As we’ve all seen in the Masai Women documentary, at one point when one young girl was going to live in her husband’s village, the other women swarmed around her and spewed several insults at her. “There is a thief among us.” “She is a thief.” “Let’s see if she’s greedy.” “Oh, she is greedy.” Several women crowded around the young girl, who was new to the village and away from her home (where her family and friends live). She was already uncomfortable enough, and these women insulted her heavily, with no remorse.
I’ve come up for a reason behind this type of insult ritual among new wives. I think that the other women insult the new wive to break her spirits and to break her confidence, and it is fairly easy because she is already vulnerable and upset from having to leave her family, friends and home to go and live with a man she does not know,in a village she does not, around several other men and women she does not know. I feel that the other women band against the new wives in order to make them even more vulnerable, so that they will also be able to be there and support her and build her back up over time, so that she grows strong and knows that they are all in this together and they she can find interdependence among the group. I think that they break the newcomers down to build them back up stronger and as a solidified member of the group.
Why do you think these insult rituals take place?
I think you’ve captured a lot about why they do the ritual this way. I also think there is probably an element of “letting off steam” for the wives of the village she is going into. They had to go through it and survived so she should too and they can act out a bit. Most rituals work because they serve multiple functions at the same time. But clearly the main one to me seems to break her down so she can re-attach to her co-wives.