Boys To Men: Kenya's Maasai Tribal Rite Of Passage

Deep inside Maasai land in southern Kenya, over 400 Maasai boys aged between 10 and 15 are using the school holidays to undergo an initiation ceremony that will take them into adulthood.



The Enkipata is a pre-circumcision initiation ceremony meant to prepare the children for the Emuratt, the circumcision ceremony itself, which takes place a week later.



Back in the old days, when Kenya had plenty of lions in the wild, boys were sent into the wilderness during the Enkipata initiation ceremony and were expected to hunt a lion using only a spear.



Those who managed to hunt a lion would forever be respected by their community and granted a chance to take part in key clan meetings.



For those who failed, they would still undergo the circumcision and be granted a chance to repeat the test later when they become warriors.



"Nowadays we are done with hunting lions," Oloishona Miterienanka told the Anadolu Agency. "In the past, each and every one of us was required to hunt lions."



The 54-year-old continued: "My name 'Miterienanka' means 'he who is fast in hunting a lion.' I used to be called 'Lemuanik,' but after being the first to kill a lion during our initiation ceremony 40 years ago, I was bestowed this name by the council of elders."



Miterienanka, now a village elder himself, said that the children will be required to spend a week in the forest to "toughen" them.



"They will live together in the forest for one week before being circumcised. This will bring them closer to each other; they will learn to protect each other and how to live in unity," he said.



"Fathers of the children meet and decide on a date for the Enkipata ceremony, then make the necessary preparation for their children before the set date. They are taught about respecting their elders and the rearing of animals among other things," he said.



The Maasai are a pastoralist community and so move from place to place in search of water and pasture for their animals. Their diet is mainly made up of the blood, milk and meat from their animals.



The children are taught about animal husbandry, such as how to extract blood from animals without killing them. They are also taught about the customs and culture of the Maasai people.



After coming back from the forest, the boys are not allowed to rest.



They are taken to a river early in the morning where they submerge themselves in the cold river water to numb their bodies in preparation for the circumcision ceremony.



At dawn, the circumcision process takes place. It only lasts for around a minute and all participants are expected to face the procedure bravely without showing any indication of pain.



Courage is highly valued by the Maasai people, who were once known as the persecutors of lions.



Wincing during the circumcision would bring shame on your family and forever taint your image before your peers who went through the same process as you.



"You would forever be labeled a coward," Isina Resson, mother to one of the children waiting for his circumcision, told Anadolu Agency.



"My boy will not shame me," she said. "He is very strong and knows that the pride of our family rests in what he is about to undergo."



After the circumcision ceremony, the boys wear lose clothes and dance throughout the day as they transition into being adults. - Kenya