Masai
The Masai is a group of a
people and language of Southern Kenya and Tanzania.
Their language belongs to the Nilo-Namitic language group. Originally
Masai were warriors and cattle-herders. Milk and blood of their cattle used to form the
traditional diet of the Masai.
According to Masai legend Ngai, the husband of the moon and creator of
the world, living on Kilimanjaro mountain, created Masai. The Masai
belived that after Ngai created all the cattle of the world for them to make their living.
So they justified cattle raids on the terrorized neighbours reclaiming their God-given
posessions.
The Masai migrated from the Upper Nile in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. They divided on those traditionally cultivated crops like the Arusha
clan ("agricultural" Masai), others consuming game like the Samburu
and the Baraguya clans and those living solely off the products of
domestic animals, the "pastoral" or "proper" Masai.
The Masai use cattle manure for buiding small rectangular huts which are arranged in a
circle and surrounded by a thorn fence to protect stock from predators.
The first European to reach then Masailand
was Joseph Thomson in 1883.
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