in Tanzania with the Arusha and Baraguyu.
A fusion of Nilotic and Cushitic people, effected perhaps a millennium ago north-west of Lake Turkana, the Masai ascended the escarpment out of the Kerio Valley to spread in the ensuing centuries across the fertile grasslands of the Rift Valley.
A century ago, they had established a reputation as powerful and ferocious people; their warrior bands raided hundreds of miles into neighbouring territories to capture the cattle they coveted and to demand tribute from the trade caravan.
The basic economic and social unit is the enkang, a semi-permanent settlement of several families pasturing their stock together, perhaps ten to twenty huts surrounded by a thorn or leleshua fence into which the livestock are driven at night.