Our Final Weekend - The Event

We are leaving Kenya this coming week, and are taking a memory of this weekend that we will never forget…

WARNING! This post is not suitable for young children, women who are pregnant or who may become pregnant or anyone adverse to large quantities of blood!

Last week, we had the five girls and their mother (Lucy) over to our apartment for dinner and a movie.  Everything went really well and we all had a fabulous time eating chicken and noodles and watching Beauty and the Beast.  After the movie, Lucy said that she wanted to invite us to a Masai party on Saturday.  While Lucy is not Masai, her husband (Moses) is.  I checked with Sandy, and she said that we were not doing anything on Saturday, so I told Lucy that we would be able to go.  Thinking it was just an ordinary celebration like we have in America, I asked what kind of party it was, and she said that her nephew was getting circumcised!  My mind instantly when to the Seinfeld episode of the Jewish brisk.  Remember that one?  But my vision was soon shattered when I learned the boy getting the procedure was 16 years old!  Well, it was too late to back out now, so the next best thing is to take someone else with you, so we invited Joyce and Loy to go with us.              

Now not knowing what was actually going to happen at the event, we were quite apprehensive in the days leading up to Saturday.  We told quite a few Kenyans that we were going, and all were very surprised that we were invited since the Masai never invite outsiders to their ceremonies.  This, of course, made us even more apprehensive, but also very curious about what was going to take place. 

Well, Saturday came, and the ANU transport SUV took everyone except Moses and me to the Masai village that was only 20 minutes from campus.  The SUV was not big enough for all of us, so Moses and I took a matatu.  It was interesting since he speaks about as much English as I speak Swahili, but it worked out fine.  We had to walk the last 2-3km past all of the modern houses back by the edge of a forest where the village was located.  

As we approached, I could see the village was comprised of a dozen or so mud/manure huts with several pens where they kept goats and cattle.  There were many men standing around in traditional Masai wear.  In addition to being strong warriors, the Masai are also occupationally herdsmen.  Part of the rational for waiting until 16 for the circumcision is for boys to show they are men and able to withstand the pain without showing any emotion.  When we approached, all of the men came forward to greet and welcome me.  Although most spoke only Masai, they were all very nice and as curious about me as I was of them.  Thankfully, we did find a couple of folks that spoke English quite well and could explain to us what was going to happen. 

I learned that at Masai ceremonies like this one, there is a clear separation of men and women.  So, Sandy went to help prepare the meal by peeling potatoes and I hung out when the men (sounds like Thanksgiving in America doesn’t it!).   

The men were responsible for slaughtering and cooking the meat, so I went back with the other men and saw a bunch of meat spread out on the ground with the heads of a sheep and goat lying nearby.  Not the most sanitary conditions (flies were all over the meat), but they were boiling the meat in a pot over an open fire.  Loy was getting on pretty well with the men, so I went and played with Maddy and the girls for a while and the girls took us on a tour of the village and introduced us to their relatives.  After about an hour, some men came to get me because the show was about to begin…

We learned that the boy to be circumcised was out in the fields with the cattle, and that he would lead them back into their village to begin the ceremony.  As they came in, several of the other herdsmen threw themselves on the ground, prostrated themselves, and let out cries of empathy that Loy commented sounded like an animal in pain.   

The boy was then led to a place where his mother shaved his head (including his eyebrows) with a razor blade.   

They then took him into one of the pens where the cattle were and placed him on cattle skin where the procedure was to take place.  All of the men gathered around.  The women were not allowed into the pen.  I was surprised that the man who did the procedure actually wore surgical gloves, cleaned the area with alcohol, used sanitary equipment and anesthetized the area before beginning.  The procedure only took about 5 minutes, and at the end, one of the men poured milk over the area to clear the blood.  Needless to say, it was painful to watch!  After it was all over, they carried him into his house and the festivities continued back in the cattle pen.  Moses took me back in and directed me to where I should go while he took all of the pictures.  

The first thing we did was go meet the mother and father of the boy and the rest of his family.  They all seemed quite happy and were very nice.  We then went over to where some men were starting a fire using just wood (another tradition that the Masai hold onto).  It took them awhile, but they finally got it started and celebrated with their homemade wine when it started blazing.

Moses then took me over to where a cow was to be slaughtered.  Add this to the list of firsts for me for the day!  Now I’m not sure how this is done in America, but I’m pretty sure it is not in the same manner that I witnessed.  While one man held the head of the cow and another held the body of the cow, a third took a bow and arrow and shot it at the juggler vein on the cow’s neck.  The arrow failed to puncture the cow the first two tries, but the third was a success and the blood started to flow.  They captured the blood in a skin pouch, and after the sack was filled, they plugged the whole on the neck with a finger until it was emptied and returned.  They did this several times and then just let the cow finish draining until it died.  They then took the saved blood, and drank it.  It is supposed to give you vitality (which sounded appealing), but I passed! 

The food was finally ready, so the men joined back up with the women, and they brought us rice, potatoes, and meat (the goat and sheep I saw earlier).  Sandy and I did our part and ate, but Joyce and Loy passed.   It was actually VERY good even though the meat was a little tough.  As we were finishing eating, our driver arrived.  We thanked all of the people that so graciously invited us into their festivities, and felt honored to have witnessed such a sacred Masai tradition that has been going on for thousands of years. 

 

As we were leaving, Lucy and Moses asked if we would come back tomorrow for the big celebration.  Thankfully, we had guests planned for the next day since we had learned earlier that on Sunday they would be circumcising one of the girls in the village.  Neither Sandy nor I felt like we could handle that very well! 

Of all of our experiences in Kenya over these past four months, this one will stick in our memories for the rest of our lives.  The girls have told me in the past that I am Kenyan since I have lived in Kenya and do things that Kenyans do.  After today, I feel even more Kenyan now than I ever have before!