The Masaai Cultural Beliefs

The Masaai believed in God, Enkai who lived ontask performed by the women who help each
the mountain of God, Ol Doinyo Lengai located inother in the community. Since these shelters are
Tanzania. The Laibon was the religious leader whovery temporal, they have to be maintained, a
connected the people to Enkai. The Laibon wouldtask left to the women. The girls do help there
perform religious functions such as praying formothers while the boys are left to play and herd
rain, victory in war and he was also a prophet andcalves and lambs.
a seer. This was a much respected man in theThe dead were never buried as they could pollute
society. Today, the masaai community hasthe land. They were left out to be eaten by
embraced Christianity a lot. Cases in thescavengers. They would be covered in animal fat
community would be handled out of court byand blood to attract the scavengers such as
elders. They would pass judgment on the issueshyenas and jackals. The dignitaries such as the
concerned and the people would respect this andLaibon and the chiefs were the ones entitled to a
do as has been suggested. Compensation woulddecent burial. Any corpse not eaten by the
involve of cattle.scavengers wad deemed a disgrace to the
The Masai believe that the woman is the one whosociety. Babies after birth were not named or
is supposed to do most of the work in theaccepted in the society until after 3 months due
homestead. This involves cooking, looking afterto the high mortality rate.
the children and milking. Building shelters is also a