how many Cows have You got?

I was looking through some of my previous posts and thought: I keep talking about herding the Maasai’s cattle but… why would that be the big to-do in a society? So I surfed a bit and came up with a bit of info:

Apparently cattle to the Maasai are a type of currency. In fact, that’s the most accepted way in a Maasai village for measuring wealth: counting heads on the grazing field. In a way you could say they turned their land into one giant purse… or that’s how I see it. Instead of counting coins and bills you count cows and bulls. In fact, wives are ‘purchased’ by a young man’s family through promise of – following the wedding – an agreed upon number of cows. Moreover, the more cattle you own, the more power you have – in a Maasai tribe at least.

Not to mention the fact that half of the cattle population – I found the number to be 14 to 19 head of cattle per person in the Maasai – are milk cows. And again, I thank kashu_parit for providing me information as an inside source, that the center, and most relied upon portion of the Maasai diet is the milk from these cows.

Of course cattle are also killed for their meat, the great economic and social value of the animals bring the tribesmen to reconsider the regular slaughtering of their beloved cattle. It is only in times of festivities that cattle are killed. For example, a family member entering a higher class in the society, a wedding, a funeral, etc..

I read in a few places that families get so attatched to the cattle they own, they regularly break out into tears and mourne when it comes time to slaughter. They are more than just animals to the Maasai and to tell you the truth, I find it touching. I wonder if we’ll be honoured with a slaughtering during our stay… We’ll see.