Anthropology

The purpose of this paper is to provide a description and a discussion of the similarities and differences between two African ethnic groups and a particular social institution or issue. This paper discusses the institution of marriage customs between the Maasai who are a semi nomadic pastoralist ethnic group in East Africa found in the southern part of Kenya and Northern Tanzania and the Ngoni communities who are an ethnic group found in EastCentral Africa in Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. It also focuses on the similarities and differences, the change and the continuity they have experienced amidst the current socio-economic environment.
Marriage is associated with many socio-economic issues such as property transfer, lineage, social and political power, kinship and reproduction, which are as dynamic as the numerous customs associated with them.
The Maasai are customary known as a warrior community closely associated with jungle tales due to their close proximity to some of the worlds best safari destinations- the Masai Mara and the Serengeti. They are an offshoot of the Nilotic group that migrated from the Nile valley in North Africa and descended downwards finding their home at the bed of the Great Rift Valley. The Ngoni (or Nguni) are a splinter group of the Zulu of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa. They were once part of the feared Zulu empire found in southeast coastlands of southern Africa who speak similar languages and who share some aspects of a common culture including reputation for ruthlessness in war. In Malawi, they settled in central and northern parts of the country (Mvula, 1985).
Marriage, as practiced by many African communities, is a process that is punctuated by rituals and ceremonies, each with their own special significance. The Maasai and the Ngoni are no exception to this rule.
To the Ngoni, like the Maasai, marriage is between two mature people of the opposite sex. Among the Ngoni, the age of marriage was attained when a girl reached maturity (experienced her first period) and when a boy had his first nocturnal emission. Several rites were then performed to certify the child as an adult. After her first menstruation, the girl would be stripped naked by older women relatives and forced to straddle the waters of a river facing the South East position (it could be a pointer to their place of origin), after which she would be advised to be at all times, only in the company of other mature girls. On the other hand, boys were supposed to beat themselves with water (wash) every time they had a nocturnal discharge, under the supervision of  a male relative from the fathers side (Aldie et al, n.d).
To the Maasai a man became mature when he underwent a long cultural in initiation process (conducted every 7 years) into adult hood, which includes circumcision and spearing of a lion. However, before a man can marry he has to prove that he is economically able. Therefore, the warriors (also called morans who have undergone the initiation) join the junior elders rank where they wait for their process of marriage to begin. Most of the Maasai men marry when they have become senior elders because that is when they are deemed capable of taking care of their families financially (Coast, 2008)
The Maasai girl matures by going through circumcision that is also based on the age-set method similarly used by the boys.  The ceremony that involves cutting off some of the female genitalia is performed without anesthesia and marks the beginning of adult hood for the girl (their culture does not permit men to talk about details of the initiation of women). The Maasai are monotheistic, a quality that is unique to few tribes in Africa. Their marriage ceremony is a long tedious process that begins technically with courting.
When a man has caught sight of the girl he wishes to marry, he proceeds by giving the girl a chain olpisiai and this serves as notice to the family of the girl that their daughter has a suitor. After this the man approaches girls of his own age who are probably friends with his intended bride and sends a gift of alcohol to the girls mother. This is taken a formal way of engagement. Later the same is done for the girls father through the same messengers who delivered the first gift and the girls father shares the alcohol with his friends.
When all this is done, the man has to present himself to claim his bride by identifying which (of the fathers daughters) is the one he intended to marry. At this point, the man may experience some difficulty because the father may pretend no knowledge of the girl being referred to. A family relationship is then established under which the marriage ceremony plans begin (Maasai Education, 2009).
This relationship continues over an unspecified period of time whence the man brings gifts to the girls family up to a point when the girls family will finally take him serious on his offer and consider the total of his gifts as dowry. At this point, the girl is considered taken and any man who expresses his wish thereafter will be told off clearly.
On the day of the wedding, the groom brings with him the bride price which is three cows, one female, one male, all black and a calf, two sheep, a male and female. The male sheep is slaughtered on the material day and the fat and oil from the sheep is smeared on the wedding dress while some is saved for the brides use. The remaining sheep is given away to the mother in law and the calf to the father in law. On the following day, the bride is shaved clean and oiled with the lamb fat. She is then beautifully adorned with the exquisite ornaments, imasaa, and then blessed by the elders with sprinkling of alcohol and milk to her new home. Once she arrives there, she is kept indoors for 2 days during which time the husband may not eat or sleep with her. She is then shaved clean and the wedding is considered officially over. This process may take as long as 1 year, depending on the brides   family (Maasai Education, 2006)
The Ngoni begin the process of marriage by payment of the lobola, the bride price. Marriage is seen as a way of social penetration and ethnic cohesion as well as the perseveration of distinct culture. It also helps in the re-distribution of wealth.
The lobola was paid in terms of livestock and was dependent on the status of the girls father. If they were socially higher in the ladder, then more would be expected of the suitor. The marriage ceremony began simply by the family of the man expressing interest to the girl the intended to marry. Upon the mutual agreement, the girl would then inform the mother who would in turn inform the whole family of a pending suitor.
The marriage negotiations carried out by the agnates of the two families were short (about a week), the bride price having being paid, the ceremony would be conducted, and the bride transferred to her new family. The whole process of marriage would begin and end in 2 weeks. Marriage was mainly exogamous.
Similarities and differences between the Maasai and Ngoni marriages
Both the Maasai and the Ngoni are herding communities. This is why most of their livelihood including the bride price during marriages, revolved around cattle. However, the Maasai still remain one of the few, if not the only, herding community in Africa. The Ngoni people have abandoned most of their traditional herding activities for other modern economic activities.
Like many African communities, the Maasai and Ngoni were both patrilineal societies that practiced polygyny. The true Ngoni   people for instance are those that are capable of tracing their ancestry back to the point when they crossed the Zambezi River into modern day Malawi. Those who were able to trace their family descent from their fathers side with their clan name, name of their house and line would be the ones considered to be group of true Ngoni. This group formed a the social and cultural aristocracy of the Ngoni ethnic group and strove to maintain it through such institutions as marriage (Aldie, n.d)
The husband was allowed to marry more than one wife with a wide range of excuses varying from being bored, desiring peace of mind or as punishment to the existing wife(s). Other reasons included child siring, in case the current wife(s) were not capable, help around the household and as a way of prestige.
These two communities also valued the marriage institution such that divorce was never conceived to be possible for the woman but the man had the option of divorcing his wife (though he was expected to give good reasons). Once a woman was married, she lost her identity as a member of her fathers family and full became a member of her husbands family. She was expected to stay until death separated them. The husband was also free to consult or not consult his wife about the marriage. (Maasai Education, 2006)
However, the Maasai man had different roles compared to the Ngoni man. While the man was firmly in charge of constructing the house among the Ngoni, the woman was the one with this task among the Maasai. In addition, the Maasai marriage ceremony was long and very distinct with stages and rites to be accomplished. The Ngoni ceremony of marriage was rather short and frivolous... and less organized (Mvuli, n.d)
The two communities also had a rite of passage for the boys and girls in their communities before marriage. However, these rites of passage were significantly different from each other. The Maasai performed circumcision for both the boys and girls, while the Ngoni circumcised only their boys. For the Maasai, the circumcision marked the beginning of adult hood but for the Ngoni, boys were separated from their mothers as early as age 7 years in order that they may be conditioned as men. They spent most of the time around other boys until they had their first discharge from which time they would be considered mature. The Maasai boys were grouped into age sets after which they were destined to undergo circumcision and training to become morans.
Marriage among the Ngoni was free as long as the partners were not related (age was not a problem) while the Maasai who had age sets, set rules prohibiting the marriage involving a groom of the same age set as the brides father.
Both communities also viewed marriage as way of continuity for their society as well as a wealth distribution system where each family was able to provide adequately for itself.
While the Ngoni had numerous social practices connected to marriage such as wife, kuchotsa mafuta (where a young woman had sex with an older man to open her up before marriage) or kupambawira( where the family of a girl gives her away as payment for some debt) among others, the Maasai girl never had sex up until marriage. The Ngoni valued virginity in as far as it brought the father praise and more cattle but to the Maasai, it was not really an issue because circumcision for girls had a lot more respect. (Malawi Human Rights Commission)
The Ngoni, like in the Maasai community, sometimes sent girls as young as 9 years to be married off to older people once they had their first menstruation or when they had undergone the female circumcision (Ngoni)
The changes and continuity in marriages amidst the current socio-economic situation in Africa
The marriage institution was greatly altered by the Christian missionaries and the British colonizers. The Ngoni and the Maasai have since changed the way marriage was conducted albeit to some degree they have maintained some aspects of the traditional way. For instance, the communities have inter-married with other ethnic communities around them some that they do not even share ancestry.
Ngoni had a system of   maintain their identity even before the child reached marrying age. For instance, the boy child was put into a dormitory, which was an institution for the education and training of young boys. The boys would then be considered as Ngoni-sized. The dormitory was simply a hut where the boys would receive training in their cultural institution in the education of young boys. It was the place where boys slept and lived together, and where they learned to define themselves and to obey authority. Once a boy went to sleep in a dormitory, he never left it until he married unless he was seriously ill. Ngoni regarded dormitory life as an important coordinating factor in their young peoples development. The first purpose was to remove boys from the influence of women. Ngoni men were outspoken in condemning the effects of all womens influence on boys from non-Ngoni sources (Hill, n.d)
While the money economy has significantly changed how trade is conducted all over the world, the communities have adapted to  paying the bride price either in currency or together with  livestock. The most remarkable change witnessed was the adoption of the monogamous way of marriage by both communities over time. This fact could be attributed to the effect of formal education as well as the declining significance of cattle as a source of wealth and the effect of HIV-AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Malawi human rights commission, many more ethnic groups were beginning to shun polygamy in favor of monogamy to try to control the spread of the disease. However this has come at a costly price. Some men (whose wives became heavily pregnantmenstruating) developed extra-marital affairs to fill the void of many wives. The practice of wife swapping (this was organized secretly with all partners consenting) took root among married couples in order to provide more variety and excitement into their sex lives.
The Ngoni community has over the years changed slowly to even adopt some aspects of matrilineal society which is a borrowed practice from its neighbors. This could be attributed to intermarriages between the Ngoni and the Tumbuka ethnic group (Munthali, 2008).
Other noticeable changes on the side of the Maasai include the shortening of the marriage ceremony and the initiation rites which nowadays   take place a couple of times during the same year. Marriage period and the whole process have seen remarkable changes. The Maasai morans (warriors) now do not have to wait until seven years for the new age set to take over from them in order for them to be eligible for marriage. Each year, a set of young morans graduate from initiation sometimes thrice in one year. The Maasai have also had the influence of Christianity such that many of the marriage customs such wife inheritance have also been dropped. However, there are many marriage practices the Maasai unlike their counterparts the Ngoni, will take a long time to change. The organization of the family with the husband as the superior and head of the family still remains with the Maasai. Most Maasai, like the Ngoni men, whether polygamous or monogamous favor a marriage where the husband has more rights than the wife (Munthali, 2008).
The Maasai have not yet given up the ritual of girl circumcision which is now considered a human rights violation (know as Female genital mutilation) under the UN human rights charter. Though done in secret, the issue of women circumcision in Maasai community is difficult to abolish because it lacks the support of men who in their culture, are prohibited from discussing it. Women sometimes face rejections for failure to partake the rite and this fear of rejects helps to perpetuate the practice. The UN human rights made education a basic human right and soon after many governments in Africa rushed to enroll children in schools on a massive scale. This has changed the involvement of boys in initial rituals who have not taken part in the rituals and are therefore less likely to get involved in the traditional marriage practices. The increase in rural urban migration has also influenced the way people live. Many people from both the Maasai and Ngoni communities no longer conduct marriages the same way the ancestors used, although they still maintain some simplified aspects of the old marriage customs (Hill, n.d)
The payment of bride price is still common even among well-educated African communities. The Maasai as well the Ngoni seem to have retained it to the present day despite the hardships involved in securing such a price in poor economy that is prominent in Africa.
The issue of divorce in marriage in these communities is a relatively new one. Both the Maasai and the Ngoni communities are cautiously allowing women to have the same rights as their women though the Maasai maintain a queer practice where by the mans status, still remains legally married if the wife divorces, passes on or separates from him. This is a practice clearly designed to bestow the man some respect for his loss or humiliation.
The current socioeconomic conditions have greatly disadvantaged the woman because of the patriarchal society that still exists among the two ethnic groups. Because girls have no opportunity to inherit land and property, they are mostly driven into prostitution and homosexuality, which are common practice among the Ngoni. The Maasai on the other hand, have found out that dependence on cattle, as the sole source of livelihood is difficult. They have have had to change the way they operate. Many have fled the harsh conditions of the changing economy to find jobs in big towns as security guards (if they have no education) and as peddlers or curio sellers in the tourism industry. Many Maasai men have been unable to get married owing to the lack of resources and prefer to stay together in small groups as workers and learning new trades to survive the harsh times.
Marriage is no longer what it used to be- a time for the families to show largesse and celebrate with the whole community. For the Maasai, the traditional marriage still survives although less and less people are able to replicate the ideal wedding. The Maasai have pride in being able to maintain their language, Maa and pass it on despite al the hardships. The Ngoni have not only lost their original Ngoni language but have also lost most of their practices to the new wave of modern Christiansecular marriage.