Is this really the story of the origin of the MAA people? General Information Before starting to outline assumptions of the history of the MAA Society, we must actually explain who these people are, known as MAA. The Maasai still have much of their culture, customs, and tradition as they did thousands of years ago. The structure of age grouping in this society is still more or less intact, coupled by the fact that Maasai up to date maintain the stages of their lifestyles from that of childhood, initiation (warriorhood or motherhood), and finally elderhood. This is further explained later. Truly, many groups of people speak the Maa language but it is necessary to analyze how and why these groups have come to split from each other. Generally, these groups talking the same language differ in one way or another by "SECTIONS" as follows: IL’AKIPIAK IL-SIKIRARI IL’ARUSA I-SIRIA IL’DAMAT IL-WUASIN-NKISHU IL-KAPUTEI IL-PARAKUYU IL-KEEK-ONYOKIE IL-PUSI-KINEJI (SAMBURU) IL-KISONGO IL-TIAMUS (NJEMPS IL-MATAPATO IL-LAITAYOK IL-MOITANIK IL-MOIPOI (IL-KONERE) IL-OODO-KILANI IL-KITETO IL-LOITAI Each SECTION lives in its own specific territory. Though one SECTION’s language and dresses are almost the same as those of another, there are slight differences. Their customs and cultures are always the same; therefore all SECTIONS can easily communicate with each other, thereby strengthening their brotherhood and unity. Some of the obvious differences are based on the economic structures depended upon by each section. Among the nineteen sections mentioned earlier, only four (IL’ARUSA, IL’PARAKUYU, IL’PUSI-KINEJI (SAMBURU) AND IL’TIAMUS (NJEMPS)) are agro-pastoralists. The remaining fifteen depend entirely on livestock economy. Where did the MAA society originate? Taking into account that the MAA society does not have a clear written history, it will be difficult to give precise answers to where they actually originated. However, according to the technical languages research (PHILOLOGY), the MAA language is HERMETIC and not one of the numerous BANTU-languages on the African continent. The above shows that the founders of the MAA community originated from ASIA MINOR (MESOPOTAMIA- the area between TIGRIS and EUPHRATES Rivers in IRAQ). The presumptions of the Maa people’s origin are based on early written works in which the word MAA frequently occurs. If this present MAA community is really the one being referred to and mentioned in those writings, the truth of that depends on individual’s conviction or belief since there is no concrete evidence available. One example of such an early written work, where the name MAASAI is mentioned, can be found in the BIBLE. In the old testament, the first book of CHRONICLES – section 9 (1 chronicles: verses 10-13) it is written as follows: “Of the priests: Jedai ‘ah, joeho ‘arib, Jachin and Azariah the son of Hilki, ‘ah, son of the Meshul’Iam, son of Zadok, son of Mera’ioth, son of Ahi’tub, the Chief Officer of the House of God; and Adai’ah, the son of Jero’ham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchi’jar and MAASAI, the son of Adiel, son of Jah’zerah, son of Mesh’ul lam, son of Meshil’ lemith, son of Immer; besides their Kinsmen, heads of their fathers houses, one thousand seven hundred and sixty, very able men for the work of the service of the House of God.” Other writings that show the early existence of the Maasai community are those by HERODOTUS, the famous GREEK HISTORIAN who lived 500 years B.C. In his book, he mentions that in an area of ASIA MINOR (MESOPOTAMIA) he found “people known as MAASAI who braid their hair, haircut both two sides of their faces and during the battles they use skin shields”. Setting the above aside, we can estimate the arrival time of the MAA on the African continent by counting the number of years taken between one age group and another of these people. A ca. 25 years period passes before a name of an age group changes to a new name for a new age group. There are seventeen known age groups up to the present time: Name of age set/group Birth date Initiation Elderhood 1 IL KIGIRIO 1665 1686 1703 2 IL RIMIRIM 1695 1714 1730 3 IL MEIRI 1730 1748 1763 4 IL KIDOTU 1760 1776 1791 5 IL NYANGUSI 1790 1810 1825 6 IL EMEK 1820 1840 1855 7 IL KITOIP 1830 1848 1864 8 IL AIMER 1850 1866 1880 9 IL TALALANI 1862 1880 1895 10 IL TUATI 1870 1890 1905 11 IL TARETO 1885 1900 1917 12 IL TERITO 1900 1920 1938 13 IL MESHUKI 1925 1944 1959 14 IL SEURI 1938 1956 1974 15 IL KISHUMU 1952 1969 1987 16 ILANTIIS 1964 1983 2002 17IL KORYANGA 1976 1997 2012 Probably, the MAA people arrived in the areas from the far North of Kenya through Central Tanzania (Tanganyika) southwards to the Northern boundary of Zambia. The movement of the MAA tribe from the North of the African continent is verified by the tribal related names given to different areas in Egypt, Abysinia, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Nile Riverside valley where they were shifting southwards with their herds of livestock. When these people where shifting with their livestock, they drove away, married or absorbed other tribes they encountered in their way. Other groups in the journey, who got tired or decided that the areas reached were convenient and adequate to their needs of water and pastures for their livestock, settled within as their land up today. Nevertheless the IL’PARAKUYU group is still moving southwards as has now reached the Tanzanian-Zambian boarder. Other groups started to rely on MIXED ECONOMY of pastoralism and crop husbandry, according to the conducive environments they found in the areas of their shifting (such as the indigenous people whom they besieged and intermarried). Due to the differences in life styles between groups, those who depended entirely on pastoralism had to shift constantly for adequate needs of their livestock and so their housing needed to be smaller and temporary while those on crop farming economy had to have large and semi permanent houses.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 10:26:13 +0000
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