In a Massai village in the north of Tanzania
Wolfgang Praegler & Gudrun Mirbach-Praegler
We visit this Massai village near the small town of Mto wa Mbu at Lake
Manyara. The Massai are a people originating from what is nowadays
central Ethiopia. From there they migrated south in the 15th century. They are nilohamitic
people, and they generally are slim and quite tall. Their god Engai, who is living in the volcano
Ol Doinyo Lengai, has endowed the Massai all cattle in the world. Still nowadays they mostly
live a nomadic life, following the good grazing grounds and waterholes with their cows and
goats. Their temporary villages (Enkang), have simply constructed huts (Enkaji) of twigs that are
plastered with mud and cow dung. As protection against beasts of prey the huts are surrounded
by a hedgerow of thorny branches. When the grazing ground has run out, the whole group
moves on. Typical of the Massai is the jewelry of the women and of the men as well.
Singing is done by men and women, but only men do the jumping dance: The dancers do
standing jumps as high as possible to show their strength. Other dances are running dances: A
whole group of men runs in a nearly military formation back and forth.
