Man Child: Maasai Rite of passage

And it came to pass that a Man Child was born to one of the Elders of the Maasai, and his wife, and they said, one to the other, we shall call him Batian. Growing up within the Enkang Batian would mind the cattle herds nearby.
Batian admired the older boys because of their tall elegant muscular features or their fierce, brave, stubborn and arrogant posture. Every day Batian dreamed of the day he would become a warrior ("Moran")

Than one day a fierce lion jumped the fence of dried thorn-tree branches around the circle of houses and charged for his baby sister. So Great was the lion that Batian was terrified, but he knew he must save his sister - even at the cost of his own life.
Batian without the slighted hesitation grabbed a broken spear near the hut thrusting it deep into the lion's chest
Batian's sister Screamed, which brought his mother and father as Batian pushed the spear deeper into the lion's heart until it stopped.
Batian's father said to his mother We have born into this world a Man Child and today he had become a Man

The Maasai (In East Africa often called the masai) are a tribe of 
the open savanna who move their great cattle herds across North 
central Tanzania and southern Kenya with the changing of the 
seasons.

Tribal Migration into Kenya: Originally about 2000 B.C. the Maasai 
ancestors were in Nubia (about where Ethiopia is now ; They have 
been proposed as the "Lost Tribe of Israel")

They all speak Maa and now number about some 250,000 or 350,000, 
Both they and their Cattle numbers were reduced due to European 
disease. The Maasai believe that their (Rain) God Ngai gave all 
cattle to them for safe-keeping when the earth and sky split 
(they feel this justifies them raiding cattle from other tribes). 
Cattle are the center of Masai life, providing their food (milk, 
blood, and meat), and their only recognized form of wealth.

The Maasai Home: Maasai families live in an Enkang (an enclosure 
called a kraal) made from a thick fence of sharp thorn bushes, 
for protection in which there embedded about 10 or 20 small huts 
made twigs and cow-dung, having a small doorway and hole to let 
smoke out.

Rites of Passage: Maasai males are rigidly separated into five age 
groups: 
1) - child
2) - junior warrior; dress in black, paint there faces white. 
3) - senior warrior; ("Moran"), after training proving courage
4) - junior elder; after 8 -12 month become an elder ("Mzee").
5) - senior elder.
Generally people of the same age live together in bomas.

Maasai females kind of take on the group of their husbands, but 
after four successful births, become Elders in any case.

Social order, status and appearance are a big thing to the Maasai 
culture. Both sexes use ear rings and beads, warrior wear a red 
toga like robes (The red cloth stands for power) and colorful 
beaded jewelry, carry swords and long spears, cover their bodies 
in ocher and braid their ocher colored hair into ornate 
hairstyles. The Masai have a reputation of being a fierce warring 
tribe.

Religion: Engai (their chief god) gave them all the cattle in the 
world. Their sun god is named Ruwa and lives on Mount 
Kilimanjaro. Maasai diviners ( laibon ) are advisors and healers, 
dispensing herbal remedies for physical ailments (which have 
gained biomedicine respect) and rituals to resolve social, moral 
and religious issues.

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