The Parakuyo people , are a community of about thirty thousand pastoralists who live scattered across Tanzania today. They are the principal speakers of the Kwavi language .
57-523: Members of the community refer to themselves as Parakuyo when speaking to each other. When interacting with unfamiliar outsiders they will almost always identify themselves as Maasai. Maasai people and other East Africans often refer to the Parakuyo as Kwavi, Loikop or Lumbwa, a practice that Parakuyo do not appreciate. The Kwavi are related to the Maasai . Though little has been written about them, they were
114-465: A Low tone is phonetically low only after another low tone. Elsewhere it is falling, but not identical to Fall: It does not become High in the middle of a phrase, and speakers can distinguish the two falling tones despite the fact that they have the same range of pitch. The difference appears to be in the timing: with Fall one hears a high level tone that then falls, whereas the falling allophone of Low starts falling and then levels out. (That is, one falls on
171-560: A common origin with the Hadzabe and even Nyaturu. An alternative view is that the term Wakwavi (or Kwafi) is a Swahili corruption of the Maa iloonkuapi (‘people of other lands’). Among Maasai, this is a relative term for other Maasai-speaking groups or sections who are not close allies: if section A regard section B as iloonkuapi , then B may apply the same term to A, implying mutual mistrust. The confusion appears to stem from an early work by
228-612: A cultural or occupational group. This term is also used in Kenya and it is used to refer to groups of people related to the Akamba people. The Kwavi of Tanzania are not basically a separate ethnic group per se but a people within an ethnic group who have a particular occupation. Wakwavi are basically pastoral but do also have elements of agricultural, as such, they are a sedentary people with a heavy bias to pastoralism. Wakwavi of Tanzania were looked upon as being Gogo people with whom they shared
285-568: A dance". ) Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, honey and raw blood from cattle —note that the Maasai cattle are of the Zebu variety. Most of the milk is consumed as fermented milk or buttermilk (a by-product of butter making). Milk consumption figures are very high by any standards. The Maasai herd goats and sheep, including the Red Maasai sheep , as well as
342-664: A descending scale, and singers responding to their verses are characteristic of singing by women. When many Maasai women gather together, they sing and dance among themselves. Eunoto, the coming-of-age ceremony of the warrior, can involve ten or more days of singing, dancing and ritual. The warriors of the Il-Oodokilani perform a kind of march-past as well as the Adumu , or aigus, sometimes referred to as "the jumping dance" by non-Maasai. (Both adumu and aigus are Maa verbs meaning "to jump" with adumu meaning "To jump up and down in
399-583: A dual nature, represented by two colours: Engai Narok (Black God) is benevolent, and Engai Na-nyokie (Red God) is vengeful. There are also two pillars or totems of Maasai society: Oodo Mongi, the Red Cow and Orok Kiteng, the Black Cow with a subdivision of five clans or family trees . The Maasai also have a totemic animal, which is the lion. The killing of a lion is used by the Maasai in the rite of passage ceremony. The "Mountain of God", Ol Doinyo Lengai ,
456-530: A major tributary flowing north from Uganda , north and south of the Sudd marsh in South Kordofan state of Sudan as well as Bahr el Ghazal region and Upper Nile state of South Sudan. There are 20 consonant phonemes: Dinka has a rich vowel system, with thirteen phonemically contrastive short vowels. There are seven vowel qualities plus a two-way distinction in phonation . The underdots, [◌̤] , mark
513-425: A multitude of ways including being boiled in soups and ingested to improve digestion and cleanse the blood. Some of these remedies can also be used in the treatment or prevention of diseases. The Maasai people also add herbs to different foods to avoid stomach upsets and give digestive aid. The use of plant-based medicine remains an important part of Maasai life. Maasai clothing symbolises ethnic group membership,
570-584: A new Dinka writing system (Nilotic Script) was introduced by Deng Chol, the new script is developed from ancient Meroëtic writing system. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Dinka: Raan thök eben aye dhëëth ka lau nhöm kua thöŋ nhiim eyithiic, kua thɛ̈kic, kua ci yëknhiethku puou, ku bik cëŋ ka ke ye mith etik. English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in
627-481: A pastoralist lifestyle, as well as an individual's social position. From this they can decide the roles they undertake for the tribe. Jewellery also can show an individual's gender, relationship status, and age. Maasai traditional clothing is both a means of tribal identification and symbolism: young men, for example, wear black for several months following their circumcision. Dinka language Dinka (natively Thuɔŋjäŋ , Thoŋ ë Jieng or simply Jieng )
SECTION 10
#1732790896287684-620: A unified written grammar of Dinka. The language most closely related to Dinka is the Nuer language . The Luo languages are also closely related. The Dinka vocabulary shows considerable proximity to Nubian , which is probably due to medieval interactions between the Dinka people and the kingdom of Alodia . The Dinka are found mainly along the Nile , specifically the west bank of the White Nile ,
741-506: Is shaved off ; elders must wear their hair short. Warriors who do not have sexual relations with women who have not undergone the "Emuatare" ceremony are especially honoured at the Eunoto gathering. This would symbolise the healing of the woman. Two days before boys are circumcised, their heads are shaved. When warriors go through the Eunoto and become elders, their long plaited hair
798-661: Is a Nilotic dialect cluster spoken by the Dinka people , a major ethnic group of South Sudan . There are several main varieties, such as Padang, Rek, Agaar, Ciec, Malual, Apaak, Aliab, Bor, Hol, Nyarweng, Twic East and Twic Mayardit, which are distinct enough (though mutually intelligible) to require separate literary standards. Jaang, Jieng or Muonyjieng is used as a general term to cover all Dinka languages. Recently Akutmɛ̈t Latueŋ Thuɔŋjäŋ (the Dinka Language Development Association) has proposed
855-421: Is independent of tone. On top of this, there are three phonemically contrastive vowel lengths , a feature found in very few languages. Most Dinka verb roots are single, closed syllables with either a short or a long vowel. Some inflections lengthen that vowel: The extensive use of tone and its interaction with morphology is a notable feature of all dialects of Dinka. The Bor dialects all have four tonemes at
912-408: Is located in northernmost Tanzania and can be seen from Lake Natron in southernmost Kenya. The central human figure in the Maasai religious system is the laibon whose roles include shamanistic healing , divination and prophecy , and ensuring success in war or adequate rainfall. Today, they have a political role as well due to the elevation of leaders. Whatever power an individual laibon had
969-400: Is named and the head is shaved clean apart from a tuft of hair, which resembles a cockade , from the nape of the neck to the forehead. Among the men, warriors are the only members of the Maasai community to wear long hair, which they weave in thinly braided strands. Graduation from warrior to junior elder takes place at a large gathering known as Eunoto. The long hair of the former warriors
1026-425: Is not uncommon for bodies to be covered in fat and blood from a slaughtered ox . Traditional Maasai lifestyle centres around their cattle , which constitute their primary source of food. In a patriarchal culture that views women as property, a man's wealth is measured in cattle, wives and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more wives and children the better. A man who has plenty of one but not
1083-515: Is now Tanzania. Maasai are pastoralists and have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in both countries. The Maasai people stood against slavery and never condoned the traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Maasai. Essentially there are twenty-two geographic sectors or sub-tribes of
1140-467: Is shaved off. Maasai music traditionally consists of rhythms provided by a chorus of vocalists singing harmonies while a song leader, or olaranyani, sings the melody. Unlike most other African tribes, Maasai widely use drone polyphony . Women chant lullabies, humming songs, and songs praising their sons. Nambas, the call-and-response pattern, repetition of nonsensical phrases, monophonic melodies, repeated phrases following each verse being sung on
1197-477: The African Great Lakes region. Their native language is the Maasai language , a Nilotic language related to Dinka , Kalenjin and Nuer . Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania— Swahili and English . The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in the 2019 census, compared to 377,089 in
SECTION 20
#17327908962871254-532: The Arabian Peninsula , and later spread this ancestry component southwards into certain Khoisan groups roughly 2,000 years ago, resulting in ~5% West-Eurasian ancestry among Southern African hunter-gatherers. A 2019 archaeogenetic study sampled ancient remains from Neolithic inhabitants of Tanzania and Kenya, and found them to have strongest affinities with modern Horn of Africa groups. They modelled
1311-481: The age-set system of social organisation, circumcision , and vocabulary terms. Many ethnic groups that had already formed settlements in the region were forcibly displaced by the incoming Maasai. Other, mainly Southern Cushitic groups, were assimilated into Maasai society. The Nilotic ancestors of the Kalenjin likewise absorbed some early Cushitic populations. The Maasai territory reached its largest size in
1368-469: The breathy voice series, represented in Dinka orthography by diaereses, ⟨◌̈⟩ . Unmarked vowels are modal or creaky voiced . Four phonetic phonations have been described in Dinka vowels: modal voice , breathy voice, faucalized voice , and harsh voice . The modal series has creaky or harsh voice realizations in certain environments, while the breathy vowels are centralized and have been described as being hollow voiced (faucalized). This
1425-453: The ethnogenesis of the Maasai people. Genetic genealogy , a tool that uses the genes of modern populations to trace their ethnic and geographic origins, has also helped clarify the possible background of modern Maasai. The Maasai's autosomal DNA has been examined in a comprehensive study by Tishkoff et al. (2009) on the genetic affiliations of various populations in Africa. According to
1482-455: The 111 children examined exhibited missing mandibular or maxillary deciduous canines. Traditionally, the Maasai conduct elaborate rite of passage rituals which include surgical genital mutilation to initiate children into adulthood. The Maa word for circumcision , "emorata," is applied to this ritual for both males and females. This ritual is typically performed by the elders, who use a sharpened knife and makeshift cattle hide bandages for
1539-726: The 1989 census, though many Maasai view the census as government meddling and therefore either refuse to participate or actively provide false information. The Maasai inhabit the African Great Lakes region and arrived via South Sudan . Most Nilotic speakers in the area, including the Maasai, the Turkana and the Kalenjin , are pastoralists and have a reputation as fearsome warriors and cattle rustlers. The Maasai and other groups in East Africa have adopted customs and practices from neighbouring Cushitic-speaking groups, including
1596-474: The Maasai as goat leaves). One common misconception about the Maasai is that each young man is supposed to kill a lion before he can be circumcised and enter adulthood. Lion hunting was an activity of the past, but it has been banned in East Africa – yet lions are still hunted when they maul Maasai livestock. Nevertheless, killing a lion gives one great value and celebrity status in the community. The piercing and stretching of earlobes are common among
1653-401: The Maasai as with other tribes, and both men and women wear metal hoops on their stretched earlobes. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross-section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe and smaller piercings at the top of
1710-440: The Maasai community as having ancestry that is ~47% Pastoral Neolithic Cushitic-related and ~53% Sudanese Dinka-related. A Y chromosome study by Wood et al. (2005) tested various Sub-Saharan populations, including 26 Maasai men from Kenya, for paternal lineages. The authors observed haplogroup E1b1b -M35 (not M78) in 35% of the studied Maasai. E1b1b-M35-M78 in 15%, their ancestor with the more northerly Cushitic men, who possess
1767-585: The Maasai community, each one having its customs, appearance, leadership and dialects. These subdivisions are known as 'nations' or 'iloshon' in the Maa language : the Keekonyokie , Ildamat, Purko, Wuasinkishu, Siria, Laitayiok, Loitai, Ilkisonko, Matapato, Dalalekutuk, Ilooldokilani, Ilkaputiei, Moitanik, Ilkirasha, Samburu , Ilchamus, Laikipiak , Loitokitoki, Larusa, Salei, Sirinket and Parakuyo . Recent advances in genetic analyses have helped shed some light on
Parakuyo people - Misplaced Pages Continue
1824-510: The Masaai. And although the blanket featured just as the Masaai, their nakedness was not exposed as the Masaai. However, unlike other Gogos, they pierced and elongated their earlobes, this though is not limited to the Masaai. The Kwavi being part of the Gogo group is an indication of the emergence of the Gogo tribe which basically is not a tribe but a Nation. The Gogo is a modern agglomerate group,
1881-544: The ceremony that initiates young Maasai girls into adulthood through ritual mutilation and then into early arranged marriages. The Maasai believe that female genital mutilation is necessary and Maasai men may reject any woman who has not undergone it as either not marriageable or worthy of a much-reduced bride price. In Eastern Africa, uncircumcised women, even highly educated members of parliament like Linah Kilimo , can be accused of not being mature enough to be taken seriously. The Maasai activist Agnes Pareyio campaigns against
1938-487: The coastal missionary Ludwig Krapf, whose Maasai informant wished to distance himself from those Maasai who were responsible for raids on the Swahili coast. He described them as iloonkuapi , and Krapf assumed that they were other Maa-speaking peoples who were deadly enemies of the Maasai proper, regarding iloonkuapi as an absolute term rather than a reciprocal one. Subsequent visitors to the area followed Krapf’s account and
1995-748: The different sections being brought together by the great leader Mazengo. The group is made up of such elements as Wakaguru this gave rise to the Gogo people around Mpwapwa and just like the Wakaguru are characterised as being agriculturist, you have the Gogo of Western Gogoland who are more like their western neighbours the Konongo and the southern Gogos, who are a mixture of the agro-pastoralist Wasangu and agriculturist Hehe. The Wakwavi origins have been attributed to conflicting sources, most people claimed that they were of Masaai influence, namely referring to Parakuo Masaai influence, another school of thought point to
2052-480: The ear. Among Maasai males, circumcision is practised as a ritual of transition from boyhood to manhood. Women are also circumcised (as described below in social organisation ). This belief and practice are not unique to the Maasai. In rural Kenya, a group of 95 children aged between six months and two years were examined in 1991/92. 87% were found to have undergone the removal of one or more deciduous canine tooth buds. In an older age group (3–7 years of age), 72% of
2109-441: The fertile lands between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro , and most of the fertile highlands near Ngorongoro in the 1940s. More land was taken to create wildlife reserves and national parks: Amboseli National Park , Nairobi National Park , Maasai Mara , Samburu National Reserve , Lake Nakuru National Park and Tsavo in Kenya; and Lake Manyara , Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire and Serengeti National Park in what
2166-590: The first mora of the vowel, whereas the other falls on the second mora.) This is unusual because it has been theorized that such timing differences are never phonemic. This language exhibits vowel ablaut or apophony , the change of internal vowels (similar to English goose/geese ): Linguists divide Dinka into five languages or dialect clusters corresponding to their geographic location with respect to each other: Northeastern and western: Western: South Central: Southeastern: Southwestern: Rek These would be largely mutually intelligible if it were not for
2223-570: The haplogroup at high frequencies lived more than 13,000 years ago. The second most frequent paternal lineage among the Maasai was Haplogroup A3b2 , which is commonly found in Nilotic populations, such as the Alur ; it was observed in 27% of Maasai men. The third most frequently observed paternal DNA marker in the Maasai was E1b1a1-M2 (E-P1), which is very common in the Sub-Saharan region; it
2280-492: The importance of tone in grammatical inflection, as the grammatical function of tone differs from one variety to another. See Ethnologue online map of Sudan for locations of dialects. Dinka has been written with several Latin alphabets since the early 20th century. The current alphabet is: Variants in other alphabets include: A Dinka alphabet based on the Nilerian script has been created by Aleu Majok Aleu. In 2020
2337-668: The mid-19th century and covered almost all of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent lands from Mount Marsabit in the north to Dodoma in the south. At this time the Maasai, as well as the larger Nilotic group they were part of, raised cattle as far east as the Tanga coast in Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania). Raiders used spears and shields but were most feared for throwing clubs (orinka) which could be accurately thrown from up to 70 paces (approx. 100 metres). In 1852, there
Parakuyo people - Misplaced Pages Continue
2394-442: The more prized cattle. Although consumed as snacks, fruits constitute a major part of the food ingested by children and women looking after cattle as well as morans in the bush. Medicine The Maasai people traditionally used the environment when making their medicines, and many still do, due to the high cost of Western treatments. These medicines are derived from trees, shrubs, stems, roots, etc. These can then be used in
2451-495: The name Wakwavi became established, randomly applied to ethnic groups who were neighbours of the Maasai proper and shared their culture up to a point. Maasai people Modern ethnicities Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers The Maasai ( / ˈ m ɑː s aɪ , m ɑː ˈ s aɪ / ; Swahili : Wamasai ) are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania , near
2508-486: The other is considered to be poor. All of the Maasai's needs for food are met by their cattle. They eat their meat, drink their milk daily, and drink their blood on occasion. Bulls, goats, and lambs are slaughtered for meat on special occasions and ceremonies. Though the Maasai's entire way of life has historically depended on their cattle, more recently with their cattle dwindling, the Maasai have grown dependent on food such as sorghum , rice, potatoes and cabbage (known to
2565-564: The past 3000 years and with the high frequency of a shared East African–specific mutation associated with lactose tolerance." Maasai display significant West-Eurasian admixture at roughly ~20%. This type of West-Eurasian ancestry reaches up to 40-50% among specific populations of the Horn of Africa , specifically among Amharas . Genetic data and archeologic evidence suggest that East African pastoralists received West Eurasian ancestry (~25%) through Afroasiatic-speaking groups from Northern Africa or
2622-404: The practice. The female rite of passage ritual has recently seen excision replaced in rare instances with a "cutting with words" ceremony involving singing and dancing in its place. However, despite changes to the law and education drives, the practice remains deeply ingrained, highly valued, and nearly universally practised by members of the culture. Upon reaching the age of 3 "moons", the child
2679-583: The procedure. The male ceremony refers to the excision of the prepuce (foreskin). In the male ceremony, the boy is expected to endure the operation in silence. Expressions of pain bring dishonour upon him, albeit only temporarily. Importantly, any exclamations or unexpected movements on the part of the boy can cause the elder to make a mistake in the delicate and tedious process, which can result in severe lifelong scarring, dysfunction, and pain. Young women also undergo female genital mutilation as part of an elaborate rite of passage ritual called "Emuatare,"
2736-488: The region, such as the Samburu . Most of the tested Maasai belonged to various macro-haplogroup L sub-clades, including L0 , L2 , L3 , L4 and L5 . Some maternal gene flow from North and Northeast Africa was also reported, particularly via the presence of mtDNA haplogroup M lineages in about 12.5% of the Maasai samples. The monotheistic Maasai worship a single deity called Enkai , Nkai , or Engai . Engai has
2793-675: The result of smallpox. This period coincided with drought. Rains failed in 1897 and 1898. The Austrian explorer Oscar Baumann travelled in Maasai lands between 1891 and 1893 and described the old Maasai settlement in the Ngorongoro Crater in the 1894 book Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle ("Through the lands of the Maasai to the source of the Nile"). By one estimate two-thirds of the Maasai died during this period. Maasai in Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania) were displaced from
2850-416: The same language. With time, due to loss of livestock and consequential pauperism, many have changed their preoccupation and have become agriculturist and as such now not discernible from the other Gogo people. They were mistaken as Masaai, whom they were not, for although they had Masaai features of dressing, they had not their ornament, they did not use ochre as the Masaai, nor did plait their hair long like
2907-521: The study's authors, the Maasai "have maintained their culture in the face of extensive genetic introgression". Tishkoff et al. also indicate that: "Many Nilo-Saharan-speaking populations in East Africa, such as the Maasai, show multiple cluster assignments from the Nilo-Saharan [...] and Cushitic [...] AACs, in accord with linguistic evidence of repeated Nilotic assimilation of Cushites over
SECTION 50
#17327908962872964-526: The subject of a 1974 Master's thesis at the University of Dar es Salaam by Douglas Ndagala, "Social and Economic Change among the Pastoral Wakwavi and Its Impact on Rural Development." At least one author, however, denies their existence as a distinct ethnic group, while another research paper gives the names Ilparakuyo and Baraguyu as apparent synonyms for Kwavi. The Kwavi basically refer to
3021-402: The syllable level: Low, High, Mid, and Fall. In Bor proper, falling tone is not found on short vowels except as an inflection for the passive in the present tense. In Nyaarweng and Twïc it is not found at all. In Bor proper, and perhaps in other dialects as well, Fall is only realized as such at the end of a prosodic phrase. Elsewhere it becomes High. In Bor proper and perhaps other dialects,
3078-469: Was a function of personality rather than position. Many Maasai have also adopted Christianity or Islam . The Maasai produce intricate jewellery and sell these items to tourists. Educating Maasai women to use clinics and hospitals during pregnancy has enabled more infants to survive. The exception is found in extremely remote areas. A corpse rejected by scavengers is seen as having something wrong with it, and liable to cause social disgrace; therefore, it
3135-459: Was a report of a concentration of 800 Maasai warriors on the move in what is now Kenya. In 1857, after having depopulated the "Wakuafi wilderness" in what is now southeastern Kenya, Maasai warriors threatened Mombasa on the Kenyan coast. Because of this migration, the Maasai are the southernmost Nilotic speakers. The period of expansion was followed by the Maasai "Emutai" of 1883–1902. This period
3192-423: Was found in 12% of the Maasai samples. Haplogroup B-M60 was also observed in 8% of the studied Maasai, which is also found in 30% (16/53) of Southern Sudanese Nilotes. According to an mtDNA study by Castri et al. (2008), which tested Maasai individuals in Kenya, the maternal lineages found among the Maasai are quite diverse but similar in overall frequency to that observed in other Nilo-Hamitic populations from
3249-399: Was marked by epidemics of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia , rinderpest (see 1890s African rinderpest epizootic ), and smallpox . The estimate first put forward by a German lieutenant in what was then northwest Tanganyika , was that 90% of cattle and half of wild animals perished from rinderpest. German doctors in the same area claimed that "every second" African had a pock-marked face as
#286713