28th
How The Maasai Came To Exist: Maasai Oral Traditions
This origin myth tells of a time when there were two tribes, one consisting only of females, and the other only of males. The women’s tribe was called the Moroyok. They raised antelopes, including the eland, which the Maasai say was the ancestor of all cattle. Instead of modern cattle, sheep, and goats, the women had herds of gazelles. Zebras carried their belongings, and elephants were their devoted friends, tearing down branches and bringing them to the women who used them to build homes and corrals. The elephants also swept the antelope corrals clean. However, the women bickered and quarreled and their herds escaped. Even the elephants left them because they could not satisfy the women with their work.
The Morwak (the men’s tribe) raised cattle, sheep, and goats. The men sometimes met women in the forest. The children from these unions would live with their mothers, but the boys would join their fathers when they grew up. When the women lost their herds, they went to live with the men, and, in doing so, gave up their freedom and their equal status. From that time, they depended on men, had to work for them, and were subject to their authority. The newly mixed tribe of men and women together became the Maasai.
