The color of Maasai attire varies according to age and gender. After their circumcision, young men will wear black for several months. Older men usually wear red wraparounds, whereas women usually opt for checked, striped, or patterned pieces of cloth. Maasai beadwork is famous for its intricacy, and it is through beadwork that Maasai women express their position in the society. Natural materials such as clay, shells, and ivory were used before trading with the Europeans began in the 19th century. They were then replaced by colorful glass beads, which allow for more detailed beadwork and color patterns. Each of the colors used have a meaning: White symbolizes peace, blue is the color of water, and red is the symbol of warriors and bravery.
The Maasai stretch their earlobes using stone, wood, and bones. They usually wear beaded earrings on the stretched earlobe and smaller piercings on the top of the ear. Traditionally, both men and women stretched their earlobes, because long, stretched lobes were seen as a symbol of wisdom and respect. But now this custom is disappearing, especially among young men. Another type of body modification sometimes carried out by the Maasai people is tooth removal. The canine teeth are removed in early childhood as a remedy against diarrhea and vomiting, especially when they “stick out” on the upper jaw. In other cases, the two central lower teeth are removed to allow feeding in the event of tetanus or other diseases locking the jaw.
The piercing and stretching of earlobes is common among the Maasai as with other tribes, and both men and women wear metal hoops on their stretched earlobes. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe, and smaller piercings at the top of the ear. This belief and practice is not unique to the Maasai. In rural Kenya a group of 95 children aged between six months and two years were examined in 1991/92. 87% were found to have undergone the removal of one or more deciduous canine tooth buds. In an older age group (3–7 years of age), 72% of the 111 children examined exhibited missing mandibular or maxillary deciduous canines.
