Maasai children wake up early on December 25 and enthusiastically encourage their parents to hurry as they prepare tea and breakfast so they can open presents. They have been preparing for this holiday for months by giving each other gifts; jewelry, belts, bags, pumpkins, toys and body decorations for children. After the current opening, the clans gather for a feast of roast meat, potatoes, and potent honey ale.

The Maasai are a pastoral group of people who live in the magnificent Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania. A tall, proud and graceful people adorned in colorful clothing and ornaments, the Maasai still keep their traditions intact: they herd cattle and live off the land as modernization changes the world around them. They are known for being a culture with close family and community ties and who love to celebrate all occasions in style; so they naturally embraced Christmas in their culture as another wonderful celebration and embraced it with delight.

In the months leading up to Christmas, the Maasai are busy making gifts, planning events, cleaning the best of everything, scrubbing the houses, repairing the gardens, taking out the jewelry and buying new kikoys, the European version of a shuka-woven fabric. masai, use. The air is filled with emotion. Bees love flowering acacias and produce the tastiest of all honey in the world. This honey is then used to produce honey beer, a common Christmas drink in Maasai celebrations.

The Maasai fill the season with various harambees, a Kenyan party reminiscent of an American wedding or baby shower where gifts and money are given. The harambee was originally introduced by Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, as a way to raise money to build schools. Over time, the harambee has become a Kenyan tradition to raise money and gifts for weddings, hospital expenses, school fees and other occasions. The Maasai have adopted the custom from the county and use it liberally.

When you wake up on Christmas morning, think for a moment of the Maasai half a world away. Cuddling the exhausted children, stroking the bellies full of meat, numb from the libation and admiring their lovely gifts with the family around them.

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