John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series AFRICAN HABITATS : FOREST, GRASSLAND AND SLUM Studies of the Maasai, the Luhya, and Nairobi's Urban Fringe |
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John Tyman's Cultures in Context Series AFRICAN HABITATS : FOREST, GRASSLAND AND SLUM Studies of the Maasai, the Luhya, and Nairobi's Urban Fringe |
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| 366. In the old days animal skins were used for clothing, but factory-made textiles long ago replaced hides for everyday wear. In addition, recent exposure to the clothing worn by tourists and by kids in school, plus parcels of second-hand clothing sent to the mission, have caused many people to wear “western” dress. |
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| 367. When they wear the traditional shuka men and women both prefer red and orange patterns, reminiscent of the red clays used to stain hides in the past. |
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| 368. Women buy the cloth at the market in town. This is also where they buy their beads, though the buttons are frequently salvaged from the discarded clothing of “European” people. Nothing is wasted here if it can be used again. |
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| 369. Glass beads have been traded up and down the east coast of Africa for hundreds of years. Before that, fragments of ostrich shell were strung on a cord and rolled across a stone to round them off. Because they were hard to make then, beads were highly valued and worn mostly by chiefs. Seeds and iron were also used for beads in the old days, together with pieces of animal bone, cow horn, ivory, and wood as in these reproductions. |
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| 370. The first imported beads were brought from India by Arab traders who exchanged them for ivory, rhinoceros horn and slaves. Glass beads from Italy and Czechoslovakia were widely available here in the eighteenth century. They were imported by the shipload and used like money for trading. |
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| 371. For decorative purposes beads were strung together then on twisted threads of vegetable fibre or thin strips of leather. Since about 1925, however, imported cotton thread has been used instead: and more recently wire. |
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| 372. Today glass beads are an important part of East African costume. In several tribes the broad collars for which the Maasai are best known are part of everyday dress -- even if they are a recent addition historically speaking. The amount of beadwork worn by a married woman is a measure of her status, and an indication of her husband's wealth. |
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| 373. And since married women usually shave their heads, their bead collars, headbands and gigantic ear pendants are clearly visible and have maximum impact. Until girls are initiated as women they decorate only the upper part of the ear, but a married woman can wear long beaded ear rings/flaps. In fact it's said that a husband should never see his wife without them. |
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| 374. Young men wear beads also (and clay make-up), on their face, neck and chest, to enhance their appearance. Their hair is coated with a mixture of red earth and animal fat. |
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| 375. The beads used by both men and women are mostly round, "seed beads" (sometimes termed "pound beads" because they were sold by weight). They were white, black, blue or red originally: yellow, orange and green are later additions to the colour range. |
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| 376. Oval-shaped beads have also appeared recently: and many are now made of plastic. Some tribes also attach metal pendants (commonly shaped like an arrow-head but representing a bird) and pieces of chain. These were improvised at first but now can be purchased in markets. Cowrie shells, obtained through trade, may also be used: they symbolize fertility. |
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| 377. Among the Samburu it is said (by men) that a woman does not have enough beads until her chin is supported by her necklaces. However, in place of the flat collars worn by the southern Maasai, Samburu girls (as you can see) prefer to wear many individual strands of beads. These are often given to them by young warriors as part of the courtship process. However, in theory, only married women can wear strands of blue beads, because blue, being the colour of the sky, symbolizes God. |
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| 378. Women gain increased social status as each son becomes a warrior: and Samburu mothers wear a double strand of beads looped through their ears for each son who has been initiated -- as you can see here. |
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| 379. The artwork of greatest interest to the young men -- aside from their make-up -- is their shield ...important in the old days for use in battle. When a young man became a warrior he received from his father a spear, a sword, a club and a shield. These were to defend himself, his village, and its cattle against attacks by men and wild animals. They were also used when raiding other tribes to steal their cattle. (Sketch of moran in raiding party, from Margaret Sharman’s “People of the Plains”: with permission) |
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| 380. Their shields were oval in shape and were made from buffalo hide, stretched over a wooden frame: and they were decorated with geometrical patterns. Like the designs on the shields carried by knights in the Middles Ages, these decorations revealed his identity: one half of the shield indicated the section of the tribe to which the warrior belonged and the other half revealed his age group. These are cheap reproductions (sold to tourists) and would be of little use in battle, since they are made from cow hide ... because buffalos being wild animals are protected now. |
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| 381. Shields also incorporated special battle honours (rather like the medals worn by soldiers in Europe and America) in cases where a man had been particularly heroic. Choosing a day when he was away from camp, his colleagues would take out his shield and add a distinctive mark to proclaim his bravery. This was circular or semi-circular in shape as you can see in two of the illustrations. The Maasai have three traditional colours: black, made from charcoal and red made from powdered soil, both mixed with blood from a bullock; and white made from the ashes of a bullock's bones mixed with water. (Sketches from Tepilit Ole Saitoti’s “Maasai”: with permission) |
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| 382. Many old war shields were confiscated by the government during the years Kenya was a British colony. This was done to discourage fighting: but the warriors were allowed to keep their spears as a defence against wild animals. Guns are still forbidden here (save for men who guard the herds of the Rural Development Centre) but, sadly, have been acquired by some gangs of disaffected youths. |
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