Among all villages we visited, the social aspects of the gender division were the most obvious. During our visits warriors men were accompanying us in a distinct group, while women sang for us in another distinct group. Goat roasting and bull bleeding ceremonies were held by warriors only, women were not allowed. Maasai women eat separately from men.
Maasai villages are usually polygamous. When a woman marries, she doesn’t just marry her husband, but his entire age group as well. Traditionally, a man was expected to give up his bed to a visiting male guest. This custom is now disappearing, but it is not uncommon for the woman of the house to join the guest in bed, if she so desires. Despite being forbidden by Kenyan and Tanzanian legislation, female genital circumcision has long been widespread in the Maasai culture. But thanks to activist campaigning this practice is now decreasing, substituted by a symbolic cutting, with songs and dances rather than blades. The main role of Maasai women is to have children, who are introduced to raising cattle as soon as they’re able to walk. Due to high infant mortality in the past, babies are not named until they reach three months of age.
By the mid-19th century Maasai territory was at its largest, extending over pretty much the entirety of modern-day Kenya and half of Tanzania. The period between 1883 and 1902 is the darkest time in Maasai history. It’s known in the Maa language as emutai, meaning to wipe out. It is estimated that up to 60% of the Maasai people lost their lives during this period as a result of smallpox, drought, and starvation, after an animal disease known as rinderpest killed almost all of their cattle. In the early 20th century, vast sections of the Maasai land were turned into national parks and wildlife reserves. The Maasai, understandably, were not pleased. Around the same time, the government started pressuring the Maasai to give up their traditional semi-nomadic herder lifestyle in favor of farming and a more sedentary lifestyle. To this day, a large percentage of the Maasai people have resisted government pressure to settle in permanent homes, distancing themselves from urban areas and continuing to practice a lifestyle that has remained unchanged for centuries.
