During this time, they learn how to take care of their animals, protect their family, and carry the obligations of a Maasai warrior. Traditionally, the adamu takes place during the Eunoto ceremony that marks the transition of morani (junior warriors) becoming senior warriors - after the morani live up to 10 years together in an emanyatta (warrior’s camp) away from their home villages. It's a sort of mating dance, a way for a young Maasai man who has just become a warrior to demonstrate his strength and attract a bride. The adamu appears rudimentary in its movement, but carries deeper meaning and reason. The "adamu" is demonstrated on a visit to a Maasai village in northern Tanzania. Everyone has a good laugh, including the Maasai. When it’s your turn, you realize it’s much harder than it looks. Watch the Maasai do it they make it look so easy. Many travellers to Tanzania and Kenya visit a Maasai village and have the opportunity to take part in the adamu, the dance affectionately referred to as the “jumping dance.” It’s an impressive dance, not only for its energy but also for its deceptively simple appearance. The story behind adamu, the jumping dance Father and son at a Maasai village in northern Tanzania. These gatherings are among the ways the Maasai preserve their social fabric and continue the traditional culture in the face of external pressures and societal evolution. Song-and-dance-filled Maasai celebrations last for days on end, and offer an opportunity to bring people together and assemble members of the different clans from around the region. As they move from one stage, there’s a rhythm and movement to welcome them into the next step of their lives. Boys are divided into age groups and throughout their life are identified with and by those stages. Importance of ceremony in Maasai cultureįor the Maasai, important rites of passage in life are marked by ceremonies filled with song and dance. The differences - and the underlying similarities - demonstrate the living beauty of our world’s shared diversity. But how and why each culture sings and dances carries a stamp of uniqueness, telling so many stories about the culture, history, and beliefs of its people. Singing, dancing - those are things we all do and have been doing since we first walked the earth. Song and dance binds us together, from all corners of the globe. Maasai from all different clans come together for celebrations. For the Maasai, theirs is a celebration to mark the rite of passage, to welcome young men to the next stage of their lives. To witness the gathering of Maasai from across villages in northern Tanzania is a stunning experience - visual, cultural, and human. This is the essence of the signature Maasai adamu, or jumping dance.Ī rising beat, sweeping emotion into its path. As energy flows into and through the corral, the men circle back, offering their own chant in return, a sort of call and response, their voices growing in volume and pitch. Two men, now in the centre of the circle, jump straight up, each time higher than before. A human pulse, a human beat that reaches into one’s bones even as it traverses the open air.Īs the men approach the crowd inside the circle of the corral, young women launch into song. As the men get closer, the volume of their chants rise, the intensity of their movement increases, converging into steady rhythm. There are no drums, only voices as instruments and rhythm. The Maasai warriors approach the celebration, moving as one. One flow, one rhythm, one movement forward. They move forward not as 12 men, but as one. Grunts follow chants and the pounding of feet, harmony, and heartbeats. A line of Maasai warriors gathers in the distance, away from the crowd, their warrior shouts punctuating the still air.
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