Maasai traditions and beliefs.
Maasai traditionsTraditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of meat, milk, and blood from cattle. However, the
inclusion of blood in the traditional diet is waning due to the reduction of livestock numbers.
More recently, the Maasai have grown dependent on food produced in other areas such as maize
meal, rice, potatoes, cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves), etc. The Maasai who live
near crop farmers have engaged in cultivation as their primary mode of subsistence. In these
areas, plot sizes are generally not large enough to accommodate herds of animals; thus the
Maasai are forced to farm.
Maasai beliefsThe Maasai people believe in one god whom they call Ngai and the Maasai people also believe
in many other gods.
The wild fig tree mentioned in the myth about the origin of cattle (above) is
called oreti or oreteti by the Maasai and apart from its mundane use as the raw material for bark
cloth, is not surprisingly given a primary role in ritual. The cosmological significance in the
light of the cattle myth is obvious, though its size, shape, sturdiness and long life also epitomise
an ideal of life. It is sung about in dances, and invoked in prayers and blessings as a symbol of
life.