A Beautiful Journey: 16.07.2011 The Drinking of the Goat Blood!

16.07.2011

I went to the Masai village of our security guard, Zachi. It was so amazing to see how he lives and to experience his culture. He lives in Arusha, but visits home about once a month. We were welcomed with a song chant and dance. The women grabbed my hands and I joined them in the dancing. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun.

The hallway entrance

These are pictures of the village and the inside of the hut. They look small from the outside, but are even smaller when you walk in them. The ceilings are very short so you must be hunched over at all times. The walls are also very thick. Zachi’s hut was divided into three sections. There was a 2 foot by 5 foot entrance. When you turned to the right, it was his bedroom. Here there was a fireplace, cups, and a crude bed made of wood. When I sat on it, I thought it was a wooden bench. It takes a hardy person to sleep soundly on that bed. If you turn to the left from the hall way, you’d find yourself in Zachi’s wife’s room. It was about the size of the linen closet in my house, maybe 4’x3’. Here his wife and three children slept on the dirt ground. Even though Zachi is never home, they are not allowed to sleep in his bed at any time. The only time the woman is allowed in the bed is when she is summoned by the man for sex. After they finish, she returns to her room.

After the tour of the Masai hut, we were given tea. This tea, people, was the BEST tasting thing I have had since arriving. I swear, Starbucks stole their recipe for Chi Tea from the Masai people. I had a fly in mine, but decided I’ve probably already swallowed worse by now so I picked it out and finished the drink.

A goat was selected for the slaughtering ceremony. We had a choice: Slit the neck or suffocate it. We thought slitting the neck would be less painful for the animal, so we chose this one. Zachi asked me to do the slitting but I couldn’t. I was scared I would do it too lightly and cause the goat more pain. Watching them do it, I was very happy I declined. A gurgling sound arose from the goat as the knife punctured the esophagus and he was kicking and jerking during and well after the actual slitting of the throat. The squirting blood was collected in a basin, and offered to us. EM AND I DRANK IT! It tasted salty, like very warm sweat. It was a very bright red, almost pink. Everyone else (the sane people) declined. I honestly don’t know why I accepted. I am glad I did though. I can say I participated in a Masai slaughtering ceremony and drank freaking blood!

Not as tasty as the tea...

While we waited for the meat to cook, Michael (our driver) told us that the Masai wanted to sit us down for drinks again. We all got a bit worried, thinking, “Oh boy, what will we be served next?” We all had a nice large chuckle when they brought out a crate of Sprite, Coke, and Orange Fanta. It is funny how the Masai are settled in their cultural ways so thoroughly but are also shaped somewhat by the modern western society.

This was the freshest meat I had ever eaten. It was also the chewiest and at times most fatty meat I have ever had. I must say though, the liver we were fed was the best tasting liver I have ever tried. As I was trying to chew through and will myself to swallow a half inch layer of fat, I turned around to find the elder male was kneeled over the carcass of the goat, eating a selection of the raw, bloody innards. I can do blood but I could NOT watch him as he ate this insides of the freshly killed goat. After he finished his meal, he chopped off the goat head to make tomorrow’s soup dinner.

After lunch we gave the village food stuff as a thank you gift. We brought maize flour, sugar, rice, water, and candies for the children. They did another dance and the men jumped for us. Zachi pulled me into the celebration and I jumped with the men. Everyone laughed at my pathetic jump. On its own, it’s a sad jump. Comparatively, it is laughable. I had a lot of fun though. I told them I’d practice.

Zachi killed a lion at age 28. With a spear. What a bad ass! I feel safe sleeping at night knowing my security guard killed a lion by himself.

The women in this particular village are still circumcised. Zachi was very comfortable talking about it but I wish there wasn’t such a language barrier so I could get insight from the women themselves.

As we were leaving, I was taking pictures of the children. Three of them came up to me and I showed them the pictures. They fell on the ground laughing! They would get back up, I’d take another picture, and they would chatter and giggle hysterically while looking at it. What would be better than a picture? A VIDEO! I took a video of them laughing at the picture that I took of them, and showed them that. Their eyes got very wide, they went very quiet, and then they started screaming, yelling, laughing, and pointing. It was the cutest thing.