My Chosen Culture: African Tribes

In Africa, tribes are a source of unity and pride in a community for many Africans.  Some well-known tribes in Africa are the Ashanti, Bemba, Fulani, Maasai, Samburu and Zulu tribes.  For my chosen culture I will be focusing on the Maasai people of East Africa.

The Maasai people have a rough population of 1.5 million people, spread across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.  It is the longest preserved culture in Africa, making it popular and intriguing to tourists.  Despite many western influences, the Maasai people have kept to their traditions.

Maasai people live in Kraals that are arranged in a circular manner with fencing surround them, in order to prevent lions from attacking their cattle.  Within the tribe everyone has their different responsibilities. Women are responsible to making homes, supplying water, collecting firewood and cooking for the family, warriors are in charge of the security of the Kraal, whilst boys are responsible for herding the livestock and looking after them.  Warriors are an important source of pride in the Maasai tribe.  "To be a Maasai is to be born into one of the world's great warrior cultures".  Boys are brought up to learn the responsibilities of becoming a man and a warrior.

Traditional dress for the Maasai people is animal skins, however today they wear red sheets and lots of beaded jewellery around their necks and arms.

Women tend to shave their heads, and warriors are the only members of the tribe to wear their hair long, weaved into thin braided strands.  Within Maasai culture, a shaved head is the symbol of a fresh start, as one is passing through life's chapters.

Two days before a boys circumcision, their heads will be shaved but after that they can begin to grow it.  When it is growing they spend a lot of time styling it, dressing it with animal fat and parting it across the top of the head at the ears.  The hair is then plaited and parted into small sections being brought forwards onto the head.  These plaits may hang loose, or they may be tied together.

Maasai People
Available: http://www.naturalhairjourney.com/blog/2011/02/black-hair-history-moment-masai-male-hair-obession.html

Maasai warriors jumping
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people

References:
- Anon. (n.d.). Tribes. Available: http://www.africanculturalcenter.org/5_1tribes.html. Last accessed 9th Oct 2014.
- Anon. (n.d.). The Maasai People. Available: http://www.maasai-association.org/maasai.html. Last accessed 9th Oct 2014.
- Anon. (2014). African People & Culture. Available: http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/. Last accessed 9th Oct 2014.
- Anon. (2014). The Maasai Tribe. Available: http://www.kenya-information-guide.com/maasai-tribe.html. Last accessed 9th Oct 2014.
- Anon. (2014). Maasai People. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people#Hair. Last accessed 9th Oct 2014.