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TRADITIONS

Donkey is the best friend of maasai women

Reasons of why is the favourite domestic animal in Kenya

01-02-2022 by Leni Frau

In Kenya, the old adage that "man's best friend is the dog" does not always apply.
Certainly when talking about women and especially the Maasai women of the Kajiado region, their best friend, affectionate intelligent and useful, is undoubtedly the donkey.
Some might easily conclude that the pack animal is mainly a substitute for the wagon, or any vehicle for those who can not afford it, but in the common history of the people who live of pastoralism near the Maasai Mara National Reserve and women who devote themselves to the most humble, tiring and necessary work, between them and donkeys there is a relationship that goes beyond the pure use. Some villages, for example, have a dozen of them, and with their block sale they could buy a motorcycle and load water and firewood on it, instead of using the "pacifiers". But unlike a motorized vehicle (in addition to not consuming fuel, but only field grasses and little more) donkeys are like Elon Musk's Tesla: they can go to the point, get loaded and return to where they know by themselves, without someone to lead them. Independent, but very reliable.
Their contribution in groups of semi-nomadic shepherds is also fundamental. When they move, it is the donkey that takes charge of transporting the movable goods that will fill the new manyatta, the Maasai huts. An indispensable help of a big, resistant and docile pet.
Other than a dog or cat!
Keeping a donkey healthy and even cuddling it is a customary practice among the women of the communities living in the Lake Magadi area.
There, families are used to giving a well-deserved burial to their affectionate help of home and work.
When a donkey dies, the women participate in the burial of the animal some distance from the house and songs envelop the air. The women are said to sing and wail uncontrollably, as in the loss of a husband or child.
Most of these dirges are composed by the women themselves to praise the dead animal.
In addition, children, according to Maasai tradition, are not allowed to witness the birth of donkeys and should never see their lifeless bodies.
The shepherds of Magadi tell, as reported in a report of the national newspaper Daily Nation, that when they have to go early in the morning to get water at the lake, it is the donkey to wake them up braying an hour before.
Also for this reason in the area, especially the old, have created myths and legends that exalt this animal and serious curses for those who slaughter them, even in times of famine, or sell them to those who will market the meat. The donkey is a sacred animal for those who still live in the manner of their fathers.
So in the area of Oletepesi, today there are thousands of donkeys and as in the archipelago of Lamu, there are areas where they meet at night and spend the hours together in the dark, especially during the dry season.

TAGS: asini kenyamaasai kenyatradizioni kenyaanimali kenya

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