The week-long Eunoto ceremony for warriors of five sub-clans of the Asiria Masai in Western Kenya was the first such ceremony for these clans in 10 years. The ceremony marks the coming of age of the "morans" (young Masai warriors) who then become junior adults in their communities, marry wives and start families.
The elaborate Eunoto ceremony marks the end of a time of carefree warrior activity for the young men. When they became warriors in their early teens, they were expected to guard the Enk'ang (their communities' homes and animal enclosures), participate in cattle raids on neighboring tribes, to increase their individual wealth, and prove their self-worth and courage by killing a lion barehanded. In modern-day Kenya the last two activities, cattle raids and killing lions, are illegal — but some warriors reputedly continue with both.
As warriors, the moran grow their hair and cover it in decorative red ochre. The moran's hair is shaved at the end of the eunoto, to mark his ritual passage to manhood, and the termination of his physical freedoms: namely sexual relations with the pre-pubescent and uncircumcised Masai girls, and the aggressive, sometimes lethal raids on enemy tribes, to steal cattle.
The Masai culture is in transition today, as modern life and accoutrements invade the ancient practices and threaten them with extinction. The government demands that Masai adolescents be sent to Kenyan schools now, and fewer parents are allowing their sons to become traditional warror moran.
Go to Photo Essay >> Photographs by Louise Gubb — SABA/Network
