Maasai And Zulu Ethnic Groups

My ethnic groups are Maasai from Kenya and Zulu from South Africa. Maasai is the smallest ethnic group in Kenya, they make up only 0.7% of the population, but they are the most well-known tribe in Kenya. Zulu is the largest ethnic group in South Africa, which make up approximately 22% percent of the population. Furthermore, the Maasai and the Zulu are two different ethnic groups in two different countries, however, there some similarities in them. This paper will focus on the culture and religion of the Maasai and Zulu ethnic groups. Also, I will talk about how my culture and religion similar or different from the two ethnic groups.
Maasai is a very interesting ethnic group in Kenya and even with all the western influence in the region they …show more content…
After their leader, Shaka, died, they lost most of their territory to the European and they never gain their power or independent again. Even with all the suffering the Zulu people still hold to some of their ancient traditions that are so unique and impressive. For example, when the Zulu people meet each other, the person with higher social status will greet the other person first and they never make eye contact because it’s a sign of being disrespectful. Also, another interesting thing about the Zulu culture is that the grandparents are very respected because of their age and experience in the world. Moreover, when the Zulu people give someone something they use their right hand and the use their left hand to support the elbow of the right hand. Also, when a Zulu man and woman get married, the groom had to pay his father-in-law for taking his daughter away from him. The payment is usually made with cattle or cash to the father and the groom can take back his money or cattle after the married if the bride doesn’t behave like a …show more content…
I am a South Asian Muslim and I was kind of surprise to find some similar between my culture and these two ethnic groups. For example, in my culture since we are little we taught to use our right hand when passes someone something just like the Zulu people. We do this because we don’t want to disrespect the other person. Also, in my religion, when a Muslim man and woman get married, the groom had to pay the bride instead of his father-in-law. The grooms are required to pay the bride before married because of her security in case the husband decides to divorce the wife after married, she won’t be suffering financially. After doing this research my view toward the African tribes actually changed. Before I even started my research I thought I won’t have anything common with these people, but I was wrong. I guess sometimes we forgot that Africa is a very special place and we have more common with them than we