Bush Camp: Part 1C

We stayed outside of the boma out of respect because it seemed that the main celebration took place there. I befriended these boys who loved playing with my camera. They were there just like us to observe the gathering. They are still young and have yet to go through this ritual to manhood. They are all carrying their spears, originally used for defending the herd from lions, now seemingly for symbolic reasons. You very rarely see a Maasai without a shuka (red cloth covering or some version thereof) and some form of a spear or stick representing a spear (note the Maasai on the bike in the background).

Here are the warriors arriving to the boma. They marched along at a snails pace chanting and weaving back and forth in a serpent-like fashion. The man in front led them and was beating his shield on the ground yelling and singing. This is when I found out what the ceremony was really for. My guide was made aware that this was in fact a female circumcision ceremony. He explained that the chances of us not only findning out about the ceremony but being allowed to attend were almost non-existent.

The following was upsetting to hear. As I've said before these female circumcisions are completely illegal and because of that the young girls are being circumcised as small children and then the ceremony like the one we attended is celebrated when they hit puberty... so technically nothing illegal is happening here. It was crazy to be there because everyone is happy and the girls are so proud and you recognize that this is a huge part of their culture. Education is the only way to change this and there are plenty of NGOs with missions to do so... but of course it takes time. My guide grew up in a Maasai family that was quite educated (none of his sisters or their children have been circumcised) and as he told me it will take a couple more generations and more knowledge for this to be a thing of the past.

I returned home to camp that night thinking about the juxtaposition of my beliefs and feelings regarding the cermony versus the absolute pride and celebration that I had witnessed. The reality of just because something is illegal doesn't mean it doesn't happen spans borders and cultures for sure. I can only hope that as these young girls grow they will find a balance for their children between staying true to tradition while parting with this specific practice.