MASAI TRIBESMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 January 1929, Page 10

MASAI TRIBESMEN

WAR DANCE FOR THE PRINCE.

When the Prince of Wales recently visited Nairobi, Kenya Colony, the Masai tribesmen entertained him with a war dance. Amid roaring war whoops the tribesmen, hidden behind their large shields, menacingly wielded their spears in a way which showed the Prince why explorers avoid Masai villages when the tribesmen are on the warpath. “Tho Masai are one of the fiercest tribes in Africa,” says a bulletin from the Washington headquarters of the National Geographic Society. “While members of the tribe near Nairobi have been tamed by British and missionary influence and have settled down on plantations, their relatives in the hills of western Kenya still spend their time raiding neighbouring tribes when not tending their herds.” “A Masai village is a military barracks. At the call of the chief, the young warriors don lion manes which they wear about their heads, and, perhaps, a string of beads. With spears and leather shields as their only arms, they set out to attack the ‘enemy.’ The Masai begins his military career at sixteen. When he is thirty, he becomes an elder, settles down, and has as many wives as he desires. The furniture in his home of mud-plastered sticks costs no more than his haberdashery. Over an open fireplace hangs an iron kettle while additional utensils are., made of gourds. A long gourd is a Masai milk can and half-gourds are used for caps. Some of the huts have a three-legged stool or two for the old er tribesmen. “Even when the Masai is not on the warpath, the traveller would be inclined to avoid him for sanitary reasons. Spitting upon a visitor is a sign of reverence and goodwill among some of the tribesmen. Everyone who sees a newborn baby must spit on it. If a warrior is friendly, he spits on his hand before greeting a stranger. “Outside the villages, one might stumble upon the skeleton of a tribesman whose body has been left to the hyenas, jackals and vultures. Only the chief of the tribe deserves a.burial. After a chief has been buried for a

year the son of his successor digs up the old chief’s skull, which is a treasured possession in the village. “The tribesman’s wives presiding

[ over his hut-jingle with every move. . Their legs and arms are covered with [ dozens "of wire rings. These adornments and a dozen or more rings en ■ circling their necks sometimes weigh ; between fifteen and' twenty-five pounds. Both men arid women are frequently seen with wood cylinders and tin cans in their distended ear lobes. ’ ' ‘ 1 “Masai tribesmen have been almost impossible to convert from nature worship. When the chief would invoke the pleasure, of the gods all the children in the village stand in a circle arid chaiit. Grass is sacred to the tribesmen. If a Masai hands a stranger a tuft of green grass it suggests friendship. When young warriors start out on raids tfieir sweethearts throw grass up.ojn them to ensure victory. The hyena has a certain sacred character. If a beast happeps to cross the path of a warrior the whole tribe goes in mourning. The python is Reid in venernflpp, for they believe the souls of fheir ancestors are rp’borp in them. Some tribesmen worship a black and a yed gQd. The black god is benevolent, livjng imrnediatejy above the egrth, whilp thp red god lives further up in ,the hpayens. When the Masai h„e.ar thunder they believe the red god /s. trying to get through the domain of dip black god. The'rumbling is the yb. J ce of the black god pleading' with barm tribesmen