Every culture has its own traditions that are observed in order to enable individual transit from childhood to adulthood.The Maasai had a tradition of hunting lions as a mark of manhood, bravery and prestige.
However,with time cultures and traditions have experienced a shift all over the world.The sad fact was realized of how lions were decreasing rapidly in number .From an astonishing number of 30,000 Lions in the 1970s ,only about over 2,000 lions are available today in Kenya. Surely, something had to be done.
This fact of the plummeting number of lions touched people’s heart.This led to the creation of the Maasai Olympics. The first edition was held in 2012 . These games turned the Maasai from hunting lions to hunting medals.
What is the Maasai Olympics?
The Maasai Olympics is an organized sports event based on traditional Maasai Warriors skills to replace the long held tradition of hunting lions as a mark of manhood, bravery and prestige. As a result,games held in the Maasai Olympics are not as numerous as the ones in the general World Olympics.
The Maasai Olympics consists of rather traditional Maasai culture .There are mainly six categories in the Maasai Olympics; rungu and Javelin throwing,high jump and 200m,800m and 5,000m races.
The Maasai Olympics consists of rungu and Javelin throwing,
Having first been held way back in 2012,the Maasai Olympics have been a biennial event . However,the competition did not occur in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has scavenged the whole World.This put a stand still on many social events. Fortunately,2022 everything was fine . The 5th edition of the Maasai Olympics was held successfully.This happened in Kimana reserve,near Mount Kilimanjaro.A total of 160 participants were registered to take part in the event.
As opposed to hunting where the Maasai would get Lion’s meat amt it’s skin, at the Maasai Olympics they are rewarded with cattle, scholarship or money.
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